11. The Prince of Wales also intends that, from his accession to the Throne, he should pay income tax and capital gains tax on the basis proposed by The Queen. He is also in agreement with the arrangements for inheritance tax.
The Royal Collection
12. The Royal Collection comprises some 7,000 paintings and 20,000 old master drawings, as well as large numbers of prints, watercolours, miniatures, books, manuscripts, furniture, ceramics, gold and silver plate, arms and armour, jewellery (including the Crown Jewels), clocks, glass, sculpture and tapestries.
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13. In recent years considerable efforts have been made to ensure that the Collection can be seen by a large number of people. The maintenance, conservation and presentation of the Royal Collection and Archives are funded by admissions income from visitors, and from the net profits of shops and other related activities, principally at the State Apartments at Windsor Castle, The Queen's Gallery and Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
14. To put these arrangements on a formal and permanent basis for the future, a charitable trust to be known as the Royal Collection Trust - is to be established with effect from 1 April 1993. It will assume responsibility for the maintenance, conservation and presentation of items from the Royal Collection, and from the Royal Archives, and for admissions and related income which will continue to be devoted exclusively to the Royal Collection and Archives. The charitable trust's responsibilities will include continuing the policy of accessibility and in particular ensuring that items in the Collection on which income generated by the trust is spent will be publicly accessible. The charitable trust is being registered with the Charity Commissioners and information regarding its constitution, objectives and trustees, and its annual audited accounts will be publicly available.
15. The Royal Collection will continue to be held by The Queen. The Queen has not benefited personally in the past from the income generated by the Royal Collection; and for the future that income will belong to the charitable trust, not to Her Majesty, and accordingly will not need to be taken into account under the income tax arrangements described in paragraphs 4 to 6.
Administration
16. The Inland Revenue will be responsible for collecting the tax due under the Memorandum of Understanding. It includes arrangements for the provision of information, the payments themselves and interest on late payments and refunds. The amounts paid will be brought into account under the appropriate tax heading in the Inland Revenue's general account.
17. As the Memorandum of Understanding makes clear, The Queen and The Prince of Wales will be entitled to the same privacy and confidentiality in relation to their tax affairs as any other taxpayer. Accordingly, the Government will not be publishing any information relating to monies paid under these voluntary arrangements.
Memorandum of Understanding
18. The Memorandum of Understanding explains the proposed arrangements in more detail. It describes how the amount of income from the Privy Purse and the Duchy of Cornwall on which tax is to be paid is to be calculated and makes provision for income used to meet certain categories of official expenditure to be disregarded. It also describes how the private proportion of Privy Purse capital gains is to be calculated.
19. The Memorandum provides that any changes in the rates of taxation, or the introduction of new taxes or repeal of existing taxes, should apply to The Queen's private income and assets, and The Prince of Wales' private income from the Duchy of Cornwall, as calculated in accordance with the agreement, in the same way as to anyone else.
20. The Memorandum of Understanding provides for the possibility of variation or termination of the arrangements; however, the agreement is expected to continue indefinitely. As indicated above, The Prince of Wales has confirmed that he intends the arrangements to apply on his accession to the Throne.
Refund of Parliamentary Annuities
21. The Queen has confirmed Her intention to meet the direct cost to the Consolidated Fund of the sums paid annually to the following Members of the Royal Family:
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