Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimates his Department has made of the number of claimants who are receiving tax credits with savings above £16,000 that will no longer be entitled to Universal Credit.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
No estimate has been made of the number of those receiving tax credits with savings above £16,000 that will no longer be entitled to Universal Credit.
Tax credits recipients are not required to report savings in order to claim tax credits.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's advice on the cost effectiveness of a respiratory syncytial virus immunisation programme.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) plays a vital role in advising the government on vaccination programmes. DHSC are responsible for considering their recommendations.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on a respiratory syncytial virus vaccination programme.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Ministers and officials across government meet regularly to discuss a wide range of issues, including routine and new vaccination programmes. If any RSV programmes are agreed to, they will be announced to the public and health professionals in due course.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2024 to Question 19192 on Tax Avoidance, whether it is his Department's policy to cease recovery of any liabilities incurred before December 2010 in cases where a taxpayer has not received an update for a period of 12 months or more from the initial date of an open enquiry or assessment.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
In the 2019 Independent Loan Charge Review, Lord Morse recommended that the Loan Charge should only apply to loans made on or after 9 December 2010. The Government accepted this recommendation.
Lord Morse was also clear that, for years before this date, where there is an open enquiry or assessment under appeal, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) should still have the ability to pursue the tax due under the existing rules. HMRC has proceeded on this basis and it is its policy to collect tax where it has the ability to do so.
As part of its overall compliance processes and its commitment to update taxpayers at least annually, all of these taxpayers should have received correspondence from HMRC in the last 12 months.
When HMRC opens an enquiry, the information sheet provided includes information about a taxpayer’s right to apply to the First Tier Tribunal for the enquiry to be closed. One of the grounds for making such an application is where there has been an excessive delay during which a taxpayer has not received any communication from HMRC.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2024 to Question 17136 on Tax Avoidance, whether it is HMRC’s policy to seek to recover tax due for liabilities incurred before December 2010, where a taxpayer has not received correspondence relating to an open compliance check for longer than 12 months.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
In the 2019 Independent Loan Charge Review, Lord Morse recommended that the Loan Charge should only apply to loans made on or after 9 December 2010. The Government accepted this recommendation.
However, Lord Morse was also clear that, for years before this date, where there is an open enquiry or assessment under appeal HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) should still have the ability to pursue the tax due under the existing rules. HMRC has proceeded on this basis.
HMRC continues to work with and support taxpayers to resolve all outstanding enquiries and assessments relating to their use of disguised remuneration (DR) loans, in accordance with their published DR settlement terms and HMRC’s Litigation and Settlement Strategy
As part of its overall compliance processes and its commitment to update taxpayers at least annually, all of these taxpayers should have received correspondence from HMRC in the last 12 months.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the impact on excise duty receipts of the duty rates for wine and spirits introduced on 1 August 2023.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published its latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook report in November 2023. The publication contained an alcohol duty revenue forecast up to and including 2028-29 and was inclusive of all previous and planned future changes to alcohol duty rates including the changes to wine and spirits duty rates on 1 August 2023.
Table 2.12 in the supplementary tables published alongside the Economic and Fiscal Outlook report contains separate receipt forecasts by type of alcohol.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of ending the temporary duty easement for wines between 11.5% and 14.5% alcohol by volume on small and medium-sized wine businesses in the UK.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As part of the new alcohol duty system, the Government introduced a temporary wine easement for 18 months. Until February 2025, all wine between 11.5-14.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) will pay duty as if it were 12.5% ABV. This means the wine industry will have had over two years to adapt to the new system.
The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the recent reforms and will evaluate the impact of the new rates and structures three years after the changes took effect on 1 August 2023. This will allow time to understand the impacts on the alcohol market, and for HMRC to gather useful and accurate data with which to evaluate the effects of the reform.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of changes to alcohol duty implemented in August 2023 on tax receipts.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government publishes tax information and impact notes for tax policy changes when the policy is final or near final. The summary of impacts from the changes to alcohol duty at Spring Budget 2023 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/increase-in-alcohol-duty-rates/alcohol-duty-uprating
The Government will evaluate the impact of the new rates and structures three years after the changes took effect on 1 August 2023. This will allow time to understand the impacts in the alcohol market and for HMRC to gather useful and accurate data with which to evaluate.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2023 to Question 197611 on Beer: Excise Duties, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to provide an exemption to paying full duty on containers for on-trade premises whose takeaway sales are ancillary to the sale for consumption on the premises.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The core objective of Draught Relief is to recognise the cultural importance of pubs and other on-trade venues as community hubs and to encourage responsible drinking in supervised settings.
Draught Relief does not prevent pubs and other on-trade venues from selling takeaway pints. Businesses have the ability to purchase full duty paid containers should they wish to decant from the container and sell beverages for their customers to consume off-site.
The Government believes it is right that beverages that are sold to be consumed off-site should pay the full rate of duty like their equivalents sold in off-trade venues. We remain open to considering any additional suggestions the industry may have which would result in the full duty being paid for beverages consumed off premises.
The Government will evaluate the impact of the new rates and structures three years after the changes take effect on 1 August 2023. This will allow time to understand the impacts in the alcohol market and for HMRC to gather useful and accurate data with which to evaluate.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Off-payroll working: calculation of PAYE liability in cases of non-compliance, published on 27 April 2023, what his Department's expected timescale is for responding to the consultation.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The government launched a consultation on the design of a potential legislative change to address the over-collection of tax in cases of non-compliance with the off-payroll working rules. The consultation ran from 27 April 2023 to 22 June 2023.
The government is considering the responses to this consultation and aims to publish a response by the end of the calendar year.