Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to start a consultation on the VAT treatment of private hire vehicles.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government understands that, following the Uber Britannia Ltd v Sefton MBC High Court ruling, the private hire vehicle sector are seeking clarity on the VAT implications of this ruling.
The Government remains committed to consulting on the impacts of this ruling, and will publish a consultation in due course.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of applying a 0% VAT rate for licensed minicab operator journeys.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
VAT has been designed as a broad-based tax on consumption, and the twenty per cent standard rate applies to many goods and services. VAT at the standard rate has always applied to the provision of licensed minicab services when supplied by VAT registered businesses.
While there are exceptions to the standard rate, these have always been strictly limited by both legal and fiscal considerations.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the judgment in the case of Uber Britannia Limited v Sefton Borough Council [2023] EWHC 1975 (KB), what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of that judgment on the application of VAT on taxi fares.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Uber Britannia Limited v Sefton Borough Council [2023] EWHC 1975 judgment does not apply to taxis, it only applies to Private Hire Vehicle Operator (PHVO) services.
The VAT rules remain unchanged for PHVO fares. Fares have always been subject to VAT when provided by a VAT registered business who is providing those services as principal. The Government is carefully considering the impact this will have on the sector and passengers.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on VAT of the High Court judgment of 28 July 2023 in Uber Britannia Limited v Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
This High Court ruling is not a tax case and does not have a direct bearing on any business’s tax position. The VAT rules, which apply to all businesses, have not changed. The Government is carefully considering the implications of the ruling for the sector and passengers.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the application of VAT to taxis and licensed minicab journeys on vulnerable people who need to use taxis and private-hire vehicles.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The VAT rules for mini cab services and taxis remain unchanged. Fares have always been subject to VAT when provided by a VAT registered business who is providing those services as principal. The Government is carefully considering the potential impact the Uber Britannia Limited v Sefton Borough Council (2023) EWHC 1975 case will have on the sector as a whole, including passengers.Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the application of VAT to taxis and licensed minicabs journeys on minicab businesses operating in remote areas.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The VAT rules for mini cab services and taxis remain unchanged. Fares have always been subject to VAT when provided by a VAT registered business who is providing those services as principal. The Government is carefully considering the potential impact the Uber Britannia Limited v Sefton Borough Council (2023) EWHC 1975 case will have on the sector as a whole, including customers that live in remote areas.Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of raising the £450,000 property value limit for the Lifetime ISA in line with house prices.
Answered by Richard Fuller
The Lifetime ISA is intended to support younger people saving for their first home or for later life by offering a generous government bonus of 25% on up to £4,000 of savings each year. These funds, including the government bonus, can be used to purchase a first home up to the value of £450,000.
The Government considers that the £450,000 price cap is suitable to support the majority of first-time buyers across the UK, who typically purchase less expensive properties than other buyers, while ensuring sustainable public finances.
The most recent Office for Budget Responsibility forecast stated that bonus payments will have an exchequer cost of £3.7 billion between 2021 and 2027. The price cap ensures that this significant investment of public money is more precisely targeted towards households that may find it more difficult to get onto the property ladder.
First-time buyers who can purchase a home valued over £450,000 are likely to have an income significantly above that of the average household in the UK and are therefore more likely to be able to purchase a first home without the support of this scheme.
The Government continues to keep all aspects of savings policy under review.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for how long HMRC's website has been unavailable for people reporting and paying Capital Gains Tax as of 13 June 2022; how many paper forms have been dispatched to customers during that period; and on what date he expect that web service to be back online.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMRC’s Capital Gains Tax Digital Service includes the following:
There are no outages detected in any of these services.
We can confirm there were 92 paper Capital Gains Tax UK Property Disposal returns issued on 13th June 2022. As there was no outage their issue was for unrelated reasons.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Secretary of State for Education on increasing the allowance of Universal Free School Meals from April 2022 in response to the impact of increasing rates of inflation on the cost of food.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Department for Education spend around £600million per year ensuring around 1.3 million infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy in 2014.
The per meal rate of £2.34 per child per meal was increased in 2020-21. The funding rate for the 2022-23 will be published with the funding allocations in June.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to coronavirus home-working tax relief, for what reason volunteers for charitable organisations that are office holders are treated differently from those volunteers who are not.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Neither volunteers nor voluntary office holders pay tax on out-of-pocket expenses reimbursed by the organisation, providing the amount reimbursed is no more than the additional expenditure incurred. This includes expenses for additional household costs if they have had to work at home, including if they have had to work at home because of Coronavirus. Tax will be due on any allowances received which exceed expenditure.
Neither voluntary office holders nor volunteers can claim tax relief from HMRC for additional costs related to their volunteering as they have no earnings against which the relief could be set.
Following a legislative change in April 2020, voluntary office holders are classed as employees to ensure that no liability to Income Tax arises in respect of a payment to a person who holds a voluntary office, if the payment is in respect of reasonable expenses incurred when carrying out the duties of that office. This change ensured the tax treatment of their private expenses, such as travel between home and the place the work is done, is comparable to those of volunteers.
Employers can reimburse employees, including voluntary office holders, for homeworking expenses under Section 316A of ITEPA03 which allows exempt payments to be made in a wider set of circumstances, including where there is a voluntary homeworking scheme. However, where volunteers must work at home because of Coronavirus, it is advisable for the volunteer organisation to determine the appropriate rates of reimbursement, ensuring such payments do not give rise to a profit.