§ 51. Mr. LEONARDasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the number of claims admitted for repayment of tax deducted by limited companies from their shareholders; the number of shareholders in limited companies registered in Great Britain; the total amount repaid in respect of such claims and the total amount of the income on which tax is paid by the said companies; the number of persons paying tax upon interest on capital received from co-operative societies; the amount of tax paid and the sum on which tax is paid; the total amount of interest paid by co-operative societies registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies' Act; and the number of members of the said societies?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINI regret I am unable to supply any of the Income Tax 1340 statistics asked for by the hon. Member. The Inland Revenue Department deals with over 1,800,000 claims for repayment annually but these claims relate to all kinds of income that have been subject to tax and no records are kept which would show how many of these claims relate to dividends paid by companies. In the case of co-operative societies the interest paid is not subject to deduction of tax at the source but is assessed to Income Tax in the hands of the recipient if he is liable to Income Tax and no statistics are compiled showing the extent to which the interest in fact bears tax. With regard to the amount of interest paid by co-operative societies and the numbers of their members, I would refer the hon. Member to the report of the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies for 1931 (Part 3, Section 2).