Lord Cromwell
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Start-up Companies: Tax Incentives
Lord Cromwell Excerpts(7 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)
I think the noble Lord has conflated a number of issues there into one thing. HMRC is an enormous organisation that deals with many types of individuals and corporates. Companies can contact HMRC via the corporation tax helpline—that phone line has not been closed at all—where they can get general advice on R&D or on EIS.
HMRC has also set up non-statutory advance assurance services for both elements under debate today. It means that companies can get in touch with HMRC before they make an application to make sure that, when they do make an application, it gets through first time—and, as I said in my opening answer, HMRC is working to its aims.
Lord Cromwell (CB)
The noble Baroness told us earlier that small businesses occasionally go out of business—which I think is something of an understatement. In the last 25 years of these tax-supported schemes such as EIS, can she tell us what percentage of those businesses are still in business? If she does not have the data to hand, could she write to me?
Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)
I would very happily write to the noble Lord with that data; I do not have it to hand at the moment.