Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff worked on the HMRC Income Tax helpline in each of the last three years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Income Tax Helpline is administered by the HMRC Personal Tax (PT) Operations unit. HMRC quarterly performance reports on GOV.UK includes information on handled by the PT Operation helpdesk dating back three years.
These can be accessed on the GOV.UK website here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reports#reporting-year-2022-to-2023.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HMRC treats the head office and subsidiary branches of all political parties and similar organisations as connected organisations for the purposes of applying the Employment Allowance and Apprenticeship Levy.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC cannot comment on the tax affairs of any of its customers, including political parties, due to taxpayer confidentiality.
The rules governing whether HMRC treats entities as connected for the Employment Allowance and Apprenticeship Levy are set out in HMRC guidance. All entities that meet the criteria provided in the guidance will be treated as connected for Employment Allowance and Apprenticeship Levy purposes.
HMRC work within the law to make sure everyone pays the right amount of tax and that they treat customers fairly, in line with the HMRC Customer Charter.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the (a) number and (b) destinations of all domestic flights taken by officials in his Department in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As part of the Transparency Agenda HM Treasury publishes data quarterly regarding senior official travel. Details can be found at the following link
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many meetings he has had with the Economic Advisory Council; what was discussed at those meetings; and if he will publish the minutes of those meetings.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
On 17th October, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the establishment of an Economic Advisory Council. This Council acts as a consultative forum for the government to be advised on UK and international economics and financial markets. The Chancellor meets with the Council as part of his constant engagement with economic experts.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many meetings he has had with the cost of living business tsar, David Buttress, since his appointment; what was discussed at those meetings; and if he will publish the minutes of those meetings.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
In accordance with our principles of transparency and accountability, details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at HMT ministers' meetings, hospitality, gifts and overseas travel - GOV.UK. It is not standard practice for minutes of ministerial meetings to be disclosed.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to take steps to cover the potential reduction in road tax receipts after the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles is banned in 2030.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
In his 2022 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that from April 2025 electric cars, vans and motorcycles will begin to pay Vehicle Excise Duty (VED, also known as ‘Road Tax’) in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles. The Government has made clear since 2020 that motoring taxes need to keep pace with the change to electric vehicles. With the electric vehicle transition accelerating, and with tough decisions to be made on tax to secure the public finances, it’s right that all drivers will start to make a fair tax contribution.
As with all taxes, VED is kept under review and any changes are considered and announced by the Chancellor.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential number of people who could become bankrupt due to the Loan Charge and the use of section 684 discretion.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
No assessment has been made of the number of people who may be declared bankrupt as a result of debts arising from the use of a disguised remuneration avoidance scheme.
Where debts arise, HMRC are not always the only creditor. Some individuals are declared bankrupt as a result of a non-HMRC debt and some individuals may choose to enter insolvency themselves based on their overall financial position.
HMRC only ever considers insolvency as a last resort, and they encourage taxpayers to get in contact to agree the best way to settle their tax debts. To date, HMRC has not initiated insolvency proceedings against any taxpayer for a Loan Charge debt.
Anyone who is worried about being able to pay what they owe should contact HMRC, who may be able to agree an instalment arrangement based on the individuals’ financial circumstances. There is no maximum length for these arrangements.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of companies subject to a creditor voluntary liquidation had HMRC as their main creditor in each of the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The requested information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Around 10 per cent of all insolvencies that go ahead are petitioned by HMRC, but HMRC will not be the main or sole creditor in every case. Similarly, insolvency action may be led by third parties, where HMRC is the main creditor, but no estimate of these cases is available.
HMRC only petitions for insolvency as a last resort after considering all alternative routes to recovery and engaging with taxpayers at every opportunity to encourage settlement of their tax debts before considering insolvency.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the return on investment for each full time equivalent tax compliance officer in each of the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
For HMRC, the return on investment of our compliance work goes beyond generating yield, and also includes mitigating harm, ensuring a level playing field for those who pay their taxes correctly, and deterring non-compliance from taking place.
Furthermore, understanding the exact value of our compliance work in a given year is complicated by:
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Customer Compliance staff are assigned to each subsect of work within his Department.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Within Customer Compliance Group staff are deployed across a wide range of compliance risks. Internally, these are usually grouped by customer segment, tax head or specific tax risk being worked.
HMRC publishes information on the amounts spent on compliance by customer segment in our annual report and accounts at Tax by different customer groups – 2021 to 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). HMRC does not release detailed breakdowns of this information for operational reasons.