§ Mr. PicklesTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many C154 certificates have been issued since the start of the scheme; and how many requests for C154 certificates have been rejected. [118605]
§ Dawn PrimaroloThe Inland Revenue has issued 781,742 registration cards. This includes not only permanent cards but also temporary cards and replacement cards. The Inland Revenue does not keep a record of applications where registration cards are refused.
§ Mr. PicklesTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what checks on eligibility are made in respect of an applicant before a C154 certificate is issued. [118604]
§ Dawn PrimaroloWhere a person works as a subcontractor on a contract to which the Construction Industry Scheme applies they must register with the Inland Revenue if the contractor is to comply with the rules of the scheme when paying them for the work they do. If the contractor does not comply with the rules of the scheme they may incur a penalty.
Subcontractors who are not eligible to receive a certificate entitling them to receive payment gross will be issued with a registration card. This card must be presented, in person, to the contractor before payment can be made. Payments to registration card holders are made after deduction of 18 per cent. on account of tax and Class 4 National Insurance. Under the old scheme, only those who wished to receive payment gross needed to apply to the Inland Revenue for a card. The registration card has been successful in ensuring that 50,000 subcontractors, who were previously unknown to the Inland Revenue, have now registered with a tax office.
In order to register for the scheme an individual must take a completed application form, together with a recent passport size photograph and two proofs of identify, one of which must carry a photograph and one must show their current address, to a tax office.
An individual who also has proof of their National Insurance number, which can be validated by the Inland Revenue through the NIRS system, will be issued with a permanent registration card—CIS4(P). An individual who is unable to provide proof of their National Insurance number, or whose number cannot be validated, is issued with a temporary registration card—CIS4(T) which is only valid for up to three months. The temporary registration card is replaced once the Inland Revenue has validated the individual's National Insurance number.
To date the Inland Revenue have issued approximately 61,000 temporary registration cards, of which over 54,000 have now expired.