Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment on (a) small business owners and (b) unrepresented taxpayers; and if she will consider delaying implementation until issues associated with the (i) cost, (ii) software availability, (iii) administrative burden and (iv) digital exclusion have been addressed.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC are on track to implement Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax for those with income over £50,000 from April 2026, with a wide range of customers already testing the service in live running.
MTD modernises the tax system and will help self-employed individuals and landlords keep on top of their tax affairs, making their annual tax returns easier.
While many users will incur some cost in moving to MTD for Income Tax, many will also experience wider productivity gains through time savings and greater accuracy. We continually monitor the impacts of MTD and the latest published assessment is available at:
The government has worked with the software industry to ensure there are free and low-cost software options available to support taxpayers, both represented and unrepresented, alongside a wider range of software choices to suit varying needs and budgets. HMRC's software choices page can be found here:
www.gov.uk/guidance/find-software-thats-compatible-with-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax#software-available-now
The government recognises that not everyone is able to interact with HMRC digitally. Taxpayers who are digitally excluded will be able to apply for an exemption from MTD. HMRC will provide further information about the exemption process in due course.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support wine importers with additional administrative requirements following the ending of the temporary easement to the implementation of the new alcohol duty system in February 2025.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In August 2023 the Government introduced reforms to alcohol duty so that products are taxed in proportion to their alcoholic strength, not volume.
To help the wine industry adapt to the new duty system, the current, temporary duty easement was introduced as a transitional measure, which was intended to allow time for wine producers to adapt to calculating duty based on alcohol by volume.
By the planned end-date of 31 January 2025, the wine industry will have had over two years to adapt to the new strength-based system.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to help support people to regain access to their Government Gateway accounts who do not have the necessary physical documentation.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Users may regain access to their Government Gateway account by following a simple online process to recover their Government Gateway user ID and, if necessary, reset their password. Access to the email account used to set up the Government Gateway account is required to complete this process, but no documentation is required.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Communities and Local Government on the provision of additional funding for local authorities to provide warm spaces for vulnerable people in winter 2022.
Answered by Edward Argar
The 2022-23 Local Government Financial Settlement provides local authorities with an additional £3.7 billion of resources – including the largest cash-terms increase in grant funding in 10 years. It is for local authorities to determine how to allocate this funding. The Government’s Energy Price Guarantee scheme will cap the unit price households pay for electricity and gas, which means that a typical household in Great Britain will have to pay bills equivalent to no more than £2500 a year on their energy bills this winter. In addition, the Government has provided a £650 Cost of Living payment to over 8 million households on means-tested benefits, with additional support for pensioners and those on disability benefits, and a six-month extension to the Household Support Fund in England.