asked the Minister for Finance the total amount of tax under each heading outstanding at the end of 1982; if it is expected that the outstanding amount will be paid in 1983; and, if not, the reason.
Written Answers . - Outstanding Tax .
128.
: The total amount of tax outstanding in respect of all years up to and including 1980-81 as shown in the Appropriation Accounts, 1981, published in July 1982, was £1,218.5 million. The amount outstanding for those years at the end of 1982 was £961.7 million, a reduction of £256.8 million. (Of this reduction, over 90 per cent was discharged as not being properly due and some 10 per cent was brought into the Exchequer.) The break-down of the £961.7 million under the various headings is as follows:
|
£m |
|
|
Income tax (self-employed including farmers) |
506.9 |
|
Income tax (PAYE) |
26.2 |
|
Corporation tax |
278.5 |
|
Value-added tax |
112.5 |
|
Capital Acquisitions tax, Estate duty and Wealth tax |
1.4 |
|
Capital Gains tax |
36.2 |
The figures relating to tax outstanding for all years up to and including 1981-82 will be included in the Appropriation Accounts, 1982, which will be published later this year.
In considering the figures of outstanding tax, regard should be had to the fact that the assessment of liability to tax and the collecting of the amounts due fall broadly into (i) a system of direct assessment, such as income tax and corporation tax, and (ii) a system of periodic self-assessment and payment, as in the case of PAYE and value-added tax.
In the case of direct assessments, because of delay in obtaining accounts and returns, and frequently because of difficulties in making up the accounts of traders and companies, many assessments are estimated. The sums, so estimated, then come into the processes of appeal and negotiation and there is often a long lapse of time before the final liability can be ascertained and settled. In the system of self-assessment, there are also provisions for estimating liability when traders or employers fail to make the prescribed returns and payments.
With regard to the second part of the question, the Deputy will, of course, appreciate that the tax paid in any year comes partly from liabilities first incurred in that year and partly from arrears, which either become established through the processes of estimation and appeal or which are collected through legal proceedings. The tax yield for 1983 is expected to be £4,730 million, which will include some part of the amounts which I have mentioned, but, at this stage, it would not be possible to identify among the figures, which cover all amounts apparently outstanding at 31 December last, those which will be paid in 1983.
The amounts now shown as outstanding will to a substantial degree be discharged as being in excess of the true liability in the ordinary course of the administration of the taxes.