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2 Jun 2009 : Column 418W—continued
Taxation: Construction
Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will assess the merits of extending gift aid to not-for-profit agencies that reuse, reclaim and up-cycle redundant and surplus construction materials; and if he will make a statement. [277490]
Mr. Timms: The Treasury keeps all tax reliefs under review, but has no plans to extend Gift Aid beyond money donations to charities and community amateur sports clubs. Gift Aid is only available for gifts of money and extending it to donations of construction materials would increase complexity and add uncertainty over valuation issues.
Taxation: Sports
Mr. Andy Reed: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he has made of the merits of uprating the trading and rental income thresholds for corporation tax exemption for clubs registered as community amateur sports clubs in line with inflation; [277686]
(2) what the trading and rental income thresholds for corporation tax exemption are for community amateur sports clubs; and what they would be if they had been uprated in line with inflation in each year since 2004. [277688]
Mr. Timms: Income exemption thresholds for corporation tax for community amateur sports clubs (CASCs) are, along with all other income thresholds for tax, kept under review.
CASCs are exempt from corporation tax on any trading income up to £30,000 and on income from property up to £20,000. Prior to April 2004, the limits were £15,000 and £10,000 respectively.
The following tables show what the thresholds would have been had they been increased in line with inflation.
| Exemption for trading profits | |||
| Threshold (£) | RPI (Percentage) | Inflation linked threshold (£) | |
| Exemption for rental income | |||
| Threshold (£) | RPI (Percentage) | Inflation linked threshold (£) | |
VAT: Hospices
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will bring forward proposals to exempt hospices from payment of value added tax in respect of building extension works. [276875]
Mr. Timms: Under agreements with our European partners, signed by successive governments, we are not able to extend our existing VAT zero rates or introduce any new ones.
VAT: Retail Trade
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment his Department has made of the likely effect on retail businesses of the proposed change in the rate of value added tax in January 2010; [277316]
(2) what recent discussions his Department has had with retailers on changes to value added tax rates; and what the outcomes of those discussions were. [277317]
Mr. Timms: An assessment of the impact of the temporary reduction in the VAT standard rate, including the impact of returning the rate to 17.5 per cent., was published when the reduction was announced in November 2008 and is available at:
Treasury Ministers and officials have since met with representatives from the retail sector on a number of occasions to discuss the temporary reduction in the VAT standard rate. Budget 2009 confirmed that the rate will return to 17.5 per cent. from 1 January 2010, allowing businesses to plan with certainty for that date.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will continue to discuss with retail and other businesses the practical issues associated with the change. To address the particular difficulties for businesses such as pubs and clubs that will remain open beyond midnight on 31 December, HMRC will allow a few hours' grace in which they may continue charging the 15 per cent. rate for a session that goes into the early hours of 1 January.
Welfare Tax Credits: Essex
Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point have been (i) overpaid and (ii) underpaid tax credits (A) once, (B) twice and (C) three or more times in each of the last five years. [277192]
Mr. Timms:
The following table provides a snapshot of information on the number of families in Essex and in Castle Point constituency, with one, two and three or more underpayments or overpayments of tax credits between 2003-04 and 2006-07. This is based on families who had a 2006-07 tax credit award and lived in Essex and in Castle Point constituency as at 31 August 2006.
Information for 2007-08 is not yet available at parliamentary constituency level, further information can be found at:
| Thousand | ||||
| Regularity with which overpayment or underpayment of tax credits occurred | Number of awards underpaid | Number of awards overpaid | ||
| Essex( 1) | Castle Point | Essex( 1) | Castle Point | |
| (1) These figures include those of Castle Point parliamentary constituency. | ||||
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
Steve Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 26 November 2008, Official Report, column 1926W, on welfare tax credits: overpayments, how many individual cases of tax credit overpayments his Department has taken to court to seek recovery in each month since October 2008; and if he will make a statement. [276697]
Mr. Timms: HM Revenue and Customs initiates court action only as a last resort.
The number of court actions initiated through county court (England and Wales)(1), sheriffs court (Scotland) and magistrates court (Northern Ireland) from January 2009 to March 2009 for the recovery of tax credit over-payments are provided in the following table.
| Court cases | |
(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.
For information for November and December 2008, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) on 9 February 2009, Official Report, column 1632W.
Welfare Tax Credits: South West
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in each constituency in the South West have been (a) overpaid and (b) underpaid tax credits (i) once, (ii) twice and (iii) three or more times since April 2003. [276714]
Mr. Timms: The following table provides a snapshot of information on the number of families in the South West region with one, two and three or more underpayments or overpayments of tax credits between 2003-04 and 2006-07. This is based on families who had a 2006-07 tax credit award and lived in the South West region as at 31 August 2006. Information for 2007-08 is not yet available at parliamentary constituency level, further information can be found at
| Thousand | ||
| Regularity with which overpayment or underpayment of tax credits occurred | Number of awards underpaid | Number of awards overpaid |
Housing: Low Incomes
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Exchequer has received in receipts from right to buy schemes in each year since 1997. [274874]
Mr. Iain Wright: I have been asked to reply.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 27 April 2009, Official Report, column 1118W. Prior to 1 April 2004, receipts arising from the disposal of dwellings under right to buy (RTB) were retained by the local authorities, although authorities with debt set aside 75 per cent. of that receipt to repay their housing debt.
Social homebuy sales have only been made since February 2007. Receipts arising from right to acquire (RTA) sales and social homebuy sales by housing associations are retained by registered social landlords (RSLs) and are reinvested in the provision of affordable housing. Local authorities are allowed to retain all social homebuy sales receipts, provided these are used for the purposes set out in statutory instrument 2006/521.
The following table shows for each financial year since 2004-05 the total housing receipts received by the Department. Data on RTB and local authority social homebuy receipts received by the Department are not collected separately, but most of these arise from RTB sales. The table also shows the amount of those receipts received by the Department which were then passed on to the Exchequer.
| £ million | ||
| Receipts received by the Department | Receipts passed on to the Exchequer | |
| (1) Figures for 2008-09 are estimates. | ||
The following table shows the amount invested by central Government in housing capital projects. It also shows how much of that was expenditure through the Home and Communities Agency’s Affordable Housing Programme on new build and acquisitions on both social rent and low cost home ownership schemes.
| £ million | ||
| Total Department’s capital investment in housing | Total expenditure through the Affordable Housing Programme | |
| (1) Figures for 2008-09 are estimates. | ||
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