Advance Corporation Tax

HC Deb 19 February 1996 vol 272 cc15-6W

Mr. Robert Ainsworth

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the amount of advance corporation tax reclaimed by tax exempt institutions each month over the past five years. [13928]

Mr. Jack

Advance corporation tax paid by companies is not repayable to shareholders. Exempt institutions, such as pension funds, insurance companies' exempt funds and charities are, however, entitled to payment of the tax credit issued with the dividends and other qualifying distributions they receive. This recognises that the dividends have already borne tax at the company level. Tax credits to exempt institutions are not separately accounted for and precise statistics are, therefore, not available. It is estimated, however, that exempt institutions will receive around £3.5 billion in payments of tax credits from qualifying distributions in 1995–96.