Clause 4 - Claims: supplementary
Tax Credits Bill
12:45 pm
Ms Dawn Primarolo (Paymaster General, HM Treasury; Bristol South, Labour)
Amendments Nos. 8 and 13 concern the consideration of claims by the Inland Revenue. Amendment No. 8 would introduce the requirement that a claim be made
''before an official of the Board who is satisfied that all facts necessary to establish the claim have been made out''.
Amendment No. 13 would have two effects. First, it would require any person acting for another in making a claim for a tax credit to appear in person before an official of the board. Secondly, it would require that official to satisfy himself as to the identity of that person and the claimant and to be sure that the person was acting genuinely for the claimant.
I shall deal first with the requirement for the Inland Revenue to give proper consideration to the claims that it receives and to satisfy itself that they are valid. It is unnecessary to amend the Bill in that regard. Clause 14 makes it clear that, on a claim for a tax credit, the board—in practice, a Revenue staff member—is required to take a decision about whether to make an award. It is therefore incumbent on the Revenue to consider each claim that is made. I assure the Committee that the Revenue will need to satisfy itself before paying a credit as to the identity of the claimant and any person acting on their behalf and that the relationship between the two is genuine. The
Bill does not need to be amended to ensure that that occurs.
More generally, the board's statutory responsibility for the proper administration of tax credits is covered in clause 2. Clause 4(1)(a) enables regulations to require that claims be made in a prescribed manner. I assure the Committee that the prescribed manner will be such that the facts necessary to establish a claim must be provided. If they are not, the claim will not be valid and no award will be made. Nothing more is needed in the Bill.
The amendments can be read as requiring claimants and appointees to attend personal interviews with an official of the board. I am sure that the proposal is well intentioned, but it is also, if hon. Members will forgive me for saying so, slightly misguided. Such a requirement would be completely impractical; we are talking about 6 million applications. We do not require everyone who wants to claim a tax relief to appear in person before a staff member so that they can ascertain whether they are entitled to it. Why do we need different treatments within a system that already works perfectly well? It would be completely impractical, and not just for Inland Revenue. Think of the problems involved for the people trying to make a claim. When we are supposed to be moving to e-commerce and interaction to ensure easy access, the official Opposition want everybody to trudge into a tax office in person to ascertain the right to access.