§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 22 January 2003,Official Report, column 422W, on unpaid tax, if he will estimate the total unpaid tax, broken down by each major category, for 2000–01; and if he will make a statement. [94615]
§ Dawn Primarolo[holding answer 3 February 2003]: The Inland Revenue's accounting year for tax runs to the end of October each year. Over the last eight years, 184W the amounts of tax unpaid at that date have approximately halved as a proportion of the tax collected during the year.
The figures for October 2001 were:
Inland Revenue £ million Income Tax other than PAYE 2,348.7 Corporation Tax1 566.6 Other (Capital Gains Tax and Petroleum Revenue Tax) 33.6 Total 2,948.9 1This figure includes an estimate for the amount of unpaid self assessed corporation tax These figures for uncollected tax represent net tax charged but not paid as at the accounting date, and are a snapshot of the position at the date of the account. Most of the tax uncollected at the balance of each account is subsequently collected, and most of the amount outstanding attracts an interest charge.