Taxation: Inheritance Tax

Debate between Lord Sassoon and Baroness Trumpington

Wednesday 21st December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, the Government keep all tax matters under review, but we have no plans, as I have said, to change the law on inheritance tax.

[Baroness Trumpington]

Although there is to be no review, in the old days I simply signed a piece of paper and gave it to my son to give him power of attorney but now I am told that I have to do it through a lawyer, which will cost me a lot of money. Is that relevant to the review that has just taken place?

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, I do not believe it is relevant to this review, but my noble friend Lord McNally is sitting alongside me and is no doubt listening very hard to the point that my noble friend makes.

Taxation: Low-value Consignment Relief

Debate between Lord Sassoon and Baroness Trumpington

Tuesday 1st March 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, there is a very wide range of estimates of the effect of LVCR but I believe that the HMRC data are as reliable as—more reliable than—any. I am grateful to my noble friend for drawing attention to this issue because the Government are committed to tackling tax avoidance. In that context, we are actively reviewing the operation of this relief. Ministers hope to be in a position to announce any possible changes to the operation of LVCR flowing from the review in the Budget on 23 March.

[Baroness Trumpington]

I am sure that I have missed out on something, but could the noble Lord possibly tell me what it means?

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, I have to say that, until a few days ago, I was equally in the dark. I shall try to keep it within the seven minutes.

There is a scheme in European law to make sure that small-value goods imported from outside the European Union can be exempted from value added tax, because it would be disproportionate and a huge cost to consumers and businesses if every small parcel bought from outside the EU had to be scrutinised by the Royal Mail and VAT collected. So there is an exemption under European law for individual consignments up to the value of €22 or £20. At the moment the UK has a limit of £18, below which VAT on imports is not collected. I hope that that explains it.