§ Mr. Tim Smithasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many late registrations for value added tax were recorded in the period 1 January to 31 May 1986; how many in the corresponding period of 1985; how many have incurred a penalty; in how many cases the penalty has been waived because of a reasonable excuse; whether any reasonable excuse other than serious illness has been accepted by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise; what was the aggregate tax outstanding in the penalty cases; and what was the aggregate penalty exacted.
§ Mr. BrookeI regret that, since registration for VAT is dealt with at local VAT offices, some of the information requested by my hon. Friend is not held centrally. Customs and Excise estimates that before the new penalty system was introduced belated notifications were in the range of 10,000 to 12,000 a year. Since the introduction of penalties under section 15 of the Finance Act 1985. some 3,200 penalties have been imposed. The aggregated value of the penalties imposed to 31 May 1986 is £1,645,000, and the aggregated tax outstanding about £5 million. A plea of reasonable excuse has been accepted by Customs and Excise in about 150 cases where registration was late. A substantial proportion of such cases have involved serious illness and the like, but a number of other excuses have also been accepted as reasonable on the particular facts concerned.