§ Sir J. Hutchisonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of the 291,000 private companies on the register in the United Kingdom at March, 1956, or the nearest convenient date, came within the definition of companies under Section 256, so as to be liable to have their income apportioned for Surtax purposes under Section 245 of the Income Tax Act, 1952; and for how many of those companies were directions issued by the Special Commissioners in respect of the year ended 31st March, 1956.
§ Mr. PowellThe information asked for in the first part of the Question is not available. As regards the second part of the Question, the number of companies to which notice of a Surtax direction was given by the Special Commissioners during the twelve months ended 31st March, 1956, was 716, of which 632 were investment companies which are subject to automatic direction.