§ Mr. Robert Sheldonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the extent to which payments into the Exchequer of pay-as-you-earn national insurance contributions and value added tax are currently in arrears.
§ Sir Geoffrey Howe[pursuant to his reply, 25 February 1980, c. 443]: In the case of PAYE and national insurance contributions the amounts due from employers vary from month to month but average about £2,400 million nationally per month. About two-thirds of the total 454W is received by the statutory due date, the 19th of the month, and the greater part of the balance by the end of the month.
The due date for making returns and paying value added tax is one month after the end of each three-monthly accounting period. Gross payments vary from month to month and currently range from £800 million to £2,000 million. The amount paid by the due date has always been small; but in the most recent period for which records are available, about three-quarters of the arrears have been paid within one month.