§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many small companies—using the Bolton Report definition—did not pay corporation tax during their last financial year.
§ Mr. Joel Barnett, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 6th February 1976; Vol. 904, c. 777, gave the following information:
From the information available on corporation tax assessments it is not in general possible to identify those companies which would fall within the definition of small companies in the Bolton Report. Out of the total of companies coming within the scope of corporation tax, some 90,000 are estimated to have had nil net amount chargeable to corporation tax for their accounting periods ending in 1972–73. This estimate does not include companies thought to be dormant in that period.