Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to support self-employed taxi drivers experiencing reductions in work as a result of the covid-19 outbreak and who require financial support to bridge the gaps between receipt of Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grants.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government recognises that this is a challenging time for many sectors and individuals, including self-employed taxi drivers.
The Government has acted to support those that are self-employed and have been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, and announced at Budget 2021 that the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will continue until September, with a fourth and a final fifth grant.
The Government will have spent over £33 billion supporting those in self-employment through the SEISS, making it one of the most generous self-employment income COVID-19 support schemes in the world.
The SEISS is not intended to provide a month-by-month replacement of income. Due to the volatility of self-employed income and the lack of granular data that HMRC holds on self-employed trading profits, precise mapping of income replacement month by month is not possible. Instead, the SEISS provides a lump sum payment to support eligible self-employed individuals whose businesses have been affected by coronavirus.
The SEISS is just one part of a wider package of support for the self-employed, which includes automatic, self-serve time-to-pay arrangements, loans, welfare support, and other business support grants.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to support self-employed people who have had no financial income for the duration of the covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns who are ineligible for support through universal credit or the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) has provided and will continue to provide generous support to self-employed people who meet the eligibility criteria. The Government will have spent over £33 billion supporting those in self-employment through the SEISS, making it one of the most generous self-employment income COVID support schemes in the world.
The Government is bringing more people into the scheme: changes to the fourth grant mean that over 600,000 people previously ineligible for SEISS may now be eligible, including those newly self-employed in 2019-20. This brings the total number of people who could be eligible to 3.7m.
The Government recognises that some of the rules, criteria and conditions vital to ensuring that the SEISS works for the vast majority mean that some people may not qualify.
Those ineligible for the SEISS may still be eligible for other elements of the support available. The Government has decided to extend the suspension of the Universal Credit Minimum Income Floor for three months, to the end of July 2021, so that where self-employed claimants' earnings have fallen significantly, their Universal Credit award will have increased to reflect their lower earnings.
New style Jobseeker’s Allowance is also available to individuals with sufficient National Insurance Contributions who now work under 16 hours a week on average, and does not assess household capital.
Self-employed people may also have access to other elements of support available, including Restart Grants, the Recovery Loan scheme, business rates relief, and other business support schemes.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that banks, building societies and other financial institutions report accurate financial data to HMRC; and what redress is available in the event of financial institutions’ non-compliance.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Banks, building societies and other financial institutions are required to provide a variety of information returns to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on an accurate and timely basis. They are subject to HMRC’s usual compliance processes and if the information provided is late or found to be inaccurate following a compliance check, the taxpayer may be subject to penalties.
The UK’s largest businesses, which includes many financial institutions, are subject to an enhanced risk review, as part of HMRC’s Business Risk Review process.
In addition to this, over 98% of banks and building societies are signatories to the Code of Practice on Taxation for Banks. Their commitments under the Code include complying with their tax obligations, which include providing accurate information to HMRC, as well as maintaining a transparent relationship with HMRC. If a signatory is found to be in breach of these commitments, HMRC are able to disclose this, naming the bank in their annual report on the Code.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing corporation tax now for those companies with a higher profit margin during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jesse Norman
It is right that businesses share in the burden of restoring the public finances to a sustainable footing; that is why the Government announced an increase in the rate of Corporation Tax at Budget. The rate increase will not come into force until April 2023, by which time GDP is forecast to have recovered to its pre-pandemic level.
Companies that have made profits during the pandemic have continued to pay Corporation Tax on those profits as normal. Corporation Tax is charged in line with the level of a company’s profits, so more profitable companies will have contributed more.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of publishing an exhaustive list of the items to be included in the Plastic Packaging Tax that will take effect from April 2022.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government is currently in the early stages of implementing the tax via the primary legislation, which by its nature, only provides relatively high-level definitions as a foundation for the tax. As the Government moves to the next stage of implementing the tax, it will work with industry to develop regulations and guidance to provide clarity on how businesses determine the types of product that will be taxable.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the VAT exemption on personal protective equipment available for (a) funeral homes and (b) other businesses.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The temporary zero rate was an extraordinary measure introduced to help affected sectors such as hospitals and care homes during the initial acute period of the COVID-19 crisis, when global supply of PPE did not meet demand and PPE was procured directly from the open market.
Companies in the funeral sector source their own PPE through their normal supply routes. In extreme circumstances, there is provision for them to approach their Local Resilience Forum (LRF) or local authority, where the LRF has stood down, to discuss access to an emergency supply. Given this, there are no plans to review the VAT treatment of PPE.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a tapering-off period for the Stamp Duty Land Tax holiday beyond 31 March 2021, for people who have begun the buying process beforehand, but not completed it.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The temporary increase in the SDLT nil rate band will be extended to continue to support the housing market, while ensuring that purchases that are unable to be completed before 31 March because of delays in the sector are still able to receive the relief.
The nil rate band will continue to be set at £500,000 until 30 June 2021. In order to ease the housing market back to the standard rates, from 1 July 2021, the nil rate band will step down to £250,000 before returning to the standard rate of £125,000 from 1 October 2021.