Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what additional tax revenues they have collected since the implementation of the Energy (Oil and Gas) Profits Levy Act 2022.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Monthly Energy Profits Levy receipts are published on GOV.UK in HMRC tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK[1].
[1]here.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Energy (Oil and Gas) Profits Levy Act 2022, whether they will publish a list showing the total amount (1) collected, and (2) paid, by each company.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The government does not comment on individual taxpayers. At the time of the Autumn Statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimated that total revenues from the Energy Profits Levy were expected to be £41.6bn over the following five years. HMRC routinely publishes outturn oil and gas receipts on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their latest estimate of fraud and error from (1) the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), and (2) the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
HMRC published the latest estimates for error and fraud in their 2021-22 Annual Reports and Accounts and accompanying Technical Note. In Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) the estimate is 5 per cent, and in Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) is 3.6 per cent. This is calculated on the net amounts (total paid out less unprompted repayments) paid to claimants from the start of the schemes to 31 March 2022.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what provisions they are making for the projected losses arising from the Bank of England’s sale of government bonds acquired as part of its quantitative easing programme.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
HM Treasury agreed to indemnify the Asset Purchase Facility (the vehicle used for quantitative easing) against losses when it was set up in 2009. To date, the APF has transferred over £120 billion of excess cash to HM Treasury from net interest payments on purchased assets. As quantitative easing is unwound, and gilts are sold back into the market, this cash flow is expected to reverse. The first payment to the APF was made in October 2022.
The overall gains or losses arising from the APF are highly uncertain and will be determined by the future path for Bank Rate and gilt prices as well as the independent Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) approach to sales.
Information on the provisions for future APF payments will be available through the normal Parliamentary Process as part of the Main Estimate expected to be published in May 2023.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to abolish VAT from domestic fuel bills.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited by both legal and fiscal considerations.
The Government recognises that families should not have to bear all of the VAT costs they incur to meet their needs, with domestic fuels such as gas, electricity and heating oil already subject to the reduced rate of VAT at 5 per cent of VAT.
The Government's package of support to help households with their energy bills is more generous than an additional VAT cut on domestic fuel and power, and there would be no guarantee that suppliers would pass on the discounts from this relief to all customers.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish a table showing the names of the individuals and corporations who have been (1) prosecuted, and (2) convicted, for 'insider trading' offences since 2010; and what penalties were levied in each case.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
This is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is operationally independent from Government. The question has been passed on to the FCA. The FCA will reply directly to the noble Lord by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of fiscal drag on the tax revenues for the year 2022–23.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Treasury does not produce fiscal forecasts. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) are the Government’s official forecaster. Inflation has a range of impacts on the public finances and previous OBR forecasts have shown how inflation can also increase spending on welfare and debt interest, as well as tax revenues. Borrowing in the financial year-to-June 2022 is currently £3.7 billion more than the £51.8 billion forecast by the OBR in March 2022. The OBR will produce an updated forecast alongside the next Budget, which will reflect the impacts of an updated inflation outlook on both revenues and spending.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many UK adults are not liable to pay income tax because their total income is less than the tax-free personal allowance.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The OBR’s 2022 Economic and Fiscal Outlook published the projected number of additional individuals brought into paying tax due to the freeze on the Personal Allowance and Income Tax thresholds as 575,000 in 2022-23.
The number of UK adults that are not liable to pay Income Tax because their total income is less than the Personal Allowance can be estimated with the following two figures:
HMRC’s estimate is based on the 2019-20 Survey of Personal Incomes and is projected using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s March 2022 Economic and Fiscal Outlook. This represents a sample of individuals in contact with HMRC. However, HMRC do not hold information for all people with incomes below the Income Tax Personal Allowance.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of additional individuals who (1) have become, or (2) are likely to become, liable to pay income tax in 2022/23 because of the freezing of (a) tax-free personal allowance, and (b) income tax thresholds.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The OBR’s 2022 Economic and Fiscal Outlook published the projected number of additional individuals brought into paying tax due to the freeze on the Personal Allowance and Income Tax thresholds as 575,000 in 2022-23.
The number of UK adults that are not liable to pay Income Tax because their total income is less than the Personal Allowance can be estimated with the following two figures:
HMRC’s estimate is based on the 2019-20 Survey of Personal Incomes and is projected using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s March 2022 Economic and Fiscal Outlook. This represents a sample of individuals in contact with HMRC. However, HMRC do not hold information for all people with incomes below the Income Tax Personal Allowance.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to investigate the affairs of “God Bless: Help Earth, Help Universe, Alien Space Works, Organization Für Anthropologie Und Kultivierung & Nelleh Limited”, a company whose business is the “Manufacture of air and spacecraft and related machinery” and “Banks”; and whether they will provide the date on which it was authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to offer banking services.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
‘God Bless: Help Earth, Help Universe, Alien Space Works, Organization Für Anthropologie Und Kultivierung & Nelleh Limited’ is not authorised by the FCA and is not listed on the FCA register.
Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services it does not have investigative or prosecuting powers of its own and is not able to intervene in individual cases.