§ Mr. John Pattenasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Inland Revenue has de minim is limits for automatic repayments of tax.
§ Mr. Peter ReesWhere an assessment has been made, and this shows a repayment due to the taxpayer, repayment is invariably made of the full amount. But where the end of year check applied to schedule E taxpayers shows an overpayment or £5 or less, an assessment is not made except at the taxpayer's request; for larger sums an assessment is made automatically. Where an employer has paid over more PAYE tax during the year than the amount shown on his returns, and exceptionally it is not practicable to carry the excess forward to the next year, a repayment is not made automatically if the excess is £5 or less.
As regards payment of tax assessed, where a payment to the collector exceeds the amount due, and the discrepancy is not noted before the payment has been processed, the excess is not repaid automatically unless it is greater than £1.
For capital transfer tax, assessments which lead to repayments of sums overpaid are not initiated automatically by 748W the capital taxes office if the amount involved is £10 or less.
The aim of these tolerances is to minimise work which is highly cost-ineffective; they cannot operate to deny a repayment to a taxpayer who has claimed his full entitlement.