Tax Credits (Hansard, 3 July 2003)

§ Mr. Willetts
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 14 April 2003,Official Report, column 536W, on tax credits, how many tax credit claimants are being paid by girocheque. [114411]

§ Dawn Primarolo
Inland Revenue makes arrangements to pay tax credits via giro cheque when suitable banking facilities are not available. When such facilities become available, and if direct payments are still due to be made, the arrangements are changed to make the payments direct into the recipients' accounts. Such changes are being made continually, and it is not possible to establish for which recipients we are currently expecting to pay their next payment via girocheque, except at disproportionate cost.

§ Annabelle Ewing
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has(a) received from and (b) made to the Scottish Executive concerning recent problems with tax credit payments, broken down by (i) subject, (ii) date and (iii) responsible Scottish minister. [122511]

§ Mr. Boateng
None. Payments by the Scottish Executive are a devolved responsibility of the Executive.

§ Mr. Peter Duncan
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many individual appeals against working tax credit assessments are outstanding. [115805]

§ Dawn Primarolo
Award notices cover child tax credit and working tax credit together, if appropriate. At the end of May 2003, when about 3.7 million claims were already in payment, about 4,600 written appeals against tax credit decisions had been received but not yet settled. These cover disagreements about award notices that have been reported in writing, but exclude those that are effectively reporting changes in circumstances. They include both specific disagreements about elements of the award and more general observations on the level of award or the calculation method.
378W

§ Mr. Steinberg
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the number of people who will(a) gain and (b) lose financially on the basis of their total income in the 2003–04 financial year as a result of the introduction of child tax credit. [119037]

§ Dawn Primarolo
I refer my hon. Friend to Chart 5.1 in the Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report (Budget 2003). It illustrates that a small number of families with children in the top 10 per cent. of the income scale will receive a smaller award of child tax credit than of the tax credits it has replaced. However, it also shows that even these families are on average around £5 a week better off due to the extra support this Government have given to families with children since 1997.

§ Mr. Willetts
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 14 April 2003,Official Report, column 542W, on tax credits, how many (a) tax credit application forms have been sent out and (b) completed application forms have been received, in each month since February. [121276]

§ Dawn Primarolo
[holding answer 23 June 2003]:The cumulative monthly figures to the end of May 2003 are as follows.

Child tax credit and working tax credit: claim forms issued and claims received— cumulative monthly figures

Thousands

Month¹ (a) Claim forms issued (b) Claims received²

February 2003 5,500 3,200

March 2003 6,500 3,900³

April 2003 7,000 4000⁴

May 2003 7,200 4,250⁵

¹ Final Friday in month.

² Including received on-line.

³ At 9 April 2003

⁴ At 28 April 2003

⁵ At 3 June 2003. Excludes claims assessed as being duplicates.

§ Mr. Flight
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to(a) the tax credits figures in the third row of Table C8 of the 2003 Budget, HC 500, (b) the tax credits figures in the thirty-third row of Table C8 of the 2003 Budget, HC 500, (c) the social security benefits figures in the fifth row of Table C11 of the 2003 Budget, HC 500 and (d) the tax credits figures in the sixth row the Table C11 of the 2003 Budget, HC 500, if he will list of the types of tax credit, benefits payment and other components which comprise the quoted figures; for each type of tax credit, benefit payment and other component, whether, according to the accounting methods employed in the 2003 Budget, they are classified as negative tax revenues, Government spending or a combination of the two; and for each tax credit, benefit payment and other component, what amount the tax was refunded and Government spending was incurred in each year since 2001–02 to the latest year for which figures are projected. [121327]

§ Dawn Primarolo
The treatment of personal tax credits in Budget reports was explained in Box C2 on page 216 of Budget 2002 (HC592). The Government have adopted best international practice as set out in OECD guidelines for the purposes of calculating net taxes and social security contributions as included in Table C8 of Budget 2003. However there are some 379W differences between the OECD guidelines and National Accounts basis used for calculation of other fiscal aggregates.
(a) Row 3 of Table C8 (tax credits scoring as negative tax under OECD guidelines) includes:

Children's Tax Credit;

Working Families' Tax Credit (WFTC)—part;

Disabled Person's Tax Credit (DPTC)—part;

Child Tax Credit—part;

Working tax credit—part;

Life assurance premium relief at source (LAPRAS)—part; and Enhanced company tax credits for research and development and contaminated land clearance that reduce corporation tax liability.

(b) Row 33 of Table C8 (OECD negative tax but public expenditure in national accounts) includes parts of WFTC, DPTC and LAPRAS, and all reduced liability corporation tax credits for research and development and contaminated land clearance.
(c) Row 5 of Table C11 (Social Security benefit expenditure) includes II social security benefits except child allowances in Income Support and Jobseekers' Allowance, and all child benefit and war pensions.
(d) Row 6 of Table C 11 includes: Parts of Child Tax Credit, Working tax credit, WFTC, DPTC and Child allowances in Income Support and Jobseekers' Allowance, (paid as part of the Child Tax Credit from 2003–04 and included here to give consistent figures over the period of table);
LAPRAS;

Charities transitional relief; and

Tax relief on contributions to personal and stakeholder pensions made by non-taxpayers.

The following table shows the available figures on tax credits. More detailed information on outturn for individual tax credits available on www.inlandrevenue. gov.uk/stats. Details of social security benefit expenditure are available on www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure. htm.

£ billion

Category 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04

(a) C8 row 3, negative tax (OECD) -2.3 -3.4 -4.5

Of which:

Personal tax credits¹ -2.2 -3.1 -3.9

Corporation tax credits -0.1 -0.2 -0.5

Other -0.1 -0.1 -0.1

(b) C8 row 33, negative tax (OECD)

but spending in National Accounts 0.9 1.1 0.6

Of which:

Personal tax credits¹ 0.7 0.8 0.0

Corporation tax credits 0.1 0.2 0.5

Other 0.1 0.1 0.1

(d) C11 line 6, public expenditure 8.7 9.8 11.7

Of which:

Personal tax credits1 4.8 5.6 8.0

IS/JSA child allowances 3.6 4.0 3.5

Other 0.2 0.2 0.2

¹ Includes the relevant elements of WPTC, DPTC, Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit and Children's Tax Credit.

§ Mr. Webb
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people who were receiving working families tax credit in March 2003(a) received payments of child 380W tax credit by the end of April 2003 and (b) had not received their child tax credit by the end of April 2003. [121970]

§ Dawn Primarolo
[holding answer 3 July 2003]: Not all recipients of working families tax credit (WFTC) in March 2003 qualify for a child tax credit (CTC) award. Their circumstances or incomes may have changed since the beginning of their WFTC awards.
Of former WFTC recipients who by 31 March had submitted claims for CTC, were eligible for CTC, and for whom no further information was required to process the claim, the vast majority were in award by the end of April 2003.
It is not yet known how many recipients of WFTC at March 2003 have made later claims for CTC, or made claims which have required further information to process.

§ Dr. Kumar
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how applications for tax credits received after the 5 July deadline will be treated; and if he will make a statement. [122226]

§ Dawn Primarolo
This year, the Inland Revenue will treat tax credits claims received before midnight on the first full working day after the deadline as qualifying for full backdating. This is to make sure that claims received by different routes are treated alike and recognises that the deadline falls at the weekend. So claims the Inland Revenue receive by midnight on Monday 7 July will be backdated to 6 April 2003, where appropriate.
People can, of course, still claim tax credits for 2003–04 after that date. Claims received after 7 July can still be backdated for up to three months. (People should therefore make their claims as soon as possible.)

§ Mr. Webb
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the effects of administering the new tax credits on the processing by the Inland Revenue of income tax returns, with particular reference to the Inland Revenue at Bootle. [122691]

§ Dawn Primarolo
[holding answer 30 June 2003]: The rate at which the Inland Revenue processes income tax returns varies throughout the year and from year to year. New tax credits work has had no material effect on the processing of income tax returns this year.

Child tax credit and working tax credit: claim forms issued and claims received— cumulative monthly figures
Thousands
Month¹	(a) Claim forms issued	(b) Claims received²
February 2003	5,500	3,200
March 2003	6,500	3,900³
April 2003	7,000	4000⁴
May 2003	7,200	4,250⁵
¹ Final Friday in month.
² Including received on-line.
³ At 9 April 2003
⁴ At 28 April 2003
⁵ At 3 June 2003. Excludes claims assessed as being duplicates.

£ billion
Category	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
(a) C8 row 3, negative tax (OECD)	-2.3	-3.4	-4.5
Of which:
Personal tax credits¹	-2.2	-3.1	-3.9
Corporation tax credits	-0.1	-0.2	-0.5
Other	-0.1	-0.1	-0.1
(b) C8 row 33, negative tax (OECD)
but spending in National Accounts	0.9	1.1	0.6
Of which:
Personal tax credits¹	0.7	0.8	0.0
Corporation tax credits	0.1	0.2	0.5
Other	0.1	0.1	0.1
(d) C11 line 6, public expenditure	8.7	9.8	11.7
Of which:
Personal tax credits1	4.8	5.6	8.0
IS/JSA child allowances	3.6	4.0	3.5
Other	0.2	0.2	0.2
¹ Includes the relevant elements of WPTC, DPTC, Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit and Children's Tax Credit.