§ Dr. McDonaldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) when the computerisation of the personal income tax system will be completed;
(2) what is the cost of the computer installation for the personal income tax system and the cost of its reorganisation;
(3) whether it would be necessary to write a new computer programme for the personal income tax system if equal taxation was introduced by virtue of the repeal of section 37 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act.
§ Mr. Peter Rees[pursuant to his reply, 14 November 1979, c. 626–7]: Decisions on the computerisation of PAYE will not be taken until Ministers have considered the report of the current feasibility study. Meanwhile the Revenue's present planning assumptions are that PAYE will be fully computerised by early 1987. It is too early to make firm predictions of the ultimate cost, but the latest estimates suggest that the total gross cost of implementation may be of the order of £130 million at present day prices. As with the existing computer system for the 72W PAYE taxation of Scottish employers at East Kilbride, a decision to change the personal tax system in a way which affects PAYE, including the taxation of husband and wife, would need to be reflected in the detailed computer programmes of a national PAYE computer system.