§ Mr. SquireTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will supply for each of the last three years the breakdown in penalties for serious misdeclaration penalties under value added tax regulations in the following table(a) under £5,000, (b) under £10,000, (c) under £20,000, (d) under £50,000, (e) under £100,000, (f) under £500,000, (g) under £1 million and (h) over £1 million and in each band the total sum thus levied.
§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard[holding answer 4 February 1991]: Serious misdeclaration penalty has been in force only since 1 April 1990 and information on penalties imposed will be published after the end of the financial year, when more data will be available.
§ Mr. SquireTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many serious misdeclaration penalties under value added tax regulations have related to the profits or turnover of the business concerned in each of the last three years; and what percentage that was of the total of such cases.
§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard[holding answer 4 February 1991]: Liability to serious misdeclaration penalty can arise where large misdeclarations are made on VAT returns. Such misdeclarations encompass a range of accounting errors and information is not available to identify how many of the penalties imposed have related to the profits or turnover of the business concerned.