shall be refunded by the Secretary of the Treasury if the same have been paid, or, if the same have not been paid the amount thereof shall be abated. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 623 of this title, the Secretary of the Treasury shall refund or credit any processing tax paid on or before June 12, 1934, with respect to such amount of cotton as was used in the manufacture of large cotton bags (as defined in the Certificate of the Secretary of Agriculture, dated June 12, 1934) between June 13 and July 7, 1934, both inclusive.

(b) No tax shall be required to be paid on the processing of any commodity by or for the producer thereof for consumption by his own family, employees, or household; and the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized, by regulations, to exempt from the payment of the processing tax the processing of commodities by or for the producer thereof for sale by him where, in the judgment of the Secretary, the imposition of a processing tax with respect thereto is unnecessary to effectuate the declared policy. (b-1) The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized and directed to issue tax-payment warrants, with respect to rough rice produced in 1933 and 1934 (provided the processing of such rice is not exempt from the tax, and provided no tax payment warrant has been previously issued with respect thereto or previously applied for by application then pending, sufficient to cover the tax with respect to the processing thereof at the rate in effect at the time of such issuance, to any processor with respect to any such rice which he had in his possession on March 31, 1935, and to, or at the direction of any other person with respect to any such rice which, on or after April 1, 1935, he delivers for processing or sells to a processor: Provided, That in case any such processor or other person is the producer of such rice (or has reecived such rice by gift, bequest, or descent from the producer thereof) that such possessor or other person is, if eligible, a cooperating producer: And provided further, That in case such processor or other person is not the producer thereof (nor a person who has received such rice by gift, bequest, or descent from the producer thereof), (a) that, if the title to such rice was transferred from the producer thereof, whether by operation of law or otherwise, prior to April 1, 1935, such producer received the price prescribed in any marketing agreement, license regulation, or administrative ruling, pursuant to sections 601-608, 608a-608c, 608d-612, 613-619, 620, 623, 624 of this title, applicable to the sale of such rice by the producer, and (b) that, if the title to such rice was transferred from the producer thereof, whether by operation of law or otherwise, on or after April 1, 1935, such producer received at least the full market price therefor plus an amount equal to 99 per centum of the face value of tax-payment warrants sufficient to cover the tax on the processing of such rice at rate in effect at the time title was so transferred, and was if eligible, a cooperating producer.

(b-2) The warrants authorized and directed to be issued by subsection (b-1) of this section

(1) shall be issued by the Secretary of Agriculture or his duly authorized agent in such manner, at such time or times, at such

place or places, in such form, and subject to such terms and conditions with reference to the transfer thereof or the voiding of warrants fraudulently obtained and/or erroneously issued, as the Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe, and the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to discontinue the further issuance of tax-payment warrants at any time or times and in any region or regions when he shall determine that the rice in any such region or regions can no longer be identified adequately as rice grown in 1933 or 1934; and

(2) shall be accepted by the Collector of Internal Revenue and the Secretary of the Treasury at the face value thereof in payment of any processing tax on rice.

(b-3) (1) Any person who deals or traffics in, or purchases any such tax-payment warrant or the right of any person thereto at less than 99 per centum of its face value shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.

(2) Any person who, with intent to defraud, secures or attempts to secure, or aids or assists in or procures, counsels, or advises, the securing or attempting to secure any tax-payment warrant with respect to rice as to which any tax-payment warrant has been theretofore issued shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.

(3) Any person who with intent to defraud forges, makes, alters, or counterfeits any tax-payment warrant or any stamp, tag, or other means of identification provided for by sections 601608, 608a-608c, 608d-612, 613-619, 620, 623, 624 of this title or any regulation issued pursuant thereto, or makes any false entry upon such warrant or any false statement in any application for the issuance of such warrant, or who uses, sells, lends, or has in his possession any such altered, forged, or counterfeited warrant or stamp, tag, or other means of identification, or who makes, uses, sells, or has in his possession any material in imitation of the material used in the manufacture of such warrants or stamps, tags, or other means of identification, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding $5,000 or by imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both.

(4) All producers, warehousemen, processors, and common carriers, having information with respect to rice produced in the years 1933 or 1934, may be required to furnish to the Secretary of Agriculture such information as he shall, by order, prescribe as necessary to safeguard the issuance, transfer, and/or use of tax-payment warrants.

(5) The Secretary of Agriculture may make regulations protecting the interests of producers (including share-tenants and share-croppers) and others, in the issuance, holding, use, and/or transfer of such tax-payment warrants.

(c) Any person, including any State or Federal organization or institution, delivering any product to any organization for charitable distribution or use, including any State or Federal welfare organization, for its own use, whether the product is delivered as merchandise, or as a container for merchandise, or otherwise,

shall, if such product or the commodity from which processed is under sections 601-608, 608a-608c, 608d-612, 613-619, 620, 623, 624 of this title subject to tax to be entitled to a refund of the amount of any tax due and paid under said sections with respect to such product so delivered, or to a credit against any tax due and payable under said sections of the amount of tax which would be refundable under this section with respect to such product so delivered: Provided, however, That no tax shall be refunded or credited under this section, unless the person claiming the refund or credit establishes, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury (1) that he has not included the tax in the price of the product so delivered or collected the amount of the tax from the said organization, or (2) that he has repaid, or has agreed in writing to repay, the amount of the tax to the said organization. The word "State" as used in this section shall include a State and any political subdivision thereof.

(d) The Secretary of Agriculture shall ascertain from time to time whether the payment of the processing tax upon any basic agricultural commodity is causing or will cause to the processors or producers thereof disadvantages in competition from competing commodities by reason of excessive shifts in consumption between such commodities or products thereof. If the Secretary of Agriculture finds, after investigation and due notice and opportunity for hearing to interested parties, that such disadvantages in competition exist, or will exist, he shall proclaim such finding. The Secretary shall specify in this proclamation the competing commodity and the compensating rate of tax on the processing thereof necessary to prevent such disadvantages in competition. Thereafter there shall be levied, assessed, and collected upon the first domestic processing of such competing commodity a tax, to be paid by the processor, at the rate specified, until such rate is altered pursuant to a further finding under this section, or the tax or rate thereof on the basic agricultural commodity is altered or terminated. In no case shall the tax imposed upon such competing commodity exceed that imposed per equivalent unit as determined by the Secretary, upon the basic agriculural commodity.

(e) During any period for which a processing tax is in effect with respect to any commodity there shall be levied, assessed, collected, and paid upon any article processed or manufactured wholly or partly from such commodity and imported into the United States or any possession thereof to which sections 601608, 608a-608c, 608d-612, 613-619, 620, 623, 624 of this title apply, from any foreign country or from any possession of the United States to which said sections do not apply, whether imported as merchandise, or as a container of merchandise, or otherwise, a compensating tax equal to the amount of the processing tax in effect with respect to domestic processing of such commodity into such an article at the time of importation: Provided, (1) That in the event any of the provisions of said sections have been or are hereafter made applicable to any possession of the United

States in the case of any particular commodity or commodities, but not generally, said sections, for the purposes of this subsection, shall be deemed applicable to such possession with respect to such commodity or commodities but shall not be deemed applicable to such possession with respect to other commodities; and (2) That all taxes collected under this subsection upon articles coming from the possessions of the United States to which sections 601-608, 608a-608c, 608d-612, 613-619, 620, 623, 624 of this title do not apply shall not be covered into the general fund of the Treasury of the United States but shall be held as a separate fund and paid into the Treasury of the said possessions respectively, to be used and expended by the governments thereof for the benefit of agriculture. Such tax shall be paid prior to the release of the article from customs custody or control.

(f) The President, in his discretion, is authorized by proclamation to decree that all or part of the taxes collected from the processing of sugar beets or sugarcane in Puerto Rico, the Territory of Hawaii, the Philippine Islands, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Canal Zone, and/or the island of Guam (if the provisions of sections 601-608, 608a-608c, 608d-612, 613-619, 620, 623, 624 of this title are made applicable thereto), and/or upon the processing in continental United States of sugar produced in, or coming from, said areas, shall not be covered into the general fund of the Treasury of the United States but shall be held as a separate fund, in the name of the respective area to which related, to be used and expended for the benefit of agriculture and/or paid as rental or benefit payments in connection with the reduction in the acreage, or reduction in the production for market, or both, of sugar beets and/or sugarcane, and/or used and expended for expansion of markets and for removal of surplus agricultural products in such areas, respectively, as the Secretary of Agriculture, with the approval of the President, shall direct. (May 12, 1933, ch. 25, title I, § 15, 48 Stat. 39; May 9, 1934, 11:23 a. m., ch. 263 §§ 8, 11, 48 Stat. 675, 676; June 16, 1934, ch. 551, 48 Stat. 973; June 26, 1934, ch. 759, § 1, 48 Stat. 1241; Mar. 18, 1935, ch. 32, §§ 8, 9, 49 Stat. 47, 48; Aug. 24, 1935, ch. 641, §§ 21-24, 49 Stat. 768; June 22, 1936, 9:00 p. m., ch. 690, § 601 (a), 49 Stat. 1739.)

APPROPRIATIONS FOR REFUNDS AND PAYMENTS OF PROCESSING AND RELATED TAXES AND LIMITATIONS THEREON

Acts June 25, 1938, ch. 681, 52 Stat. 1150; May 6, 1939, ch. 115, § 1, 53 Stat. 661, 662; Feb. 12, 1940, ch. 28, § 1, 54 Stat. 36; Mar. 25, 1940, ch. 71, title I, 54 Stat. 61.

TERMINATION OF APPLICATION TO SUGAR

Provisions of this section ceased to apply to sugar on Sept. 1, 1937. See section 1180 of this title.

CROSS REFERENCES

Conditions on allowance of refunds, see section 644 of this title.

Other refund provisions, see sections 622, 623, 641-659 of this title. Processing and compensating taxes not to be levied or collected, see section 673 of this title.

§ 616. Stock on hand when tax takes effect or terminates.—

(a) Upon the sale or other disposition of any article processed wholly or in chief value from any commodity with respect to which a processing tax is to be levied, that on the date the tax first takes effect or wholly terminates with respect to the commodity, is held for sale or other disposition (including articles in transit) by any person, there shall be made a tax adjustment as follows:

(1) Whenever the processing tax first takes effect, there shall be levied, assessed, and collected a tax to be paid by such person equivalent to the amount of the processing tax which would be payable with respect to the commodity from which processed if the processing had occurred on such date. Such tax upon articles imported prior to, but in customs custody or control on, the effective date, shall be paid prior to release therefrom. In the case of sugar, the tax on floor stocks, except the retail stocks of persons engaged in retail trade, shall be paid for the month in which the stocks are sold, or used in the manufacture of other articles, under rules and regulations prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury.

(2) Whenever the processing tax is wholly terminated, (A) there shall be refunded or credited in the case of a person holding such stocks with respect to which a tax under sections 601-608, 608a-608c, 608d-612, 613-619, 620, 623, 624 of this title has been paid, or (B) there shall be credited or abated in the case of a person holding such stocks with respect to which a tax under said sections is payable, where such person is the processor liable for the payment of such tax, or (C) there shall be refunded or credited (but not before the tax has been paid) in the case of a person holding such stocks with respect to which a tax under said sections is payable, where such person is not the processor liable for the payment of such tax, a sum in an amount equivalent to the processing tax which would have been payable with respect to the commodity from which processed if the processing had accrued on such date: Provided, That in the case of any commodity with respect to which there was any increase, effective prior to June 1, 1934, in the rate of the processing tax, no such refund, credit, or abatement, shall be in an amount which exceeds the equivalent of the initial rate of the processing tax in effect with respect to such commodity.

(b) The tax imposed by subsection (a) shall not apply to the retail stocks of persons engaged in retail trade, held at the date the processing tax first takes effect; but such retail stocks shall not be deemed to include stocks held in a warehouse on such date, or such portion of other stocks held on such date as are not sold or otherwise disposed of within thirty days thereafter. Except as to flour and prepared flour, and cereal preparations made chiefly from wheat, as classified in Wheat Regulations, Series 1, Supplement 1, and as to any article processed wholly or in chief value from cotton, the tax refund, credit, or abatement provided in subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to the retail stocks of persons engaged in retail trade, nor to any article (except sugar) processed wholly or in chief value from sugar beets, sugarcane, or any product thereof, nor to any article (except flour, prepared flour and cereal preparations made chiefly from