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Inheritance Tax

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the administration and compliance costs of inheritance tax. [134648]

Dawn Primarolo: Costs of administration were £30.1 million for the year 1999-2000, or 1.5 pence per pound collected. I have no current estimate of the compliance costs of inheritance tax; they were estimated for 1986-87 at about 4 pence per pound collected. (Sandford et al, "Administrative and Compliance Costs of Taxation", Fiscal Publications, 1989).

Tobacco

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the percentage of tax taken on each pound of rolled tobacco for each of the past 10 years for which figures are available. [134407]

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Dawn Primarolo: The information on hand rolling tobacco can be found in the HM Customs and Excise "Tobacco Factsheet", page 4, 'Prices and Taxation Analysis', a copy of which is in the House of Commons Library.

Taxation Statistics

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the change in the overall level of taxation has been over (a) the past year and (b) the past six months. [134970]

Dawn Primarolo: Updated estimates and forecasts will be published in the pre-Budget Report.

Working Families Tax Credit

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of paying a specific benefit through the pay packets on (a) claimants' behaviour and (b) the labour market. [134518]

Dawn Primarolo: The Working Families Tax Credit, as a tax credit rather than a welfare benefit, is paid through the wage packet. This reduces the stigma attached to receiving in work support and clearly demonstrates the reward of work compared to welfare.

The Government continue to monitor the effects of the Working Families Tax Credit.

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the basis was of the forecast contained in the Treasury press release of 7 September 1999 that 1.5 million people would receive the Working Families Tax Credit. [134607]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 26 October 2000]: The forecast contained in the Treasury press release of 7 September 1999 was based on the best information available at that time. It used survey data from both the Family Resources Survey and the Family Expenditure Survey up to 1997-98 and built on DSS experience of operating Family Credit and Disability Working Allowance.

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the level of fraud in the Working Families Tax Credit. [134591]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 26 October 2000]: There is no statistically valid data currently available from which a meaningful estimate of the level of fraud in tax credits can be made.

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the labour market effect of the Working Families Tax Credit; and what assessment he has made of the report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies on the labour market impact of the Working Families Tax Credit. [134630]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 26 October 2000]: The Working Families Tax Credit is one of a number of reforms to make work pay for those on the lowest incomes in work. Treasury estimates of the possible impact on labour supply of the complete package of reforms--including changes to employee National Insurance and income tax rates--were published in "Tackling Poverty and Making Work Pay--Tax Credits for the 21st Century" (The Modernisation of Britain's Tax and Benefit System,

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Number 6, March 2000, paragraph 2.13). These estimates took into account recent research and were based on methodology used by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in 1999 study: "Entering Work and the British Tax and Benefit System".

Tax Harmonisation

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on tax harmonisation within the European Union. [134972]

Dawn Primarolo: The Government's approach to EU tax issues is based on fair tax competition, not tax harmonisation. At the recent Feira European Council in June, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor persuaded the EU to accept exchange of information rather than a withholding tax on cross-border savings income as the way forward. This illustrated the success of the Government's policy of constructive engagement on EU issues.

Climate Change Levy

Mr. Luff: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the coal used by steam locomotives on heritage and voluntary railways will be subject to the climate change levy. [134509]

Mr. Timms: Coal used to propel trains will be exempt from climate change levy provided they are not being used for the transportation of passengers to from or within:

a) a place of entertainment, recreation or amusement or

b) a place of cultural, scientific, historical or similar interest.

VAT (Fuel)

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his current estimate of the income from VAT on petrol and diesel sales in the United Kingdom, assuming present pump prices continue unchanged until the end of the financial year. [135086]

Mr. Timms: Forecasts of total VAT receipts are published at the time of the Budget and the pre-Budget Report.

Smuggling

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on progress in the review of the value of fiscal marks as a deterrent to tobacco forestalling and to aid anti-smuggling efforts; and when the review will be completed. [135879]

Dawn Primarolo: The review of the value of fiscal marks as a deterrent to tobacco forestalling and to aid anti-smuggling was completed and the results published in the Regulatory Impact Assessment laid in the Library of the House of Commons in April 2000. Fiscal marks to counter smuggling will be introduced with effect from 1 April 2001. Restrictions on clearances of tobacco from duty-suspended storage to counter forestalling will be in place for Budget 2001.

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Bank Closures

Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what notification is required to (a) his Department and (b) the public authorities prior to the closure of high street bank branches; and if he will make a statement. [135532]

Miss Melanie Johnson: None.

Euro

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent studies his Department has undertaken on the impact of the euro on the UK economy. [135469]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Government have set out five economic tests which define whether an economic case can be made for membership of EMU. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has said we will make another assessment of the five economic tests early in the next Parliament.

Registration

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made since 9 March 1999 on the review by Her Majesty's Customs of the impact of registration on growing businesses. [135873]

Dawn Primarolo: Since the publication of the results of the consultation exercise on 9 March 1999, Customs have consulted widely with small business representatives and academics. The outcome of these consultations will inform future Budget decisions.

Tax Returns (Internet)

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the live pilot of electronic VAT returns. [135876]

Dawn Primarolo: Customs and Excise have been developing a system to allow businesses to send their VAT returns securely over the internet. Following introduction of enabling legislation in the Finance Act 1999, and secondary legislation in February 2000, a limited live pilot of internet VAT returns started on 1 March 2000.

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 28 July 2000, Official Report, column 1034W, on tax returns and the internet, if he will publish the data for each month since 1 January 1997 on how many self-assessment tax returns were (a) issued, (b) received, (c) waiting to be processed and (d) processed; and if he will make a statement. [134238]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 30 October 2000]: The Inland Revenue's self-assessment internet service is the first in a series of electronic services which will be delivered in line with the Government policy that all transactions with Government should be capable of being done electronically by 2005.

The architecture of the internet service has not only been designed to cope with the increase in take-up of the self-assessment internet service, but will serve

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enhancements to that service and future services, such as that for companies, which will be delivered over the next three years.

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The statistical data requested are available only on a monthly basis from May 1998 for the Tax Years 1997-98 et seq. and are as detailed.

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Tax Year/Date	SA returns issued	SA returns received	SA returns processed	SA returns waiting to be processed
1997-98
3 May 1998	8,547,334	259,674	81,451	178,223
31 May 1998	8,633,913	702,870	319,585	383,285
28 June 1998	8,711,634	1,298,673	781,249	517,424
2 August 1998	8,788,923	2,083,105	1,446,595	636,510
30 August 1998	8,845,663	2,787,577	2,021,854	765,723
27 September 1998	8,897,137	3,895,601	2,711,470	1,184,131
1 November 1998	8,954,973	4,944,042	3,912,100	1,031,942
29 November 1998	9,000,034	5,342,335	4,677,158	665,177
3 January 1999	9,024,722	5,816,006	5,165,156	650,850
31 January 1999	9,030,450	7,913,563	6,005,521	1,908,042
28 February 1999	9,086,725	8,254,640	7,252,124	1,002,516
28 March 1999	9,116,935	8,374,888	7,973,651	401,237
1998-99
2 May 1999	8,734,295	306,529	109,778	196,751
30 May 1999	8,826,638	805,864	432,451	373,413
27 June 1999	8,891,744	1,370,936	879,982	490,954
1 August 1999	8,967,094	2,167,722	1,559,826	607,896
29 August 1999	9,015,798	2,900,715	2,111,840	788,875
30 September 1999	9,057,063	4,472,780	2,938,795	1,533,985
31 October 1999	9,109,718	5,006,960	3,931,560	1,075,400
28 November 1999	9,137,453	5,397,759	4,658,370	739,389
2 January 2000	9,150,632	5,873,843	5,148,274	725,569
31 January 2000	9,125,743	7,872,689	5,867,559	2,005,130
27 February 2000	9,178,845	8,343,965	7,041,913	1,302,052
2 April 2000	9,214,442	8,506,751	8,043,818	462,933
1999-2000
30 April 2000	8,763,125	202,063	0	202,063
28 May 2000	8,874,848	652,810	33	652,777
2 July 2000	8,955,640	1,321,170	536,960	784,210
30 July 2000	9,004,347	2,010,712	1,112,762	897,950
3 September 2000	9,054,837	2,885,753	1,851,942	1,033,811
1 October 2000	9,095,909	4,200,312	2,592,546	1,607,766

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