§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will identify the period of time during which Inland Revenue staff should undertake and complete annual assessing reviews of pay-as-you-earn taxpayers; and if he will estimate the proportion of pay-as-you-earn taxpayers to whom a repayment of tax is found to be due in the course of such work.
§ Mr. MooreInland Revenue staff begin an annual assessing review of pay-as-you-earn taxpayers as soon after 5 April as information regarding pay and tax becomes available from employers. The aim is to complete the review as soon as practicable and the bulk of the work is usually completed over the following few months. No records are maintained of repayments of tax arising specifically out of the review, but based on the latest available figures it is estimated that the proportion of pay-as-you-earn taxpayers to whom a repayment of tax is found to be due would not exceed one in twenty.
§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether Inland Revenue instructions provide for the records of all pay-as-you-earn taxpayers to be reviewed annually for assessment or non-assessment; and what categories of pay-as-you-earn taxpayers are excluded from this process.
§ Mr. MooreInland Revenue instructions provide for the records of all pay-as-you-earn taxpayers who were in employment at 5 April or in receipt of unemployment benefit or occupational pension at that date to be reviewed annually for assessment or non-assessment.
Taxpayers who ceased employment during the tax year without subsequently receiving either unemployment benefit or an occupational pension are normally excluded from this review: separate in-year procedures exist for the handling of final cessations of employment.
§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the number of pay-as-you-earn taxpayers for whom the last tax year will not have been 127W assessed or otherwise cleared by Inland Revenue staff by 5 April; and if he will list, by Inland Revenue region, the number of pay-as-you-earn taxpayers not so assessed or cleared after 12 months in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. MooreThe Inland Revenue estimates that the number of pay-as-you-earn cases* which will not have been assessed or otherwise cleared for the year ended 5 April 1984 by 12 April 1985—when national figures are next collated—will be approximately 2.9 million (10 per cent. of the total).
The following table shows the comparative figures, by Inland Revenue region, for the three previous years:
Uncleared Cases at April 000's Region 1984 1983 1982 East London 42 42 52 North London 54 55 58 South London 65 68 84 West London 73 76 99 Eastern Counties 250 206 236 Greater Manchester 156 195 241 North 148 134 170 North West 141 136 170 South East 313 276 281 South West 108 106 134 South Yorkshire 230 218 244 West Midlands 265 171 198 Wales 81 93 152 Scotland 142 190 260 Northern Ireland 47 52 60 TOTALS 2,115 2,018 2,439 PERCENTAGE (7.4) (7.3) (9.0) * "Cases" represent employment etc. sources within PAYE and taxpayers with multiple sources will be counted more than once. The total given is for 1984–85.