Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a quality assurance process for status determination statements.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government keeps all tax policy and legislation under review.
To help customers make an informed decision on a worker’s status for tax, HMRC provides comprehensive online guidance that explains the relevant factors and tests and how to apply them.
HMRC also provides the Check Employment Status for Tax tool (CEST) for free to help customers determine the employment status for tax of an engagement. CEST was developed alongside tax specialists and HMRC will stand by a determination from CEST if the tool was used in accordance with HMRC guidance.
HMRC regularly engages with stakeholders and reviews its guidance products. HMRC will amend or add to guidance in response to stakeholder feedback where this improves the content or customer experience.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if her Department will consult stakeholders on the adequacy of its guidance on the status determination statement process.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government keeps all tax policy and legislation under review.
To help customers make an informed decision on a worker’s status for tax, HMRC provides comprehensive online guidance that explains the relevant factors and tests and how to apply them.
HMRC also provides the Check Employment Status for Tax tool (CEST) for free to help customers determine the employment status for tax of an engagement. CEST was developed alongside tax specialists and HMRC will stand by a determination from CEST if the tool was used in accordance with HMRC guidance.
HMRC regularly engages with stakeholders and reviews its guidance products. HMRC will amend or add to guidance in response to stakeholder feedback where this improves the content or customer experience.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to review Section 684 activities with reference to the Loan Charge.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Section 684 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act (ITEPA) 2003 provides for the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) regulations. In 2022, the Court of Appeal considered HMRC’s use of section 684(7A)(b) in relation to a disguised remuneration scheme.
The Chancellor and I know that the loan charge is a very important matter for many members and their constituents. We have been considering this matter since taking office and will provide an update in due course.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the impact of raising wine duty on revenue raised by his Department.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
The Government will make and announce any alcohol decisions at Spring Budget 2024. Duty freezes to alcohol duty over the last decade have amounted to a total tax cut of £12.9 billion to the alcohol industry, including the duty freeze up to 1 August 2024 announced at Autumn Statement 2023.
Before Autumn Statement 2023, since ending the duty escalator for wine in 2013, the wine industry has benefitted from cuts or freezes to wine duty at four out of the last nine fiscal events.
The latest receipts for alcohol duty including wine duty can be found at the following link:
Alcohol Bulletin commentary (November 2023 to January 2024) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to reduce excise duty on wine.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
The Government will make and announce any alcohol decisions at Spring Budget 2024. Duty freezes to alcohol duty over the last decade have amounted to a total tax cut of £12.9 billion to the alcohol industry, including the duty freeze up to 1 August 2024 announced at Autumn Statement 2023.
Before Autumn Statement 2023, since ending the duty escalator for wine in 2013, the wine industry has benefitted from cuts or freezes to wine duty at four out of the last nine fiscal events.
The latest receipts for alcohol duty including wine duty can be found at the following link:
Alcohol Bulletin commentary (November 2023 to January 2024) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making the easement for levying wine duty permanent.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
As part of the new alcohol duty system, the Government introduced a wine easement for 18 months which will last until February 2025. During this period, all wine between 11.5-14.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) will pay duty as if it were 12.5% ABV. This gives the wine industry 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: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department takes to help ensure that (a) companies and (b) other organisations accurately determine whether someone is self-employed for tax purposes under the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 guidance.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
To help customers make an informed decision on a worker’s status for tax, HMRC provides comprehensive online guidance that explains the relevant factors and tests and how to apply them.
HMRC also provides its digital Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool to support employers and workers determine the employment status of an engagement.
The Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 contains a number of provisions related to appeal rights and determining disputes. In 2021, the Government introduced a disagreement process to allow workers to challenge the status determination they have been given under the off payroll working rules with their engager.
The Government keeps all tax policy and legislation under review. HMRC regularly reviews its guidance products and amends or adds to them where this improves the content or customer experience.
For example, HMRC has recently published guidelines for compliance to help organisations comply with the Off-Payroll Working rules contained in Chapter 10 of Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the appeals process for the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
To help customers make an informed decision on a worker’s status for tax, HMRC provides comprehensive online guidance that explains the relevant factors and tests and how to apply them.
HMRC also provides its digital Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool to support employers and workers determine the employment status of an engagement.
The Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 contains a number of provisions related to appeal rights and determining disputes. In 2021, the Government introduced a disagreement process to allow workers to challenge the status determination they have been given under the off payroll working rules with their engager.
The Government keeps all tax policy and legislation under review. HMRC regularly reviews its guidance products and amends or adds to them where this improves the content or customer experience.
For example, HMRC has recently published guidelines for compliance to help organisations comply with the Off-Payroll Working rules contained in Chapter 10 of Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to clarify the guidance his Department has issued on the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
To help customers make an informed decision on a worker’s status for tax, HMRC provides comprehensive online guidance that explains the relevant factors and tests and how to apply them.
HMRC also provides its digital Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool to support employers and workers determine the employment status of an engagement.
The Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 contains a number of provisions related to appeal rights and determining disputes. In 2021, the Government introduced a disagreement process to allow workers to challenge the status determination they have been given under the off payroll working rules with their engager.
The Government keeps all tax policy and legislation under review. HMRC regularly reviews its guidance products and amends or adds to them where this improves the content or customer experience.
For example, HMRC has recently published guidelines for compliance to help organisations comply with the Off-Payroll Working rules contained in Chapter 10 of Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of removing VAT on all school uniform items.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
Under the current VAT rules, all children’s clothing and footwear designed for young children who are less than 14 years of age, including school uniforms, attract a zero-rate of VAT, meaning that no VAT is charged on the sale of these items. Additionally, certain school uniform items may also benefit from a zero rate of VAT irrespective of size. For instance, garments which bear a prominent logo, crest or badge identifying them as part of the official uniform of schools catering exclusively for children under 14 years of age can be zero-rated.
Going further would impose additional pressure on the public finances, to which VAT makes a significant contribution. Whilst we have no current plans to extend the existing zero rate, we nevertheless keep all taxes under review.