Inland Revenue

This article is about the United Kingdom government department. For other countries, seeInland Revenue Department.

Inland Revenue

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Non-ministerial government departmentoverview
Formed	1849(1849)
Preceding agencies	Board of Stamps and Taxes Board of Excise Contributions Agency
Dissolved	18 April 2005(2005-04-18)
Superseding agency	HM Revenue & Customs
Jurisdiction	United Kingdom
Headquarters	Somerset House London,WC2

TheInland Revenuewas, until April 2005, adepartmentof theBritish Governmentresponsible for the collection ofdirect taxation,includingincome tax,national insurance contributions,capital gains tax,inheritance tax,corporation tax,petroleum revenue taxandstamp duty.More recently, the Inland Revenue also administered the Tax Credits schemes,whereby monies, such asWorking Tax Credit (WTC)andChild Tax Credit (CTC),are paid by the Government into a recipient's bank account or as part of their wages. The Inland Revenue was also responsible for the payment ofchild benefit(from 1999).

The Inland Revenue was merged withHM Customs and Exciseto formHM Revenue and Customswhich came into existence on 18 April 2005.The current name was promoted by the use of the expression "from Revenue and Customs" in a series of annual radio, and to a lesser extent, television public information broadcasts in the 2000s and 2010s.

History

See also:History of taxation in the United Kingdom

The Board of Taxes

The beginnings of the Inland Revenue date from 1665, when aBoard of Taxeswas set up following the introduction of special taxes to pay for theSecond Anglo-Dutch War.A central organisation to supervise the collection of the special taxes was required; it became known as theTax Office.

Taxes administered by the Board of Taxes included theLand Tax,first levied in 1692, along with thewindow taxandhouse tax,both of which dated from 1696. In 1785 a number of other miscellaneous taxes, administered by the Stamp Office and the Excise Office, were transferred to the Tax Office; these included taxes on carriages (dating from 1747), on wagons and carts, on male servants (1777) and on horses (1784).Together with the House Tax and the Window Tax, they came to be known as the 'assessedtaxes' and were intended as aprogressiveform of taxation on the wealthy.

Income tax was introduced in various forms in 1797, 1799, 1803 to 1816, and then reintroduced in 1842 as an annual tax which is formally renewed in each year'sFinance Act.

The Board of Stamps

A separateBoard of Stampswas created by theStamps Act 1694.During the 18th and early 19th centuries at various times (as financial strains on the economy demanded, and Parliament allowed)stamp dutieswere extended above a certain threshold of sale value to cover newspapers,pamphlets,lottery tickets,apprentices'indentures,advertisements, playing cards, dice, hats, gloves,patent medicines,perfumes, insurance policies, gold and silverplateandarmorial bearings (coats of arms).One further category is the most widely cited example of an unpopular and most difficult to enforce tax, theDuty on Hair Powder Act 1795.The last stamp taxes to remain arestamp duty land taxandstamp duty reserve tax;however the use of physical stamps has ceased.

The Board of Stamps and Taxes

In June 1833, following a steady reduction in the number of different taxes and duties being levied, a single body of Commissioners was set up to merge the revenues of stamps and taxes. The Board of Taxes and the Board of Stamps were formally combined under theLand Tax Act 1834to form theBoard of Stamps and Taxes.

The Board of Inland Revenue

LOOT and EXTORTION Dedicated To H.M. Inland Revenue,
statues atTrago Mills(nearLiskeard,Cornwall), poking fun at the Inland Revenue.

TheBoard of Inland Revenuewas created under theInland Revenue Board Act 1849,after the Board of Excise and the Board of Stamps and Taxes were amalgamated. Responsibility forexcise dutieswas transferred to the Board ofCustoms and Excisein 1909.

In 1995 to help promote self-assessmenttax returns,Inland Revenue created the character ofHector the Tax Inspectorto help in their advertising campaign.

HM Revenue and Customs

The2004 Budgetincluded proposals to merge HM Customs and Excise with the Board of Inland Revenue to form a new department,HM Revenue and Customs(HMRC). The merger was implemented by theCommissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005with effect from 18 April 2005.

List of taxes

See also:Stamp duty in the United Kingdom § List of items subject to Stamp Duty

The following taxes were administered at various times either by the Inland Revenue or by its predecessors (excise dutiesare not included):

• Land Tax(1692-1963)
• Stamp Duty(1694 onwards)
• Window tax(1696-1851)
• Inhabited House Duty (1778-1834, 1851-1924)
• Legacy Duty(1780-1949)
• Assessed taxes (1785):
  • Coaches and carriages tax (1746-1798) (administered by the Excise Office until 1785)
  • Male servants tax (1777-1852) (administered by the Excise Office until 1785)
  • Waggons, wains and carts tax (1783-1792) (administered by the Stamp Office until 1785)
  • Saddle and Carriage Horse tax (1784-1875) (administered by the Stamp Office until 1785; converted to excise licence duty in 1869)
  • Racehorse tax (1784-1875) (administered by the Excise Office until 1785; converted to excise duty in 1856)
  • Gametax (1784-2007) (Stamp duty until 1808; converted to excise licence in 1860)
  • Female servants tax (1785-1792)
  • Shop tax (1785-1789)
  • Hair Powder tax(1795-1869) (classed as licence duty until 1802) (there was also a Stamp Duty levied on hair powder from 1786-1800)
  • Dog tax (1796-1988) (converted to excise licence duty in 1867)
  • Clocks and watches tax (1797-1798)
  • Armorial Bearings tax (1798-1944) (converted to excise licence duty in 1869)
• Income Tax(1799-1802, 1803-1816, 1842 onwards)
• Succession Duty(1853-1949)
• Corporation Duty(1885-1959)
• Estate Duty(1894-1974)
• Super Tax(1909-1973)
• Excess Profits Duty(1915-1921)
• Profits Tax (1937-1966)
• Excess Profits Tax (1939-1946)
• Capital Gains Tax(1965 onwards)
• Corporation tax(1966 onwards)
• Capital Transfer Tax (later called Inheritance Tax)(1974 onwards)
• Petroleum Revenue Tax(1975 onwards)

The Inland Revenue also receivedNational Insurancecontributions and administeredchild benefitpayments andTax Credits.

Notable staff

Ministerial leadership

Main articles:Minister of Inland Revenue,HM Treasury,andTreasury Select Committee

The leadership and taking of the highest level of decisions is ministerial as the concept of any particular tax and the degree of success in collecting any particular tax rests ultimately with the political decisions taken. Of particular relevance are the debates inParliamentin their imposition.

Civil servants

The Permanent Secretary to the Treasury has the main advisory, policy informative role to play in the enabling of the department's functions, in liaison with Board Chairman who bore overall responsibility along with the rest of the Board for the operational carrying out of the Inland Revenue's functions.

As sub-departments (typically, Offices, Boards and Bureaus) have issued their own taxes or expanded their remit, they too have seen Comptrollers General and Chairmen. An example was Robert Wilkie Stanton, Comptroller of Stamps and Taxes (Scotland), Board of Inland Revenue.

STEPS contract

In 2001 the Inland Revenue entered into aPrivate Finance Initiativecontract whereby it sold two-thirds of its estate toMapeleyfor £370 million and then leased the properties back.

See also

• HM Revenue and Customs- formed by the 2005 merger of the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise
• Minister of Inland Revenue

External links

• Records of the Boards of Stamps, Taxes, Excise, Stamps and Taxes, and Inland Revenue
• Catalogue of the Inland Revenue Departmental Whitley Council Staff/Trade Union Side archives,held at theModern Records Centre, University of Warwick