Foreign Income Dividends (Hansard, 6 February 1998)

§ Mr. Heathcoat-Amory
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many companies have paid foreign income dividends since 2 July 1997. [27720]

§ Mr. Geoffrey Robinson
About 500 companies have paid foreign income dividends (FIDs) since 2 July 1997. This includes companies without an overseas source of income of their own but who have received FIDs from companies in which they have an equity holding.

§ Mr. Heathcoat-Amory
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the effect on revenue from ACT consequential on the abolition of foreign income dividends in July 1997. [27719]

§ Mr. Geoffrey Robinson
Since July 1997 when my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the abolition of foreign income dividends (FIDs) in April 1999 and the ending of payable tax credits for pension funds and UK companies, FIDs have increased to cost about £1 billion a year in lower advance corporation tax (ACT). This loss will be subsumed in the Pre-Budget Report proposals for a modern system of corporation tax payments which include the abolition of ACT on dividends paid after 6 April 1999.