§ Mr. Neil Hamiltonasked the Chancellor of the Exhequer what was the average cost in the year 1982–83 of an employee in the Customs and Excise division responsible for control visits to value added tax registered traders, inclusive of employer's national insurance contributions, contributions to Civil Service pension fund and an estimate of office back-up, travelling expenses and wages.
§ Mr. HayhoeThe estimated average cost in 1982–83 of an employee of Customs and Excise engaged in the collection of VAT was £16,280. This figure includes all the cost elements mentioned in the question.
§ Mr. Neil Hamiltonasked the Chancellor of the Exhequer what was the number, in each of the last five years, of value added tax registered traders who were deregistered as a consequence of being reclassified by the Inland Revenue as employed rather than self-employed persons; and how much revenue was lost to the Customs and Excise Commissioners as a result.
§ Mr. HayhoeThis information is not available as no separate record is kept of deregistrations which take place for this reason.
§ Mr. Neil Hamiltonasked the Chancellor of the Exhequer if he will estimate for the year 1982–83 the amount of revenue involved in (a) under declarations and (b) over declaration discovered by the Customs and Excise division responsible for control visits to value added tax registered traders.
§ Mr. HayhoeUnder declarations of tax amounting to £270 million and over declarations of about £24 million were discovered as a result of VAT control visits during 1982–83. Visits were also made to traders to verify selected repayments returms prior to repayment being authorised. The net value of adjustments made to traders' VAT returns as a result of these visits was approximately £20 million in the revenue's favour.