§ Mr. CurryTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether, pursuant to the reply of 6 February,Official Report, column 548, to the hon. Member for Suffolk, South (Mr. Yeo), he has received any recent representations about the timetable for the imposition of value added tax on non-domestic construction and property;
(2) what discussions he has had with representative bodies in the construction industry about the proposed commencement date of 1 April 1989 for the extension of value added tax to non-domestic construction; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LilleyI have received a number of letters on this subject since 6 February. I met the joint taxation committee of the Building Employers Confederation and other construction industry trade bodies on 16 February. I told the committee that there was to be no change in the commencement dates I announced on 6 February following an extensive period of consultation.
§ Mr. CurryTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will indicate when Her Majesty's Customs and Excise plans to publish guidance literature on the proposed extension of value added tax to non-domestic constructon; and what steps are being taken to see that traders affected by the new rules receive that literature sufficiently before the proposed start date for the new regime.
§ Mr. LilleyThe guidance for building contractors is now available in local VAT offices. That for property developers and landlords is expected to be available during the week ending 17 March. All the trade bodies have known about the main changes since 21 June 1988 and they have had the draft legislation since 6 February. They have thus had ample time to inform their members accordingly. In addition Customs and Excise has referred to the changes in "VAT Notes" (No. 2) 1988–89 and will do so again in "VAT Notes" (No. 1) 1989–90. "VAT Notes" goes to every registered trader with the VAT return and will alert traders to the further guidance available from local VAT offices.