§ Mr. Soamesasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the United Kingdom has received its value added tax abatement in respect of payments into the European Community Budget in 1985.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe European Community 1986 budget provides for an automatic abatement of the United Kingdom's VAT payments for 1,400 mecu (£900 million) in respect of 1985. As VAT contributions are made monthly and the abatement is made by reducing these contributions in equal monthly amounts, 580 mecu (£375 million) of this abatement has already been made available, and a further 820 mecu will be made available between now and the end of the year. The Commission has also said that it will be proposing as part of a supplementary budget this year an additional correction to our 1985 abatement to cover the difference between the estimate of the amount owing to us, and the actual amount.