§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he plans any changes in the arrangements for repaying income tax post-war credits.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettYes. The great majority of those entitled to claim payment of post-war credits have now been repaid since the general release in 1973. Only relatively small numbers of claims continue to reach the Inland Revenue, but the organisation to deal with them is costly in staff, office accommodation and storage space for war-time records. This is particularly true of claims made by claimants who are unable to produce a PWC certificate so that the Revenue has to try to trace the relevant details of the claimant's war-time earnings.
The Government consider that it would now be reasonable to set a time limit for claims not supported by certificates and have decided that uncertificated claims, if they are to be accepted, must be submitted by the end of this year. A Statutory Instrument setting 31st December 1978 as the final date for the acceptance of such claims will be laid shortly. This change relates only to uncertificated claims; claims accompanied by one or more PWC certificates will continue to be accepted after 31st December 1978 until further notice.