§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the Inland Revenue has discretion to tell a company which, while still being solvent overall, has insufficient funds on hand to pay to the Inland Revenue's collector of taxes on the due date the total amount owing in respect of both national insurance contributions and pay-as-you-earn income tax, to pay the collector a lesser sum in respect of national insurance contributions only and to stipulate that such payment be applied only in settlement of any outstanding national insurance contributions; and what the company must do to ensure that the collector applies the payment as so stipulated.
§ Mr. MooreThe Inland Revenue cannot tell an employer to pay a lesser amount than that due. Where, exceptionally, a collector of taxes agrees to accept a payment which is less than an employer's full tax and class
544W
§ Mr. MooreThe information requested is as follows. Note that(c) includes recurrent taxes on immovable property, whether local or not, and (d) includes social security contributions paid by the self-employed. Proportions do not add to 100 per cent., as some categories, notably capital taxes, have been excluded.
1 NIC liability, he is instructed to agree with the employer how the payment is to be apportioned. The balance of the full liability remains due and the collector is instructed to take the normal recovery action appropriate to the circumstances of the individual case.
§ Mr. Millanasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidance has been given to collectors of taxes over the recovery of unpaid pay-as-you-earn and national insurance contributions; and whether there has been any change in that guidance in the last three years.
§ Mr. Lawson[pursuant to his reply, 21 February 1984, c. 448]: The majority of employers are due to pay PAYE tax and NI contributions on a monthly basis and it is the duty of collectors of taxes to review unpaid items and to take the recovery action necessary to secure payment. The guidance given has not changed significantly during the last three years except that following industrial action by the Civil Service unions in 1981 recovery action was temporarily suspended whilst the backlog of work was processed and records updated.
In Scotland, the practice of poinding—the equivalent of distraint in England, Wales and Northern Ireland—was extended to include recovery of PAYE/NIC liability in 1982.