Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 53 Part 1.djvu/605

 C CODIFICATION OF INTERNAL REVENUE LAWS (6) GROSS SALES VALUE OF ARTICLES.-The gross sales value of articles shall mean (a) the total of the quantity of each article derived from the com- modity processed by the claimant during each month multiplied by (b) the claimant's sale prices current at the time of processing for articles of similar grade and quality. (7) The quantity of each article derived from the commodity processed may be either (a) the actual quantity obtained, as shown by the records of the claimant, or (b) an estimated quantity computed by multiplying the quantity of commodity processed by appropriate conversion factors giving the quantity of articles customarily obtained from the processing of each unit of the commodity. (c) The "tax period" shall mean the period with respect to which the claim- ant actually paid the processing tax to a collector of internal revenue and shall end on the date with respect to which the last payment was made. The "period before and after the tax" shall mean the twenty-four months (except that in the case of tobacco it shall be the twelve months) immediately preced- ing the effective date of the processing tax, and the six months, February to July, 1936, inclusive. If during any part of such period the claimant was not in business, or if his records for any part of such period are so inadequate as not to provide satisfactory data on prices paid for commodities purchased or prices received for articles sold, the average prices paid or received by repre- sentative concerns engaged in a similar business and similarly circumstanced may with the approval of the Commissioner, where necessary for a fair com- parison, be substituted in making the necessary computations. If the claimant was not in business during the entire period before and after the tax, the aver- age margin, during such period, of representative concerns engaged in a similar business and similarly circumstanced, as determined by the Commissioner, shall be used as his average margin for such period. (d) If the claimant made any purchase or sale otherwise than through an arm's-length transaction, and at a price other than the fair market price, the Commissioner may determine the purchase or sale price to be that for which such purchases or sales were at that time made in the ordinary course of trade. (e) Either the claimant or the Commissioner may rebut the presumption established by subsection (a) of this section by proof of the actual extent to which the claimant shifted to others the burden of the processing tax. Such proof may include, but shal not be limited to- (1) Proof that the difference or lack of difference between the average margin for the tax period and the average margin for the period before and after the tax was due to changes in factors other than the tax. Such factors shall include any clearly shown change (A) in the type or grade of article or commodity, or (B) in costs of production. If the claimant asserts that the burden of the tax was borne by him and the burden of any other increased costs was shifted to others, the Commissioner shall determine, from the ef- fective dates of the imposition or termination of the tax and the effective date of other changes in costs as compared with the date of the changes in margin (when margins are computed for weeks, months, or other intervals between July 1, 1931, and August, 1936, in the manner specified in subsection (b)), and from the general experience of the industry, whether the tax or the increase in other costs was shifted to others. If the Commissioner deter- mines that the difference in average margin was due in part to the tax and in part to the increase in other costs, he shall apportion the change in margin between them; (2) Proof that the claimant modified existing contracts of sale, or adopted a new form of contract of sale, to reflect the initiation, termination, or change in amount of the processing tax, or at any such time changed the sale price of the article (including the effect of a change in size, package, discount terms, or any other merchandising practice) by substantially the amount of the tax or change therein, or at any time billed the tax as a separate item to any vendee, or indicated by any writing that the sale price included the amount of the tax, or contracted to refund any part of the sale price in the event of recovery of the tax or decision of its invalidity; but the claimant may establish that such acts were caused by factors other than the processing tax, or that they do not represent his practice at other times. If the claimant processed any product in addition to the commodity with respect to the processing of which there was paid or collected an amount as tax for which he claims a refund, and if the Commissioner has reason to believe that the burden of such amount was shifted in whole or in part by means of the transactions relating to such product, the average margin with respect to such product, and articles processed therefrom, shall also be considered, and shall be determined for the tax period applicable to the commodity and for the period before and after the tax in the manner prescribed in subsection (b) of this section. To the extent the Commissioner determines that the average

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