Tax advantage for some

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32633, 15 June 1971, Page 1

Tax advantage for some

Many wage and salary earners will be relieved of die 10 per cent income tax surcharge before July 31 the date on which it will be removed as announced in the Budget.

, Employees whose pay periods end on August 1 or later will get the benefit of the reduced tax.

The District Commissioner of Taxes (Mr C. K. Jones) sajd yesterday that the lower tax rate would apply for pay periods which begin after July 31 and for any pay period which included that date. Payment made after July 31 for a pay period which ended on or before July 31 would be taxed at the old rate, however. He said that the surcharge on pay for secondary employment would also be removed from July 31. Instead of 23c in the dollar the rate would be 21c. New tax tables which allow for the deletion of the surcharge are now being printed and will be available before July 31. Tax tables operating before the introduction of the surcharge are no longer valid as they do not take into account other alterations to the tax structure including the higher marital allowance. A rule of thumb method for. the taxpayer to determine how much more will be in his pay packet after July 31 is to divide the amount he now pays in tax by 11. REFUNDS DELAYED Salary and wage-earners who have just filed their tax returns for the last financial year can expect to wait a month or more for a refund. Mr Jones said yesterday that the recent enormous influx of returns had swamped the local office’s clearing facilities. The rate of returns last week had been so heavy that staff had been unable to open all the mail, let alone count the returns. The number of returns by salary and wage-earners is now far more than at the corresponding period last year. Employers reconciliation statements are well below the expected total of 13,500. So far, fewer than 10,000 have been received. These statements were due six weeks ago.