Records of the 1981-1982 Isle of Man Decennial Test

Correspondence and working papers of the Government Office (1 folder) and the Economic division of the Isle of Man Treasury (6 folders) concerning the Decennial Test (to calculate consumption of customs dutiable goods) undertaken in 1981-1982 in order to determine the Island's share of the common purse for customs revenues.

A 'Decennial Test' to calculate consumption of customs dutiable goods on the Isle of Man is carried out every 10 years in order to determine the Isle of Man's share of the Common Purse for customs revenues. The arrangement for the sharing of indirect taxes between the UK and the Isle of Man dates back to the Revenue Returns Act passed by Tynwald in 1894. The current Customs and Excise Agreement between the UK and the Isle of Man (at the time of cataloguing in 2016) was passed in 1979. For each test year, returns of imported goods were submitted by merchants and retailers. These were compiled to calculate the total amount of wines, spirits, tobacco and other goods subject to customs duty consumed in the Isle of Man during a single year. The results were then applied for 10 years to determine the Island's share of the customs and excise duties on these items.

Isle of Man Public Records Order 2015, article B1, 84 year closure period applied for information relating to taxation. Part of this series in currently closed to public access. Please contact the Isle of Man Public Record Office for further information: public.records@gov.im

For information on visiting the Isle of Man Public Record Office please see our website: www.gov.im/pro .

Please see our website for catalogues: www.gov.im/pro .

Catalogue created by Angela Skitt, 14 March 2016

Crown copyright will exist in documents created by the Isle of Man Government (duration - 125 years from the end of the calendar year of production)

Selected for permanent preservation in 2014 by the Isle of Man Public Record Office.

File S33/1 originally formed part of the Government Office subject files sequence and was given reference codes '426 (2) [Folder] I' by the Government Office. A note on the front of the file indicates that it was passed on to the Economic section of the Isle of Man Treasury (later known as the Economic Affairs division) who took over administration of the 1981-1982 and subsequent Isle of Man Decennial Tests. Records in S33 were stored in Illiam Dhone House, Douglas by the Treasury. When the Economic Affairs division of the Treasury moved to the Policy and Strategy division of the Cabinet Office it also moved premises to the Government Office. At this point the records were appraised and selected for permanent preservation. Records in S33 were transferred over to the Isle of Man Public Record Office under section 3(4) of the Public Records Act on 23 September 2014 as part of a larger accession of records (A20).

Records of the 1961-1962 Decennial test S31; Records of the 1971-1972 Decennial test S32; Administrative papers relating to the 1951-1952 Decennial test - A53 C1212/3 folders 1 and 2; S30 [previously C198]; papers of the Economic Affairs division can be found in S34-S43.