Finance Act 1967

PART IV Selective Employment Tax

25 Additional provision for refunds of, and other provisions as to, selective employment tax.

(1) Where the employer in respect of one or more employments of an employed person has paid selective employment tax in respect of that person for any contribution week beginning on or after 4th September 1967 in which that person either worked in the employment or employments in question for an aggregate of less than twenty-one hours or did no work in the employment or employments in question, then, except where—

(a) the employed person was treated for the purpose of the tax as a boy or girl under the age of eighteen ; or

(b) any contract in pursuance of which he worked in that employment or any of those employments, or the holding of any office constituting that employment or one of those employments, normally involved that person's working in the employment or employments in question for an aggregate of twenty-one or more hours weekly,

and subject to paragraphs 2, 3 and 5 of Schedule 12 to this Act, the Minister of Social Security (hereafter in this section and in that Schedule referred to as " the Minister ") shall make to that employer in respect of that person and that week a payment of an amount equal to half the tax paid; and for the purposes of this subsection—

(i) in the case of any employment in which any of the employed person's remuneration was calculated by reference to an hourly rate in respect of each hour for which he worked or was treated as working in that employment, there shall be taken into account as his hours of work in that employment those hours, and those hours only, for which he was paid remuneration calculated wholly or partly by reference to such a rate;

(ii) in the case of any other employment, there shall be taken into account as part of that person's hours of work in that employment any intervals allowed for meals and rest;

(iii) a person employed in any contribution week in different employments by different employers who are associated companies shall, except as the Minister may in any particular case or class of cases otherwise direct, be treated as employed in that week in both or all of those employments by the employer by whom the tax in respect of that person for that week was paid.

(2) Where an employer has paid selective employment tax in respect of an employed person for a continuous period of more than thirteen contribution weeks during which that person has been employed by him wholly outside both the United Kingdom and any area for the time being designated under section 1(7) of the [1964 c. 29.] Continental Shelf Act 1964, then, subject to paragraphs 2, 4 and 5 of Schedule 12 to this Act, in respect of each of those contribution weeks which, not being earlier than the fourteenth of them, began on or after 4th September 1967, the Minister shall make to that employer a payment of an amount equal to the tax paid in respect of that person for that week; and for the purposes of this subsection—

(a) an employed person may be treated as having been employed wholly as aforesaid during any period notwithstanding that he has within that period been present in the United Kingdom or any such area as aforesaid if he has not at any time during that period been so present for a period of consecutive days which includes more than twenty-one disqualifying days, that is to say, days which are neither days in a week left out of account by virtue of paragraph (b) of this subsection nor other days on which either he was incapable of work by reason of some specific disease or bodily or mental disablement or he was on leave, whether paid or unpaid, but—

(i) for the purposes of this paragraph a day on which that person would not in the normal course have worked in his employment and on which he did not so work shall be treated as a day of leave if, but only if, it is a day in a period of seven consecutive days of leave; and

(ii) the employer shall not be entitled in respect of that person to a payment under this subsection in respect of any contribution week which contains one or more of those disqualifying days other than a day or days on which he did no work in his employment;

(b) in determining whether any contribution weeks form a continuous period, there shall be left out of account any such week for which tax was not paid by reason of the employed person's being either incapable of work as aforesaid or on unpaid leave, whether that person was in or outside the United Kingdom or any such area as aforesaid during that week ;

(c) a person employed in different contribution weeks forming a continuous period by different employers who are associated companies shall, except as the Minister may in any particular case or class of cases otherwise direct, be treated as respects any contribution week in that period as if he had been employed in, and tax in respect of him had been paid for, all previous contribution weeks in that period by the employer by whom the tax in respect of him was paid for the contribution week in question.

(3) The supplementary and additional provisions contained in Schedule 12 to this Act shall have effect for the purposes of this section and the other enactments relating to selective employment tax.

26 Regional employment premium.

(1) Where, in the case of a person in an employment to which section 1 of the principal Act applies in respect of whom a payment under that section falls to be made to the employer, the establishment in or from which that employment is carried out is situated wholly within a development area, then, subject to subsections (2), (4) and (5) of this section, the amount of that payment shall, in respect of any contribution week beginning on or after 4th September 1967, be increased—

(a) if that person was treated for the purpose of selective employment tax for that week as a man over the age of eighteen, by thirty shillings ; or

(b) if that person was treated for that purpose as a woman over the age of eighteen, by fifteen shillings; or

(c) if that person was treated for that purpose as a boy under the age of eighteen, by fifteen shillings; or

(d) if that person was treated for that purpose as a girl under the age of eighteen, by nine shillings and sixpence.

(2) Where in any contribution week the person aforesaid was employed by the employer in question in an employment to which section 1 of the principal Act applies, but—

(a) he worked in that employment for an aggregate of less than twenty-one hours, or he did no work in that employment; and

(b) that employment was not in pursuance of a contract or as the holder of an office which normally involved that person's working in that employment for an aggregate of twenty-one or more hours weekly,

the amount of any increase in respect of that person and that week by virtue of subsection (1) of this section, instead of being that for the time being specified in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d), as the case may be, of that subsection, shall be one half of the amount for the time being so specified; and paragraphs (i) and (ii) of section 25(1) of this Act shall apply for the purposes of this subsection as they apply for the purposes of the said section 25(1).

(3) In section 3(2)(a) of the principal Act (which provides for the making to certain employers who are public bodies of payments corresponding to the payments made to other employers under section 1 of that Act), the reference to the appropriate additions specified in paragraphs (a) to (d) of section 1(1) of that Act shall, in relation to persons employed in any such part of the undertaking of an employer to whom the said section 3 applies as is specified in Part III of Schedule 1 to that Act who are so employed at or from places Situated wholly within development areas, be construed as including a reference to the appropriate increases for the time being specified in paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection (1) or in subsection (2) of this section.

(4) The Minister of Labour shall not be required by virtue of subsection (1) of this section to increase any payment to an employer under section 1 of the principal Act in respect of any person and any contribution week unless the employer produces such records as that Minister may reasonably require—

(a) of the number of hours worked by that person in that week; and

(b) of the number of hours of work in a week normally involved for that person in consequence of the terms of any contract or by reason of any office held by him.

(5) The Treasury may by order made by statutory instrument—

(a) substitute for all or any of the amounts specified in subsection (1)(a) to (d) of this section such other amount or amounts as may be specified in the order;

(b) in a case where increases by virtue of this section have been paid in connection with any establishment but cease to be payable by reason of a change in the development areas, provide for increases to continue to be paid by virtue of this section in connection with that establishment for such period as may be specified in the order and of such amount or amounts as may be so specified either in relation to the whole of that period or in relation to different parts of that period ;

and any such order may be made either in relation to all development areas or in relation only to such development areas or parts of development areas as are specified in the order, and may vary or revoke any previous order under this subsection ; but no such order shall be made unless a draft thereof has been approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.

(6) In this section—

(a) the expression " development area " means an area for the time being specified as a development area under section 15(2) of the [1966 c. 34.] Industrial Development Act 1966, and includes any such locality outside that area as is specified in section 15(6) of that Act;

(b) the expression " the principal Act " means the [1966 c. 32.] Selective Employment Payments Act 1966.

(7) If any enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland makes provision with respect to Northern Ireland which appears to the Treasury to correspond to the provision made with respect to development areas by this section, there shall from time to time be paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom into the Exchequer of Northern Ireland such sums towards the expenditure incurred in making payments under that enactment as the Treasury, after consultation with the Ministry of Finance for Northern Ireland, may see fit to direct.