§ Mr. Bestasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for each of the past seven years, how many prosecutions, excluding prosecutions actually brought, were threatened under section 38 (7) of the Finance Act 1972 for (a) failure to make returns of value added tax and (b) nonpayment of value added tax, respectively; and in how many of those cases there were subsequent proceedings under section 33 (1) of the Finance Act 1972 to recover value added tax.
§ Mr. Peter ReesRecords are not available for the whole of the period requested.
Details for the last two years are as follows:
Warnings issued which did not result in prosecution (a) (b) Year ended Failure to furnish VAT returns Failure to pay VAT 31 March 1979 25,250 944 31 March 1980 7,339* * Separate figures are not available. Warnings were not issued during and immediately after the period of industrial action by VAT computer staff. No records are kept which would establish a ready connection between prosecutions threatened and civil recovery proceedings taken. The cost of extracting the information from individual records could not be justified.
§ Mr. Bestasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer who is responsible for instituting criminal proceedings under section 38 (7) of the Finance Act 1972 for failure to furnish returns of value added tax; and, for each of the last seven years, how many such proceedings, expressed numerically and as a percentage of the whole, were (a) brought in cases where no estimated assessment to value added tax had been made, (b) combined with prosecution for non-payment of value added tax and (c) preceded by, or followed by, civil proceedings under section 33 (1) of the Finance Act 1972 to recover value added tax.
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§ Mr. Peter ReesThe Commissioners of Customs and Excise may institute proceedings under section 38 (7) of the Finance Act 1972 for failure to furnish VAT returns. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth, East (Mr. Atkinson) on 4 June 1980—Vol. 985, c.736–38]—for the numbers of such proceedings instituted in the last seven years. During the period from February 1975 to October 1976, some assessments were issued concurrently with prosecution action; the number is not recorded. Otherwise, estimated assessments had not been issued in any of these cases. Prosecutions for failure to furnish VAT returns have never been combined with prosecutions for non-payment of VAT.
No records are kept which would establish a ready connection between prosecutions and civil recovery proceedings. The cost of extracting the information from individual records could not be justified.
§ Mr. Bestasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer who is responsible for instituting criminal proceedings under section 38 (7) of the Finance Act 1972 for nonpayment of value added tax; who decides in such cases, and on what basis, whether to bring civil proceedings under section 33 (1) of the Finance Act 1972 to recover the value added tax or criminal proceedings under section 38 (7) of the Finance Act 1972; and how often in each of the last seven years both civil and criminal proceedings have been taken in respect of the same unpaid value added tax.
§ Mr. Peter ReesProceedings under section 38 (7) of the Finance Act 1972 may be instituted by order of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise against persons who persistently fail to comply with the requirement to pay value added tax accounted for on a return.
Civil proceedings under section 33 (1) are ordered by the commissioners to recover unpaid tax which cannot be recovered by distress action.
No records are kept which would establish a ready connection between civil and criminal proceedings. The cost of extracting the information from individual records could not be justified.
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§ Mr. Bestasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many civil actions for recovery of value added tax Her Majesty's Commissioners of Customs and Excise have brought under section 33 (1) of the Finance Act 1972 in each of the past seven years; and who is responsible for bringing such actions.
§ Mr. Peter ReesThe Commissioners of Customs and Excise are responsible for bringing civil actions under section 33 (1) of the Finance Act 1972 for recovery of unpaid value added tax. The number of such actions brought was as follows:
Financial Year No. of actions 1973–74 Nil 1974–75 2,242 1975–76 2,033 1976–77 3,117 1977–78 3,844 1978–79 2,903 1979–80 2,616
§ Mr. Bestasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much value added tax has been recovered in each of the past seven years as a result of judgments in, or settlements of, civil proceedings brought under section 33 (1) of the Finance Act 1972.
§ Mr. Peter ReesThe amounts of value added tax recovered as a result of judgments in, or settlements of, civil proceedings brought under section 33 (1) of the Finance Act 1972 were as follows:
Financial Year Amount recovered £ million 1973–74 Nil 1974–75 1.1 1975–76 1.5 1976–77 3.6 1977–78 4.4 1978–79 4.6 1979–80 5.0