Details of tax return advice purchased by MP's using expenses claim
Dear Sir or Madam,
Under the Freedom of Information Act provisions I request details of the information requested and the advice provided for the use of MP's in completing their Annual Income Tax returns.
Additionally, will you provide the names of the information providers and the costs incurred.
Had these activities been paid for from their own salaries, I would have considered this to be private information and therefore not allowable under the Act. Because the costs were met by the taxpayer I believe this relief does not apply.
Yours faithfully,
Marjorie Sherrington
22 The Haystacks
High Wycombe
HP13 6PY
Dear Ms Sherrington
Thank you for your email dated 28 May 2009 which was received 29 May.
Accordingly, we will endeavour to provide a response by 26 June 2009.
Mandy Kelly
Freedom of Information Assistant
Dear FOICOM
Can I draw to your attention the fact that you have now missed the deadline allowed by law for an answer to my FOI request.
An early response to this notification would be appreciated. Perhaps a review is the given procedure, if so, please initiate one.
Yours sincerely,
Marjorie Sherrington
Dear Ms Sherrington,
Thank you for your request for information. I am sorry for the delay
but we have been unable to complete a response to your request by the
intended deadline of 26 June 2009. It is being considered as a matter
of priority and will be responded to as soon as possible. Details of
how to make a complaint about the handling of your request will follow
with the response.
Yours sincerely,
Bob Castle
Head of Information Rights and Information Security
Dear Ms Sherrington,
Thank you for your request for information, which is copied below. I am
sorry that a response is late. Details of our complaints process is
provided below.
Advice provided by the House of Commons
Please find the attached P11D guidance `Return of Expenses Payments and
Benefits not covered by dispensation' which is sent by the House of
Commons to Members on an annual basis to assist them in completing their
Annual Income Tax returns. This guidance was produced by the Department
of Resources. The costs incurred for producing this advice are not held,
as internal costs are not recorded.
Also attached, for your reference, is the guidance booklet `MPs, Ministers
and tax', which is produced by HM Revenue and Customs.
Advice provided by other providers
Members may use tax advisers or accountants to assist them in tax
matters. Costs incurred from this may be charged to their allowances if
the service is wholly connected to their Parliamentary duties. Please see
the Green Book on the link below for further information on when such a
claim can be made. Members are not restricted as to who they chose to
provide this service. The House of Commons does not hold a list of the
information providers that Members use and does not hold any advice that
these providers may have given (section 1, Freedom of Information Act).
Information on names of providers and costs incurred that have been
reimbursed to Members will be held by the House of Commons where this
information has been submitted by Members for the purpose of claiming on
their allowance. The information held is part of a data set of over a
million records and the work required to locate, retrieve and prepare the
data for disclosure would exceed the appropriate limit as described in
section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act and associated fees
regulations. Your request for this information has therefore been
refused.
However, some of this information has been published. Copies of
information submitted by Members in relation to their allowances for
2004/05 to 2007/08 can be viewed on our website at
[1]http://mpsallowances.parliament.uk/mpslo....
This information has been edited to remove information which could cause
serious security issues and breach the privacy of the MP, their staff and
other third parties. Detailed information about Members' expenses for
2008/09 is being prepared for publication and it is intended that it will
be made publicly available later this year. Please note that this does
not include information on the Staffing Allowance.
You may, if dissatisfied with the treatment of your request, ask the House
of Commons to conduct an internal review of this decision. Requests for
internal review should be addressed to: Freedom of Information Officer,
Department of Resources, House of Commons London SW1 OAA or
[2][House of Commons request email]. Please ensure that you specify the nature of
your complaint and any arguments or points that you wish to make.
If you remain dissatisfied, you may appeal to the Information Commissioner
at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely,
Bob Castle
Head of Information Rights and Information Security
Dear FOICOMMONS,
Thank you very much for the information attached to your letter.
It has left me with two outstanding queries which may or may not be relevant to the FOI provisions.
I see that the first home which is not liable to Capital gains tax on sale must be designated as such from the date of purchase. This suggests "flipping" is not allowable under Income Tax rules. I wonder if the Inland Revenue is investigating this matter?
The second issue is that if the Housing expense claimed is above the allowable cost heading for the second home, as possibly would be the case for those who claimed mortgage interest payments after the mortgage had been paid, I would expect the overpayment to be taxable. Can you confirm that these checks are being made by the Inland Revenue?
Yours Sincerely
Marjorie Sherrington
Yours sincerely,
Marjorie Sherrington
Dear Me Sherrington,
Thank you for your request for information dated 25th July 2009,
received by us on 27th July 2009, and is copied below.
Following the recent publication of information about MP's expenses, we
are receiving unprecedented numbers of requests which, unfortunately,
has affected our ability to consistently meet the statutory targets for
a response. We are allocating additional resources to deal with this,
but in some cases our responses are taking longer than we would like or
would commit to normally.
Information relating to allowances for the period 2008/09 and 2009/10 is
currently being prepared for publication and will be available as soon
as possible.
We will endeavour to respond promptly to your request within 20 working
days i.e. on or before 24th August 2009.
If you have any queries about your request, please use the request
number quoted in the subject line of this email.
Yours,
Patrick Dawson
Data Protection and Freedom of Information Manager
Information Rights and Information Security (IRIS) service
Department of Resources
FOI
House of Commons
London
Dear Ms Sherrington,
Thank you for your request for information which is copied below.
I can confirm that the information you require is not held by the House
of Commons.
You may wish to contact HM Revenue & Customs at
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/freedom/foi-index... who might be able to help
you with your request.
You may, if dissatisfied with the treatment of your request, ask the
House of Commons to conduct an internal review of this decision.
Requests for internal review should be addressed to: Freedom of
Information Officer, Department of Resources, House of Commons London
SW1A OAA or [House of Commons request email]. Please ensure that you specify the
nature of your complaint and any arguments or points that you wish to
make.
If you remain dissatisfied, you may appeal to the Information
Commissioner at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Patrick Dawson
Information Rights and Information Security
House of Commons
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