§ Mr. Copeasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he intends to revise VAT Notice No. 701, which was criticised by the learned chairman of the Scottish VAT Tribunal, in his judgment in the case of Nicoll v. Customs and Excise because page 36 says advertising leaflets are zero-rated whereas page 41 says they are subject to tax.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonNo. I believe the notice is quite clear. On page 36 it is referring to the zero-rating which applies to the advertising leaflet itself, whereas on page 41 it is referring to the chargeable cost to the advertiser of inserting an advertisement in a leaflet.
§ Mr. Copeasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will alter the regulations by which it is possible for a trader's liability for VAT to start from the date of his application or earlier when he cannot collect VAT from his customers until he is issued with a VAT number which may take Her Majesty's Customs and Excise two months.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonNo. A person is required to account for VAT from the date on which he became liable to bi registered. To make liability dependent on the date on which the registration number is issued could encourage traders to defer applying for registration and would thus lead to loss of tax.
§ Mr. Stephen Rossasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total tax due on trade classification 3700 (as per 109W Column No. 5 on VAT Form 100) and total tax deductible on trade classification 3700 (as per Column No. 9 on VAT Form 100) covering the following periods: Nos. 2, 3, 4, 14, 15, 16, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonInformation in the form asked for is not readily available
£ million Tax due Tax deductible Net tax payable or repayable 1973–74 April-September* … … 2.3 7.3 -5.0 October-February … … 12.2 19.4 -7.2 1974–75 April-September … … 12.2 21.8 -9.6 October-February … … 13.3 20.6 -7.3 1975–76 April-September† … … 15.1 23.1 -8.0 * Because the tax is collected in arrear, the figures for 1973–74 cover less than a full year's trading † Provisional.