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Is this the oldest tax practice still running, asks JOHN JEFFREY-COOK FTII, FCA, FCIS, ATT.
THIS MAGAZINE WAS the first on taxation when Ronald Staples, a former Inspector of Taxes, started it on 1 October 1927. Three years later he led the formation of The Institute of Taxation. It is therefore somewhat surprising to find that specialist tax practices existed much earlier.
Is this the oldest tax practice still running, asks JOHN JEFFREY-COOK FTII, FCA, FCIS, ATT.
THIS MAGAZINE WAS the first on taxation when Ronald Staples, a former Inspector of Taxes, started it on 1 October 1927. Three years later he led the formation of The Institute of Taxation. It is therefore somewhat surprising to find that specialist tax practices existed much earlier.
Below is a photograph of the offices of the Income-Tax Adjustment Agency Ltd at 9-10 Poultry, Cheapside, London EC2. Readers may like to guess the date of the photograph. Behind the 184 bus to Southall are two horse-drawn vehicles in front of the Mansion House, and two other buses, one with an outside staircase advertising Wrigleys. Stern's Better Perms. (Genuine Eugene Sachets Used) cost 35 shillings. (£1.75).
It is curious that the Agency was established as early as 1890 when income tax was only 6d in the £ or 2.5 per cent. Indeed, the rate did not exceed 7.5 per cent until 1914, with the First World War, although super-tax was imposed from 1909-10.
The Agency first appears in the London Directory for 1896 at 12 and 13 Poultry. It was the sole entry under Income Tax Agencies until 1901 when the Income Tax Repayment Agency (A Chapman & Co), 6 Chichester Road, W appeared.
By 1914 there were fourteen rivals. But the original Agency was also at 113 Fenchurch Street, EC and 386 Oxford Street, W. Curiously, in 1919 the Women's Taxpayers Agency, at 84 Kingsway, WC2, appeared, when its clients would have been only single ladies or widows, because the income of married women was treated as that of their husbands.
Set out below are some facsimile copies of pages in a leaflet issued by the Agency, probably during its heyday in the 1930s.
The Agency changed hands in 1929 but stayed in Poultry until 1972 when Mr Palumbo had plans to develop the Mappin and Webb site. At that time David Rogers, who had joined the Agency in 1965, took it over and moved it first to Chancery Lane, then to Chase Side, Southgate and in 1981 to its present address in Fakenham, Norfolk. It was disincorporated in 1990. I am indebted to David Rogers for these details.
The Agency appears to be a strong contender for the title of longest-running tax practice, but if any readers have evidence of an earlier one, the editor would be pleased to receive it. Are you able to date the photograph? Page 448 provides the answer.
John Jeffrey-Cook, on behalf of the Company of Tax Advisers, is keen to collect historical tax documents for preservation in the Tony Arnold Library of The Chartered Institute of Taxation. He can be contacted on 01444 471751, e-mail: guild@jeffrey-cook.fsnet.co.uk.
