§ Mr. BurnsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about the circumstances in which the Board of Inland Revenue will be prepared to consider accepting late elections under the provisions of section 113(2) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.
§ Mr. DorrellAs explained in the reply given by the then Financial Secretary on 10 December 1985, at column 592, in cases where no statutory discretion is given to the Board of Inland Revenue to extend a time limit for a claim or election, it must be assumed that Parliament's intention is that the limit should be applied strictly. The number of cases in which it would be appropriate to exercise discretion under the board's powers of care and management, provided in the Taxes Management Act 1970, is correspondingly limited.
Every such case has to be considered on its own merits, and in the light of the factors relevant to the circumstances in which the claim was made late. However, there would be a presumption in favour of admitting an election under section 113(2) of the 1988 Act which is made as soon as is reasonably possible in all the circumstances, but after the statutory time limit has expired, if the reason for the election being late was one of the following:-
some relevant and uncorrected error on the part of the Inland Revenue has had the effect of misleading the partners or their agent about whether the requirements of the legislation had been met; or
£ million Year Gross contribution before abatement or refunds and public sector receipts Negotiated refunds Abatement Net contribution after abatement refunds and public sector receipts 1973 181 — — 102 1974 179 — — 29 1975 342 — — -56 1976 463 — — 167 1977 737 — — 369 1978 1,348 — — 822 1979 1,606 — — 947 1980 1,767 98 — 706 1981 2,174 693 — 397 1982 2,863 1,019 — 606 1983 2,976 807 — 647 1984 3,201 528 — 656 1985 3,940 61 166 1,808 1986 4,493 — 1,701 572 1987 5,202 — 1,153 1,721 1988 5,138 — 1,594 1,362 1989 5,585 — 1,154 2,315 1990 6,355 — 1,697 2,475 1991 5,806 — 2,497 545