National Insurance Contributions: Tax Allowances

(asked on 20th February 2018) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people received relief from national insurance contributions under the primary threshold in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17 and (c) 2017-18.


Answered by
Mel Stride Portrait
Mel Stride
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
This question was answered on 23rd February 2018

The table below shows estimates for the number of people receiving income tax or National Insurance Contributions relief for each of the requested allowances. The estimates show people that would face a higher tax liability if the individual allowances and/or thresholds were removed, and include people who are currently non-taxpayers where their income is covered by these thresholds and/or allowances.

Estimates of the number of people who received tax/NIC relief (Millions) (1)

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

Personal Allowance

46.2

46.5

46.8

Class 1 National Insurance: Primary Threshold

29.9

30.3

30.7

Personal Savings Allowance

-

18.0

18.0

Dividend Allowance

-

4.8

4.9

(1) The figures are rounded to the nearest hundred thousand and presented in millions.

Information for the Personal Savings Allowance and the Dividend Allowance is only available from 2016-17 onwards, as they were introduced in April 2016.

Estimates are based on the 2014-15 Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI), projected to 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 using economic assumptions consistent with the office for Budget Responsibility’s November 2017 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

The SPI is based on information held by HMRC on individuals who could be liable to UK income tax. Not all dividends and savings income is reported to HMRC. There is not always a requirement to report income from dividends or savings which fall within the Dividend Allowance or the Personal Savings Allowance. Dividend and savings incomes of individuals not in Self-Assessment are estimated from other sources, including the Family Resources Survey.

The total number of individuals receiving relief from these allowances is likely to be greater than the figures above. HMRC does not hold information for all people with incomes below the Personal Allowance (£10,000 in 2014-15).

There are also other mechanisms by which income is exempted from income tax, such as Investment income generated within Individual Savings Accounts. This income does not benefit from the reliefs in question.

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