Written question asked by Steve Webb (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 9 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 22 February 2010. It was answered by Stephen Timms (Labour) on Wednesday, 17 March 2010 on behalf of the Treasury.
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
- Question
- To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many legal proceedings have been instigated for recovery of tax credit overpayments in each quarter since April 2003; what the average overpayment outstanding is for which legal action has been instigated; what the total monetary value is of such overpayments; what estimate he has made of the average cost to the public purse of pursuing such cases through the courts; and how much has been recovered through court action.
- Answer
-
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) initiates court action only as a last resort.The information requested in the following table.
Tax credit cases entered into Court by HMRC Number Total Value (£) Average Value (£) 2008-09¹ April-June 2008 1,090 7,649,000 7017 July-September 2008 2,623 18,032,000 6874 October-December 2008 887 6,465,722 7289 January-March 2009 1,719 10,889,145 6334 2009-10² April-June 2009 792 4,184,128 5282 July-September 2009 408 1,854,732 4545 October-December 2009 249 2,356,757 9464 Notes: ¹ Includes England and Wales and Scotland ² Includes England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland Information for 2006-07 and 2007-08 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost, as the data for these periods is not centrally held by HMRC's systems.No estimate has been made of the cost to the Exchequer of pursuing tax debt through Court Proceedings.Information of the amount recovered through court action is only available at disproportionate cost, as HMRC systems do not separately record the amount recovered as a result of court proceedings as distinct from the amounts recovered from all stages of the enforcement process.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 507 c886-7W; 317146
- Session
- 2009-10
- Subjects
- Overpayments Welfare tax credits
- Contains statistics
- Yes
- Link
- View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2013-11-25 22:28:34 +0000
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