Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to require transparency in the (a) fees and (b) charges applied to international (i) payments and (ii) remittances; and if he will include in those proposals, reference to the exchange rate margin, calculated from the interbank exchange rate.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Since April 2020, provisions of the amended Cross Border Payments Regulation (also known as CBPR2), which require transparency of currency conversion fees and charges, have applied in the United Kingdom. These provisions require that where a currency conversion is offered at a Point of Sale, ATM, or when making a credit transfer, the full cost of any fees and charges is shown as a percentage mark up over the latest foreign exchange reference rates issued by the European Central Bank. This is intended to enable consumers to make informed decisions when purchasing currency conversion services.
CBPR2 is a directly applicable EU regulation which continues to apply in the United Kingdom during the Transition Period under the terms of the EU Withdrawal Agreement. Before the end of the Transition Period, the Government will bring forward secondary legislation under the EU Withdrawal Act 2018 to ensure that these provisions continue to work effectively in UK law after the end of the Transition Period.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the off-shoring of contracts as a consequence of the planned extension of IR35.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) published in July 2019 sets out HMRC’s assessment that the reform to the off-payroll working rules is expected to affect 170,000 individuals. The TIIN can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rules-for-off-payroll-working-from-april-2020/rules-for-off-payroll-working-from-april-2020.
HMRC are undertaking an extensive programme of education and support to help organisations and contractors prepare for the reform.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse in revenue lost as a result of VAT fraud on online marketplaces in the 2018-19 financial year; and what proportion of that cost was attributable to overseas sellers.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is determined to ensure that all businesses pay the tax that is due, and it is well aware of the potential for VAT losses that may arise when overseas businesses fail to comply with UK VAT rules, and the disadvantage for domestic businesses.
The Government has therefore taken action to make online marketplaces responsible for VAT losses as a result of fraud and error on their sites. HMRC have now issued over 10,800 joint and several liability notices to online marketplaces resulting in the removal of non-compliant sellers. These measures act as a strong deterrent to overseas businesses evading VAT.
The Government will continue to monitor the success of these interventions and will continue to look at alternative methods to address this issue.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of online VAT fraud on small businesses; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is determined to ensure that all businesses pay the tax that is due, and it is well aware of the potential for VAT losses that may arise when overseas businesses fail to comply with UK VAT rules, and the disadvantage for domestic businesses.
The Government has therefore taken action to make online marketplaces responsible for VAT losses as a result of fraud and error on their sites. HMRC have now issued over 10,800 joint and several liability notices to online marketplaces resulting in the removal of non-compliant sellers. These measures act as a strong deterrent to overseas businesses evading VAT.
The Government will continue to monitor the success of these interventions and will continue to look at alternative methods to address this issue.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the Association of Accounting Technicians' recommendation to make online platforms liable for the collection and remittance of VAT; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is determined to ensure that all businesses pay the tax that is due, and it is well aware of the potential for VAT losses that may arise when overseas businesses fail to comply with UK VAT rules, and the disadvantage for domestic businesses.
The Government has therefore taken action to make online marketplaces responsible for VAT losses as a result of fraud and error on their sites. HMRC have now issued over 10,800 joint and several liability notices to online marketplaces resulting in the removal of non-compliant sellers. These measures act as a strong deterrent to overseas businesses evading VAT.
The Government will continue to monitor the success of these interventions and will continue to look at alternative methods to address this issue.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of VAT collection regimes in countries that require online platforms to collect and remit VAT online.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is determined to ensure that all businesses pay the tax that is due, and it is well aware of the potential for VAT losses that may arise when overseas businesses fail to comply with UK VAT rules, and the disadvantage for domestic businesses.
The Government has therefore taken action to make online marketplaces responsible for VAT losses as a result of fraud and error on their sites. HMRC have now issued over 10,800 joint and several liability notices to online marketplaces resulting in the removal of non-compliant sellers. These measures act as a strong deterrent to overseas businesses evading VAT.
The Government will continue to monitor the success of these interventions and will continue to look at alternative methods to address this issue.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to exempt homeowners seeking to sell a property but who are unable to do so until unsafe cladding has been removed from the 3 per cent second home surcharge on the purchase of another property.
Answered by Jesse Norman
In designing the Higher Rates, the Government consulted on how best to ensure that the higher rates did not affect people moving from one main residence to another, where they disposed of the previous main residence.
The final legislation therefore ensures that where a household pays the Higher Rates but sells their previous main residence within 36 months, they will be eligible for a refund.
The Government has committed £600 million to fund the removal and replacement of unsafe aluminium composite material cladding on both social and private sector residential buildings.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on his policies of the EU returning to duty free arrangements in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and whether the UK will reciprocate to ensure a parity of arrangements for UK businesses.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The issues around duty-free are complex, with a range of possible approaches. The government is clear that tax is a sovereign matter and that it will be open to the UK government and Parliament to decide to change its policy in the future, subject to any negotiations with the EU.
The Chancellor made clear at the Treasury Select Committee on 5 November that there are no plans at the moment to review the duty-free situation, when asked about the possible reintroduction of duty-free after March 2019.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the take-up the VAT flat rate scheme (a) in actual numbers and (b) in terms of the percentage of eligible companies.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
There were 358,270 businesses operating the VAT Flat-Rate Scheme in 2016-17. This is 25% of eligible businesses from the total VAT registered population.
Asked by: Graham Brady (Conservative - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the tax revenue that has accrued to the public purse from businesses with (a) 0-9 employees, (b) 10-49 employees and (c) a turnover of £1 million or less.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
I refer the hon member to the answer that I gave on 9 October 2018 to PQ 173981 and PQ 173982.
It is not possible to estimate the tax revenue that has accrued to the public purse from businesses with (a) 0-9 employees, (b) 10-49 employees and (c) a turnover of £1 million or less as the information is not readily available but could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
It is possible to identify tax liabilities for businesses with a turnover of £1 million or less for corporation tax and value added tax.
We estimate corporation tax liabilities for 2016-17 was £50 billion of which around £12 billion (24%) was contributed by companies with turnover of £1 million or less.
We estimate Home VAT liabilities for 2016-17 was £100 billion of which around £16 billion (16%) was contributed by companies with a turnover of £1 million or less.