§ Sir William ClarkI beg to move amendment No. 47, in page 20, line 26, at end insert
'(9)(a) Where a payment is made to an employee which, on the application of the person making or receiving the payment or both of them, is determined by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue to be a payment made upon a redundancy but not one which falls within section 412 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970 the payment shall not be chargeable to income tax under Schedule E except under the provisions of section 187 of the said Income and Corporation Taxes Act.(b) In determining under paragraph (a) above whether or not a payment is a payment upon a redundancy the Commissioners shall have regard to all the circumstances surrounding the making of the payment.(c) A person who has made an application under paragraph (a) above and who is dissatisfied with the decision of the Commissioners may appeal to the General or Special Commissioners to determine whether or not the payment in question is a payment upon a redundancy.'.It is not necessary for me to rehearse the arguments made in Committee. The amendment concerns redundancy payments. It would take out of the extrastatutory concession list the discretion given to the Revenue to deal with the payments under the income tax legislation. I am sure that I carry the whole House with me in this. One thing that I do not like about extrastatutory concessions is that there is no right of appeal, and that omission should be remedied, which is the objective of the amendment.My hon. and learned Friend the Minister of State may not accept my amendment, but I hope that he will say that, if cases are put to him in the next year, he will consider them sympathetically.
§ Mr. Peter ReesI share my hon. Friend's reservations about the undesirability of proceeding too far and too often by extrastatutory concessions. Indeed, in Committee my right hon. and learned Friend the Chief Secretary said that he would endeavour to see whether the statement of practice put out by the Inland Revenue on 10 March on non-statutory redundancy payments could be translated into law. It can be done, but we felt, on consideration, that it would deprive the Revenue of a certain measure of flexibility, which, on the whole, would be exercised in favour of the taxpayer.
However, I recognise the force of my hon. Friend's constitutional objections, but I hope that he will allow the matter to rest on the basis of the statement of practice for the time being. I am happy to give him and the House the assurance that, should hard evidence be brought to our attention that the Revenue is exercising its discretion in a way which does not do full justice to the needs of individual taxpayers, we shall be happy to come back on another occasion with a statutory provision that the House can consider in detail.
1276 I hope that on that basis my hon. Friend will feel able to withdraw his amendment.
§ Sir William ClarkIn view of my hon. and learned Friend's explanation and assurance, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.