.png)
.png)
HCI
Dawn Primarolo faced a whole host of written questions recently concerning the abolition of the home computing initiative. She replied that the Government had been looking at how it could 'focus support on groups with the poorest access to technology, following the publication of the digital strategy paper in April 2005 which indicated that the home computer initiative was poorly targeted'. She also mentioned that HMRC had evidence to suggest that 'in some cases employees were buying the computer not borrowing it, and that some employees were being offered equipment that is clearly not a “computer” within the spirit of the legislation'. However, where the employer and employee had agreed in writing before 6 April 2006 the terms on which the computer was to be made available, transitional arrangements would ensure that the tax exemption would apply even if the employee had not physically taken possession of the computer by 6 April 2006.
Another question concerned the number of fraudulent claims made under the home computing initiative. Ms Primarolo said that employees do not claim tax relief under the initiative, but that 'evidence collected by HMRC shows that the home computing initiative was being used to enable employees to buy equipment out of their pre tax income, including in some cases leisure equipment such as game consoles and MP3 players'.
Hansard, 4 May 2006, vol 445, no 145, col 1718W
November deadline
Dawn Primarolo was asked about the potential impact of advancing the tax return filing deadline on business and HMRC. She replied that the proposed changes would 'promote online filing leading to fewer processing errors and cleaner date'. They would also allow HMRC 'to calculate the tax for all paper filers and tell them what to pay before the 31 January payment deadline and help ensure that PAYE coding notices are up to date by the start of the following tax year'.
The tax profession has its own views on this as have abeen reflected in recent articles and the response to Taxation's 'No to November' campaign.
Hansard, 10 May 2006, vol 446, no 148, col 289W
