Rev. Rul. 56-99

The Act of August 11, 1955, Public Law 363, 84th Congress, 69 Stat. 685, C.B. 1955-2, 643, provides relief in the form of refund or allowance of the internal revenue tax or internal revenue tax and customs duties paid on distilled spirits and wines produced in, or imported into, the United States and which have been lost, or rendered unmarketable, or condemned by a duly authorized health officer, by reason of the hurricanes of 1954. Section 3360 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 (section 7652 of the 1954 Code) provides, in part, that articles of merchandise of Puerto Rican manufacture coming into the United States and withdrawn for consumption or sale shall be subject to a tax equal to the internal revenue tax imposed in the United States upon the like articles of merchandise of domestic manufacture. Held, since the tax imposed by section 3360 of the 1939 Code is not an internal revenue tax to which the Act applies, but merely a tax equal in amount to the internal revenue tax, which amount is covered into the Puerto Rican Treasury, and since the distilled spirits and wines brought into the United States from Puerto Rico are neither produced in the United States nor considered to be imported into the country, the provisions of the Act of August 11, 1955, supra , are not applicable to such tax. Accordingly, no refund or credit can be allowed under that Act for taxes paid on such distilled spirits or wines lost, rendered unmarketable, or condemned by a duly authorized health officer, by reason of the hurricanes of 1954.