Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she made of the role of wholesalers in maintaining supply chain resilience when determining eligibility for business rates reliefs.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government currently provides a 40 per cent business rates relief for eligible retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, up to a cash cap of £110,0000 per business, in 2025-26. Eligibility for the RHL relief scheme is outlined in guidance published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, and is focused on RHL properties that are wholly or mainly open to visiting members of the public. This is to ensure that support is targeted at in-person RHL, thereby helping to rebalance the burden between online and high-street retailers. There are no plans to expand the scope of this relief.
From 2026/27, the Government is introducing permanently lower business rates multipliers for RHL properties with rateable values (RVs) below £500,000. Details on which RHL properties will qualify for these lower multipliers can be found online here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/business-rates-multipliers-qualifying-retail-hospitality-or-leisure.
To fund these lower RHL multipliers sustainably, from 2026/27, the Government is also introducing a higher multiplier on properties with RVs of £500,000 and above.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to retain Digital Services Tax.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Digital Services Tax is an interim solution to widely held concerns with the international corporate tax framework, and the UK remains committed to remove it once a global solution on the reallocation of taxing rights is in place.
As the Chancellor has previously said, we will continue to make sure that businesses pay their fair share of tax, including businesses in the digital sector.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) reviewing and (b) revising the proposed changes to (i) the definition of attributable income and (ii) charity donation rules during the consultation on the draft Finance Bill 2025-2026.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Charities rightly enjoy generous tax reliefs, worth over £6bn in 2024. However, a small number of charities are receiving tax relief in ways that were not intended by Parliament. Charity tax rules are being strengthened to improve HMRC’s ability to challenge abusive arrangements in an appropriate and proportionate way.
The new charity rules to be included in the forthcoming Finance Bill for legacy giving and attributable income will help ensure a charity uses its tax relieved income for its charitable purposes. The rules are well targeted and so should not deter legitimate donors from leaving a legacy to charity or prevent charities from building a long-term endowment.
The updated rule for tainted donations will replace the current purpose test with an outcome test in order to better prevent the abuse of tax reliefs through arrangements designed to give financial advantages to donors in return for their donation. They are not intended to affect genuine charitable giving or penalise honest donors.
Updated guidance will be tested with the sector and published prior to the changes taking effect. This will support charities and donors, giving clarity and reassurance around the rules and making it clear that the honest majority of donors and charities will remain unaffected by these reforms.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that reforms to the charity tax regime do not discourage long-term endowment building by local community foundations.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Charities rightly enjoy generous tax reliefs, worth over £6bn in 2024. However, a small number of charities are receiving tax relief in ways that were not intended by Parliament. Charity tax rules are being strengthened to improve HMRC’s ability to challenge abusive arrangements in an appropriate and proportionate way.
The new charity rules to be included in the forthcoming Finance Bill for legacy giving and attributable income will help ensure a charity uses its tax relieved income for its charitable purposes. The rules are well targeted and so should not deter legitimate donors from leaving a legacy to charity or prevent charities from building a long-term endowment.
The updated rule for tainted donations will replace the current purpose test with an outcome test in order to better prevent the abuse of tax reliefs through arrangements designed to give financial advantages to donors in return for their donation. They are not intended to affect genuine charitable giving or penalise honest donors.
Updated guidance will be tested with the sector and published prior to the changes taking effect. This will support charities and donors, giving clarity and reassurance around the rules and making it clear that the honest majority of donors and charities will remain unaffected by these reforms.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of extending the expensive car supplement to electric vehicles registered on the affordability of low-emission vehicles; and whether she plans to increase the threshold in line with inflation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out at Autumn Budget 2024, the Government will consider the merits of raising the threshold for zero emissions cars only at a future fiscal event. The government keeps all taxes and thresholds under review.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of planned business rates reforms on the wholesale sector; and if she will consider extending retail-equivalent reliefs to wholesalers.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government currently provides a 40 per cent business rates relief for eligible retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, up to a cash cap of £110,0000 per business, in 2025-26. Eligibility for the RHL relief scheme is outlined in guidance published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, and is focused on RHL properties that are wholly or mainly open to visiting members of the public. This is to ensure that support is targeted at in-person RHL, thereby helping to rebalance the burden between online and high-street retailers. There are no plans to expand the scope of this relief.
From 2026/27, the Government is introducing permanently lower business rates multipliers for RHL properties with rateable values (RVs) below £500,000. Details on which RHL properties will qualify for these lower multipliers can be found online here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/business-rates-multipliers-qualifying-retail-hospitality-or-leisure.
To fund these lower RHL multipliers sustainably, from 2026/27, the Government is also introducing a higher multiplier on properties with RVs of £500,000 and above.
Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the Soft Drinks Industry Levy thresholds on future investment in the development of healthier soft drinks.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer the Hon. Member the answer that I gave to PQ UIN 81415.
Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of lowering the starting threshold of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy on levels of sugar consumption.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer the Hon. Member the answer that I gave to PQ UIN 81415.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how many occasions a repayment of overpaid tax to a customer who has submitted a voluntary self-assessment return been delayed by longer than (a) three, (b) six and (c) 12 months in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC recognise that repayments are important for customers. They prioritise them and work hard to ensure they are processed as quickly and securely as possible.
Like any financial institution, HMRC are an attractive target for organised criminals who continually test their security and repayment controls. HMRC aim to balance ensuring prompt payments to eligible customers with effective revenue protection from fraudsters.
Voluntary returns are submitted by customers who are not required to file a Self Assessment return but choose to do so, often to reclaim overpaid tax. These cases can require additional manual checks, particularly where PAYE income is involved, to ensure repayments are not duplicated.
Because customers submitting voluntary Self Assessment returns are not required to file, these cases are not currently included separately in HMRC’s reported performance data. While these returns are worked and processed by operational teams, they fall outside the scope of published metrics and are therefore not counted in official service level reporting.
HMRC has communicated to agent communities that customers can help reduce delays by registering for Self Assessment before submitting a return. Additional staff have been deployed to reduce delays in processing voluntary Self Assessment repayment cases, particularly those requiring manual checks. Work is also underway to explore automation opportunities to improve processing times and reduce the number of customers affected by repayment delays.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what HMRC's target timeline for paying out Construction Industry Scheme tax rebates to small businesses is; and what proportion of rebates are paid within that time.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC recognise that repayments are important for customers. They prioritise them and work hard to ensure they are processed as quickly and securely as possible.
Individuals can check when they are likely to receive a response by using HMRC’s ‘Where’s my reply’ tool which is available here:
www.gov.uk/guidance/check-when-you-can-expect-a-reply-from-hmrc
In relation to CIS repayments, HMRC are recruiting and training more colleagues to improve the service and issue CIS repayments more quickly. In cases of hardship, taxpayers can contact HMRC to look at their case and, where possible, make the repayment sooner.
HMRC’s service standard is to respond to 80% of CIS repayment claims for limited companies within 15 working days. The department has a plan in place to clear existing backlogs and return to meeting the service level agreement by January 2026.