§ LORD R. CECIL (Marylebone, E.)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the form of Return of Employment under the provisions of the Finance Act, 1907; and what is the statutory authority for the last two columns of that form.
(Answered by Mr. Asquith.) Yes. The form is issued under the authority of Section 21 (1) of the Finance Act, 1907, which requires an employer to make a return of the payments made to any persons employed by him in respect of that employment. Considerable misapprehension being known to exist as to the necessity for including fees, bonuses, and other similar emoluments, a special column for such payments was inserted in the return. The last column was inserted to save trouble to employees claiming exemption or abatement. It has not, however, been found to be of much use, and will be omitted in future editions of the form.