Clause 36 - Exemption of minor benefits: application to non-cash vouchers
Finance Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Paul Boateng (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; Brent South, Labour)
My hon. Friend the Paymaster General said ''perfectly formed'', but the hon. Member for Buckingham is not in his seat—but perhaps I am being unfair.
The clause will ensure that the exemption under the minor benefits legislation applies where a ticket or voucher is used. In the Finance Act 2000, we introduced a power to exempt from tax minor employer-provided benefits by regulation. The clause ensures that the exemption covers a situation in which to obtain the benefit the employee must show or exchange a ticket or pass, for example, for a lunchtime journey on a bus provided by an employer. Were that not necessary, the issue could be covered by regulation, but where it is necessary, there must be primary legislation.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 36 ordered to stand part of the Bill.