Incapacity Benefit (Hansard, 20 June 1995)

§ Mr. Gareth Wardell
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if a person who is in receipt of incapacity benefit will be treated for tax purposes in exactly the same way as a person in receipt of retirement pension. [28979]

§ Sir George Young
Both incapacity benefit and state retirement pension are taxable, except for incapacity benefit payable in the first 28 weeks of incapacity, and additional payments of both incapacity benefit and retirement pension payable to claimants with children. For most claimants, arrangements for collecting tax are broadly similar in both cases.
150W
Exchequer how much extra revenue would be raised from the extension of VAT to new building. [28884]

§ Mr. Heathcoat-Amory
The Treasury publication, "Tax Ready Reckoner and Tax Reliefs", shows that applying the standard rate of VAT to new dwellings is estimated to raise £1,950 million in a full year in 1994–95. This figure makes no allowance for behavioural changes.

§ Mrs. Peacock
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses registered and deregistered for value added tax in(a) Batley and Spen and (b) west Yorkshire each year since 1983. [27710]

§ Mr. Heathcoat-Amory
[holding answer 13 June 1995]: Customs does not have information concerning the number of businesses registered and deregistered in the Batley and Spen constituency. The local VAT office at Halifax covers, in addition to Halifax, the towns of Batley, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Morley, Todmorden and part of Bradford. The local VAT offices at Bradford, Doncaster, Halifax and Leeds cover the west Yorkshire area. They are able to provide only the number of registrations and deregistrations for VAT at the Halifax office and in west Yorkshire since 1985. These are in the following schedule.
Traders who are in business and trading below the registrations threshold may choose to register for VAT, if they wish. This gives them the advantage of being able to reclaim VAT paid on goods and expenses in connection with their business. Above the threshold level registration is obligatory.
The effect of the substantial increase in the registration threshold in both 1991 and 1993 provides an explanation for the net decrease in the number of registered businesses since 1991.