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26 Nov 2008 : Column 1923W—continued
VAT: Bingo
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many claims to reclaim overpaid to value added tax HM Revenue and Customs has received from bingo operators in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make statement. [239785]
Mr. Timms: HM Revenue and Customs does not hold information on overall numbers of claims for overpaid VAT across this business sector.
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the European Union's principle of fiscal neutrality applies to main stage bingo operators. [239788]
Angela Eagle: The application of VAT is generally subject to the legal principles of fiscal neutrality and equal treatment, under which similar goods or services should not usually be taxed differently where such a difference could impact upon competition. HM Revenues Customs consider that the VAT treatment of main stage bingo complies with these principles.
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether value added tax (VAT) will have to be repaid to bingo operators following the recent VAT and duties tribunal concerning Rank Group. [239789]
Mr. Timms: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) disagree with the decision of the Tribunal in this case, and have submitted an appeal to the High Court. This appeal is due to be heard early next year. Pending the outcome, HMRC does not plan to refund VAT to any other bingo operators.
VAT: Small Businesses
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many value added tax (VAT) default surcharges have been issued by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) at the (a) 2 per cent., (b) 5 per cent., (c) 10 per cent. and (d) 15 per cent. rate to small and medium-sized businesses as a result of (i) failure of HMRC to receive their VAT return and (ii) failure of HMRC to receive VAT payment in each of the last four financial quarters; and if he will make a statement. [238673]
Mr. Timms: Under current legislation HM Revenue and Customs issue VAT Default Surcharges only when tax is paid late. During the last 12 month period for which figures are available, they issued 305,610 surcharges, broken down as follows.
| Surcharges issued | ||||
| Financial quarter ended | 2 per cent. | 5 per cent. | 10 per cent. | 15 per cent. |
Reliable information is not readily available on the default surcharges issued to businesses of different size and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
As my right hon. Friend announced in the pre-Budget report that no penalties or surcharges will be applied once a “time to pay” arrangement has been agreed.
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many consultations have been requested by small and medium-sized businesses with HM Revenue and Customs Advice Centre to defer payment of value added tax in each of the last four financial quarters; how many have resulted in payment being deferred in each quarter; and if he will make a statement. [238674]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available.
Welfare Tax Credits
Jenny Willott: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many individuals with an annual income of (a) between £30,000 and £40,000, (b) between £40,000 and £50,000, (c) between £50,000 and £60,000 and (d) over £60,000 received tax credits in each year since the introduction of tax credits; and if he will make a statement; [235884]
(2) how much has been claimed in tax credits (a) in total and (b) on average from individuals with an annual income of (i) between £30,000 and £40,000, (ii) between £40,000 and £50,000, (iii) between £50,000 and £60,000 and (iv) over £60,000 in each year since the introduction of tax credits; and if he will make a statement. [235885]
Mr. Timms: Information on the average number of in-work families benefiting from tax credits, in each of the specified bands of income used to taper awards, is provided in the following table, along with the average and total entitlements of these families. This information is based on final family incomes and circumstances for each year.
| Range of income used to taper awards (£) | Number of families (thousand) | Average entitlement (£) | Total entitlement (£ million) | |
Jenny Willott: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his Department's estimate is of the effect on receipts to the Exchequer of increasing the taper rate on tax credits to (a) 46 per cent., (b) 45 per cent., (c) 44 per cent. and (d) 43 per cent. in 2009; what his estimate is of the number of people who would no longer be eligible for tax credits in each case; and if he will make a statement. [238778]
Mr. Timms: The estimated saving, in 2009-10, of increasing the first taper rate of tax credits to the rates requested, is provided in the following table. No account has been taken of possible behavioural effects.
| First Taper Rate (percentage) | Effect on expenditure (£m) |
These changes would increase the number of claimants with awards reduced to zero.
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
Jenny Willott: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many individual cases of tax credit overpayments his Department has taken to court to seek recovery in (a) each month of 2008-09 to date and (b) each year from 2003-04 to 2007-08; and if he will make a statement. [230441]
Mr. Timms: HM Revenue and Customs initiates court action only as a last resort where all attempts to contact the customer have failed.
The number of court actions initiated through county court (England and Wales)(1), Sheriffs court (Scotland) and magistrates court (Northern Ireland) for 2006-07, 2007-08 and for each month of 2008-09 to October 2008 for the recovery of tax credit overpayments are in the following table. The information for years prior to 2006-07 is not available.
(1) For England and Wales these figures relate only to actions commenced centrally and exclude actions commenced by local HMRC debt pursuit offices where it is not possible to readily disaggregate tax credit cases from the total number of local initiated court actions.
| Court cases | |
The figure for 2006-07 corrects information I gave on 3 May 2007, Official Report, column 1810W, in answer to a question from the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws).
The 2006-07 figure includes a total of 1,671 cases where HM Revenue and Customs initiated court action in Northern Ireland for the recovery of tax credit overpayments. This corrects information given on 12 July 2007, Official R eport, column 1589W, in answer to the hon. Member for Upper Bann (David Simpson).
I very much regret these inadvertent errors which have only just come to light.
Working Tax Credit: Luton
Margaret Moran: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of families claiming working tax credit in Luton South constituency have been asked to repay all or part of the credit received. [240040]
Mr. Timms: Estimates of the number of families with tax credit awards, including information on overpayments, by constituency, based on final family circumstances and incomes, are available in the HMRC publications ‘Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards. Supplement on Payments. Geographical Analyses’, for each relevant year. These publications are available on the HMRC website at:
HMRC do not produce these statistics separately for child tax credit and working tax credit.
Margaret Moran: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many and what proportion of persons entitled to (a) working tax credit and (b) child tax credit in Luton, South constituency claimed each credit in each year since the inception of such tax credits; [240050]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of persons entitled to (a) working tax credit and (b) child tax credit in Luton, South constituency who have not claimed each credit in each year since the inception of such tax credits; [240051]
Mr. Timms: Estimates of tax credit take-up rates are not available at constituency level. However, estimates of take-up rates for in-work families with children, at a country and regional level, for 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06, are available in Table 9 of the HMRC publication ‘Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit Take-up rates’, for each relevant year. These publications are available on the HMRC website at:
Estimates of the average number of families benefiting from tax credits in each constituency, based on final family circumstances and incomes, are available in the HMRC publication ‘Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised annual awards. Geographical analyses’, for each relevant year. These publications are available on the HMRC website at:
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