§ 58 and 59. Mr. Gowerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what is the proportion of holders of post-war credit certificates who, on qualifying for repayment, are informed for the first time that the post-war credits have previously been set against tax under-payments; and why 237W the holders are not so informed at an earlier date;
(2) if he will review the practice of notifying holders of post-war credit certificates only when they qualify for repayments through age or other reason of alleged under-payment of tax previously set against the sums specified in the certificates, in view of the fact that under this system holders need to retain records for more than 20 years.
§ Mr. Harold LeverThe hon. Member is referring to a practice authorised by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer by which arrears of tax outstanding at the end of the war were set off against Post-War Credits for 1945–46. The rule was for the credit holder to be notified of the set-off at the time but, because of current conditions, this did not always happen. The number of such cases is unknown and I fear that it is not possible now to pick them out in advance of the time when repayment is claimed.