§ Sir G. Humeasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what arrangements have been made under Pay-as-you-earn for the prompt repayment of Income Tax each week to wage earners who lose their employment.
§ Sir J. AndersonWhere a wage-earner becomes unemployed repayments of Income Tax deducted from his earnings will become due week by week; these repayments are the responsibility of the Inland Revenue. The normal Inland Revenue machinery for making repayments involves the issue to taxpayers of Repayment Orders cashable through a bank, and must obviously be supplemented to meet the need of weekly repayments. I am glad to be able to inform my hon. Friend that special arrangements are being made, in conjunction with the Ministry of Labour and National Service, whereby the repayments due to a wage-earner who is out of employment will be paid to him, if he so desires, along with any unemployment benefit or allowances payable each week at the exchange. Under these arrangements the responsibility of computing the repayments will remain entirely that of the Inland Revenue, who will certify to the, employment exchange in each case the amount of the weekly payment to be made. In order to obtain the first repayment, the wage-earner will have to complete a simple form of application. Employers will hold a stock of blank forms for this purpose, and are being asked to give to each wage-earner a copy when he leaves. Subsequent repayments will be made automatically each week without any further written application. For any taxpayer for whom this procedure is unsuitable or who does not wish to adopt it, a Repayment Order for the amount of the repayments due will be sent by post at four-weekly intervals.