PAYE, SA & NIC Directorate
Governance Team
Room 1E/10
100 Parliament Street
London
SW1A 2BQ
Mr Gary Burgess
Fax
020 7147 2530
By e-mail to:
[FOI #30073 email]
www.hmrc.gov.uk
Date
24 March 2010
Our ref
FOI 1270/10
Dear Mr Burgess
Freedom of Information Act 2000
I am writing to confirm that HMRC has now completed its search for the information you
requested on 3 March 2010.
1.
Between May 2009 and January 2010 inclusive, how many employers took on
more expats than non-expats? i.e. how many employers submitted more P46
(expat) forms than P45 Part3 forms and P46 forms (either online or in paper or
other format)?
2.
For each of these employers, how many P46 (expat) forms, P45 Part3 forms and
P46 forms did they submit between May 2009 and January 2010 inclusive?
I can confirm that HMRC holds information that falls within the description specified in your
request. However, we estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed
the appropriate limit of £600. The appropriate limit is specified in regulations and for central
government is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3½
working days determining if the department holds the information. This includes locating,
retrieving and extracting the information. Under section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 the department is not obliged to comply with your request and we will not be
processing it further.
Although we do not have an exact costing figure for you, previous experience with the type
of data interrogation required for this sort of analysis, indicates that the cost for each data
extraction required is likely to be in excess of £7,000. This charge has been calculated in
accordance with section 13 of the Act and the Freedom of Information Fees Regulations.
If you are able to narrow the scope of your request, the department may be able to provide
the information free of charge because it would cost less than the appropriate limit to do so.
Any reformulated request the department receives from you will be treated as a fresh FOI
request.
Information is available in large print, audio and Braille formats.
Text Relay service prefix number – 18001
Director: Sarah Walker
1270-10.doc
3.
Are there any tax advantages to bringing in expats/seconded workers from
outside the UK rather than employing normal permanent workers in the UK? e.g.
temporary workplace dispensations.
This information requested is not available. It is not for HMRC to advise whether certain tax
arrangements are more advantageous than others. However, to be helpful and outside of
the terms of the FOIA, information and guidance on the taxation of employees is available in
the Employment Income Manual on the HMRC website at:
www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM42200.htm.
4.
Are there any current investigations ongoing into employers claiming such
dispensations for expat employees but keeping the tax deduction, and not passing it
to the employee?
5.
Have any past investigations uncovered employers claiming such
dispensations for expat employees and not passing the tax deduction to the
employee?
I can confirm that no current or past compliance activity has revealed evidence of employers
“withholding tax reliefs” to which the employee is entitled.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to quote the
reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not happy with this reply you may request a review by writing to HMRC FOI Team,
Room 1C/25, 100 Parliament Street London SWIA 2BQ. You must request a review within 2
months of the date of this letter. It would assist our review if you set out which aspects of
the reply concern you and why you are dissatisfied.
If you are not content with the outcome of an internal review, you may apply directly to the
Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner will not usually
consider a case unless you have exhausted the internal review procedure provided by
HMRC. He can be contacted at The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely
Michelle Blake
Governance Advisor
2
Document Outline
