Asked by: Guto Bebb (Independent - Aberconwy)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will establish a dedicated VAT helpline for the offices of hon. Members to assist them in dealing with cases on behalf of constituents.
Answered by David Gauke
HMRC has no plans to establish a dedicated VAT helpline for the offices of Members of Parliament. HMRC receives far fewer enquiries from the public and MPs on business taxes such as VAT than for personal tax and benefits issues. In general, MPs seem content to write to HMRC about business tax issues or to use the existing call centre lines. This best meets the need of business taxpayers and MPs as often the issues are detailed and complex.
Asked by: Guto Bebb (Independent - Aberconwy)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent representations his Department has received on reducing the rate of VAT charged on the refurbishment of domestic dwellings; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Treasury receives representations on many subjects including this one, and keeps all tax policy under review.
Asked by: Guto Bebb (Independent - Aberconwy)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received on the Financial Conduct Authority's decision to extend the settlement negotiation period to January 2015; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Treasury Ministers and officials receive regular correspondence on a wide range of issues. We cannot disclose details of specific representations.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is an independent non-governmental body responsible for regulating and supervising the financial services industry within the framework of statutory objectives and duties agreed by Parliament. Although the Treasury is responsible for the legal framework, it has strictly limited powers in relation to the FCA. In particular the Treasury has no general power of direction over the FCA.
Asked by: Guto Bebb (Independent - Aberconwy)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to increase the resources allocated to HM Revenue and Customs to reduce tax avoidance by large multinational corporations.
Answered by David Gauke
This government has taken a wide range of action to tackle corporate tax avoidance over this parliament, sending out a clear message that large businesses need to pay their fair share. We have closed down numerous loopholes and have led efforts at the G20 and OECD to reform the international rules that some multinationals exploit to avoid tax. Work is continuing at pace with our international partners to finalise recommendations and to deliver those reforms.
Alongside this we have invested heavily in Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) tax compliance activities, including a £30 million funding provided at Autumn Statement 2012 to increase work on identifying and challenging multinationals’ transfer pricing arrangements and further strengthening risk assessment capability across the large business sector. As a result of close monitoring and compliance work HMRC recovered around £31 billion in tax revenues from large UK businesses between April 2010 and March 2014. In addition, this year HMRC launched a new dedicated Large Business directorate to deal closely with the tax affairs of the 2,100 largest businesses in the UK.
Asked by: Guto Bebb (Independent - Aberconwy)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent representations his Department has received on the Connaught Income Series 1 Fund.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Treasury Ministers and officials receive regular correspondence on a wide range of issues. We cannot disclose details of specific representations.
The Government appreciates the real difficulties and the serious implications the Connaught issue has had for investors and is following the situation closely.
Asked by: Guto Bebb (Independent - Aberconwy)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses in (a) Wales, (b) North Wales and (c) Aberconwy constituency are exempted from paying employer national insurance contributions.
Answered by David Gauke
A publication on take-up of the Employment Allowance was published on Friday 7th November and is available on the GOV.UK website at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/employment-allowance-take-up-2014-to-2015-mid-year-estimate.
This contains mid-year estimates for 2014-15 of the number of employers benefitting from the Employment Allowance including breakdowns by region, sector, constituency and employer size.
These statistics show that take-up has been very positive with 68% of all eligible business and charities across the UK having claimed the allowance so far.
Asked by: Guto Bebb (Independent - Aberconwy)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of employers in (a) Wales, (b) North Wales and (c) Aberconwy constituency who have not yet claimed employment and support allowance.
Answered by David Gauke
A publication on take-up of the Employment Allowance was published on Friday 7th November and is available on the GOV.UK website at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/employment-allowance-take-up-2014-to-2015-mid-year-estimate.
This contains mid-year estimates for 2014-15 of the number of employers benefitting from the Employment Allowance including breakdowns by region, sector, constituency and employer size.
These statistics show that take-up has been very positive with 68% of all eligible business and charities across the UK having claimed the allowance so far.
Asked by: Guto Bebb (Independent - Aberconwy)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses have (a) claimed and (b) been awarded employment allowance in (i) Wales and (ii) England.
Answered by David Gauke
A statistical release covering take-up of the Employment Allowance, including regional and constituency data was published on the 7th November.
These statistics show that up to October 5th 2014, midway through the 2014-15 tax year, 35,000 employers in Wales and 728,000 employers in England had claimed and benefitted from the Employment Allowance. Employers automatically benefit from the allowance if they make a claim and have an employer Class 1 National Insurance Contribution bill.
So far 900 employers in Aberconwy and 6,400 employers in the North Wales constituencies have benefitted from the Employment Allowance.
This demonstrates the Government’s commitment to reducing the costs of employment for small businesses across the UK.
Asked by: Guto Bebb (Independent - Aberconwy)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses have (a) claimed and (b) been awarded employment allowance in (i) Aberconwy, (ii) Conwy and (iii) North Wales in the last year.
Answered by David Gauke
A statistical release covering take-up of the Employment Allowance, including regional and constituency data was published on the 7th November.
These statistics show that up to October 5th 2014, midway through the 2014-15 tax year, 35,000 employers in Wales and 728,000 employers in England had claimed and benefitted from the Employment Allowance. Employers automatically benefit from the allowance if they make a claim and have an employer Class 1 National Insurance Contribution bill.
So far 900 employers in Aberconwy and 6,400 employers in the North Wales constituencies have benefitted from the Employment Allowance.
This demonstrates the Government’s commitment to reducing the costs of employment for small businesses across the UK.
Asked by: Guto Bebb (Independent - Aberconwy)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue in the form of Class 1 National Insurance contributions was collected from people earning less than the threshold for income tax in the 2012-13 tax year.
Answered by David Gauke
Estimates of the amount of Class 2 National Insurance contributions collected from individuals earning less than the threshold for income tax are not available.
For the tax year 2012-13, £28m of Class 4 National Insurance contributions was collected from individuals with total profits below the income tax threshold of £8,105.
For the tax year 2012-13, £510m of Class 1 National Insurance contributions was collected from individuals with total employment income below the income tax threshold of £8,105.