Finance Act 1971

15 Alterations of personal reliefs

(1) Chapter II of Part I of the Taxes Act shall be amended in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

(2) In section 7 (relief for persons over sixty-five with small incomes)—

(a) for the references to £475 and £740 (income limits for exemption) there shall be substituted—

(i) for the year 1971-72 references to £504 and £786; and

(ii) for subsequent years of assessment references to £530 and £825;

(b) for the reference to £255 (the excess over those limits beyond which relief by reduction of tax is excluded) there shall be substituted—

(i) for the year 1971-72 a reference to £330; and

(ii) for subsequent years of assessment a reference to £345;

(c) for the reference to 47.5 per cent. (the percentage governing relief by reduction of tax) there shall be substituted, for the year 1972-73 and subsequent years of assessment, a reference to 50 per cent.

(3) In section 9 (earned income and old age reliefs)—

(a) in subsection (1) the following shall be substituted for paragraph (b):—

“(b) 15 per cent. of the amount of any excess of his earned income over £4,005”;

(b) in subsection (2) for the words from the beginning to “living with him ” there shall be substituted the words “If the claimant proves that at any time within the year of assessment he ” and for the words “shall be entitled” there shall be substituted the words “he shall be entitled ”;

(c) after subsection (3) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(3A) If the claimant proves that, at any time within the year of assessment,—

(a) he had his wife living with him ; and

(b) either he or his wife living with him was of the age of sixty-five years or upwards ;

subsections (2) and (3) above shall have effect as if for the references to £1,000 there were substituted references to £1,200.”

(4) In section 10(3) (appropriate amount for child)—

(a) for “£165 ” (child over sixteen) there shall be substituted “£205 ”;

(b) for “£140 ” (child over eleven but not over sixteen) there shall be substituted “£180 ”, and

(c) for “£115 ” (child not over eleven) there shall be substituted “£155 ”.

(5) In section 12(1) (widower's or widow's housekeeper) the following shall be added at the end of the proviso:— “and

(iv) no relief shall be allowed under this section to a person entitled to relief under section 14 below”.

(6) In section 16 (relief for dependent relatives)—

(a) for the reference in subsection (1) to £260 (lower income limit of dependent relative) there shall be substituted—

(i) for the year 1971-72 a reference to £289; and

(ii) for subsequent years of assessment a reference to £312;

(b) for the references in subsections (1) and (2) to £335 (normal higher income limit) there shall be substituted—

(i) for the year 1971-72 references to £364 ; and

(ii) for subsequent years of assessment references to £387 ; and

(c) for the reference in subsection (2) to £370 (higher income limit where the claimant is a woman other than a married woman living with her husband) there shall be substituted—

(i) for the year 1971-72 a reference to £399; and

(ii) for subsequent years of assessment a reference to £422.

(7) Section 24(1) (reduction in reliefs on account of family allowances) shall have effect, and be deemed always to have had effect, as if—

(a) the words “or allowances ” and the words “for each allowance if more than one ” were omitted; and

(b) at the end there were added the following paragraph—

“Where for any year of assessment an individual is assessable to income tax in respect of payments on account of two or more allowances within the preceding provision of this subsection, the appropriate reduction shall be made thereunder in respect of each such allowance and section 14(4) of the [1968 c. 44.] Finance Act 1968 (which was replaced by section 24(1)) shall be deemed to have been enacted with the like omissions and addition; but nothing in this subsection shall affect the determination of any commissioners, or the judgment of any court, made or given before 17th March 1971.”;