National Insurance Contributions (Termination Awards and Sporting Testimonials) Bill (First sitting)

Debate between Peter Dowd and Paul Scully

Tuesday 14th May 2019 Public Bill Committees

[Peter Dowd]

Q I have one more question for the Office of Tax Simplification. Out of the 1,200 tax reliefs that we have—this is not directly linked, but would you consider this to be a low-hanging fruit?

Bill Dodwell: Yes. This is a pretty simple, fairly restricted issue. The evidence given by the Minister shows the small number of people that this affects.

[Paul Scully (Sutton and Cheam) (Con)]

Q On the two thresholds of £30,000 for termination payments and £100,000 for testimonials, are they at the right level, or do you have any comments about where those sit?

Bill Dodwell: I do not think that we at the OTS have a specific view on those levels, no.

Colin Ben-Nathan: It has been commented upon that the £30,000 limit was last increased in the late 1980s and has not been increased since. We get back to the point of whether a measure is revenue-raising or revenue-neutral. One of the points that we raised previously on feedback is that, and Bill will talk for the OTS, if there was going to be an overall simplification—which is what we were looking at—the sense was that it may be revenue-neutral. At the moment the position is that revenue is being raised, but the actual threshold of £30,000 remains static. It will now apply for the purposes of both income tax and class 1A national insurance. Where relief should sit is, of course, a matter of debate given the pressures on the public Exchequer, but the comment is that it is overall revenue-raising.