asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the latest figure available as to the proportion of VAT which is obtained from companies with an annual turnover of £50,000 or less; what is the number of sole traders and companies with an annual turnover of £5,000 or less which have elected to be involved with VAT; and how many of these are net contributors and how many net recipients of tax.
In the financial year 1975–76 receipts less repayments of VAT from registered companies with taxable turnover less than £50,000 a year were about 1½ per cent. of net VAT revenue. There are about 80,000 persons with taxable turnover less than £5,000 a year registered for VAT. Rather more than half of them only received repayments or received amounts of repayments during the year which exceeded their payments of tax.