The taxpayer, a UK life insurance company which was managed in London and had foreign branch businesses, was assessed for interest and dividends which it received on foreign securities held in the hands of agents abroad, and which were reinvested abroad, on the basis that it received such income in the U.K. In finding that the taxpayer was not taxable on such amounts, Lord Brampton stated (at p. 475):
[I]t is conceded that no part of the money in question was ever received in the United Kingdom in specie… . But it was argued that… it was "constructively" so received in the accounts of the Society. …If it means something differing from or short of an actual receipt, then it seems to me that a constructive receipt is not recognised by the Statute, which in using the word "received" alone, must be taken to have used it having regard to its ordinary acceptation. … I am not myself prepared to say that what amongst business men is equivalent to a receipt of a sum of money is not a receipt within the meaning of the Statute… . But…[a] mere entry in an account which does not represent such a transaction does not prove any receipt… .
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