§ Mr. Colvinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the response to the Inland Revenue consultative document on the tax treatment of employees' foreign travel expenses.
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§ Mr. MooreWith my authority, the Inland Revenue issued on 29 March this year a consultative document entitled "Travelling Expenses in Connection with Work Done Abroad." This document put forward a number of possible relaxations in the tax treatment of the expenses of employees going to work overseas and employees coming to this country to work that are borne by their employer. I am pleased to say that the proposals have been generally welcomed, and I should like to thank all those who responded.
The Government's intention is that, in so far as its proposals may involve an extension of relief already available either under section 32 of the Finance Act 1977 or under extra-statutory concession A23, that extension should apply from 6 April 1984. However, in so far as any restriction of relief may be involved — for example, compared with the way extra-statutory concession A23 works now—it is intended that that restriction should apply only from 6 April 1985, and then only to people coming to the United Kingdom after the details of our new proposals have been published. Further details of the Government's proposals will be published in due course.