In Parliament

Electronic VAT

Replying to a question concerning the pilot system for making VAT declarations over the Internet which ran from March 2000 to April 2001, John Healey said that approximately 1,100 businesses used the service out of the 2,500 invited to do so. After the electronic VAT return system went live in April 2001, some 400 businesses on the pilot scheme joined the live system. He added that 4,250 businesses are registered to use the new system and that, of these, 2,700 use it.

(Source: Hansard, 15 October 2002, Vol 390, No 191, col 590W.)

Cultural inheritance

Dawn Primarolo said that about £8 million in 2001-02 was accepted in lieu of inheritance tax under the cultural exemption scheme.

(Source: Hansard, 15 October 2002, Vol 390, No 191, col 600W.)

Pension relief

The Chancellor was asked about the cost of pension tax relief. Dawn Primarolo replied that the estimated cost of tax relief on pension contributions in 2001-02 for employees and the self employed was £6.4 billion. £3.7 billion was in respect of higher rate taxpayers. The figure in relation to employer contributions was £9.5 billion, of which £5.4 billion was in respect of higher rate taxpayers.

(Source: Hansard, 15 October 2002, Vol 390, No 191, col 594W.)

New Commissioners

Rosie Winterton said that, on 1 October 2002, an order made by the Lord Chancellor came into force amalgamating divisions of the General Commissioners in North Yorkshire and Cleveland. The Hartlepool and Stockton divisions have been merged into one and named Hartlepool with Stockton; and the Teeside South and Langburgh divisions have been merged to become a single division called Teeside South with Langburgh.

(Source: Hansard, 17 October 2002, Vol 391, No 192, col 893W.)

Special Investigations

The Revenue's Special Investigations Section's yields for the last five years was given by Dawn Primarolo as:

Year ended

Ms Primarolo said that yield varied significantly each year because of the nature of the compliance work carried out by the section. The yield of the first six months of the current year was greater than that achieved in the previous year.

(Source: Hansard, 17 October 2002, Vol 391, No 192, col 917W.)

Medical benefit

The amount of revenue raised from taxing private medical insurance cover provided by employers as a benefit in kind for 2000-01 was £390 million. The same figure is projected for 2001-02.

(Source: Hansard, 21 October 2002, Vol 391, No 193, col 84W.)

Plastic bags

The Government currently has no plans to introduce a plastic bag tax, John Healey announced.

(Source: Hansard, 22 October 2002, Vol 391, No 194, col 212W.)

Issue: 3882 / Categories: