§ Mr. HainTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what is the Inland Revenue's estimate of tax relief since 1988 for Lloyd's names; and if he will make a statement;
(2) on what basis tax relief will be given to Lloyd's names for the years of account since 1988; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir George YoungLloyd's names are traders under general law and tax legislation follows this. Accordingly, trading losses incurred by Lloyd's names are eligible for relief on the same lines as those of other traders: Lloyd's trading losses of any year can be set against other tradeable income of the same tax year or of the previous year, or can be carried forward and set against Lloyd's trading profits of later years.
Changes from the 1991–92 year or assessment enabling trading losses to be set against capital gains apply to all traders, including Lloyd's names.
Information on tax relief is not centrally available.
Income tax and capital gains tax repaid to Lloyd's underwriters by the underwriters unit of Inland Revenue in each year to 5 April since 1988–89 is shown in the following table. The figures cover refunds of tax made over a range of earlier years, and include any repayment supplement attracted by the tax refunded. For comparison purposes, the table also shows the tax charged on initial assessments made during each year on underwriting profits and gains, including estimated assessments.
Fiscal Year Total tax repaid £million Total tax assessed £million 1988–89 157.7 157.3 1989–90 118.2 308.9 1990–91 91.0 228.2 1991–92 126.7 101.8 1992–93 386.6 10.3 1993–94 479.1 3.7