Home Shopping: Taxation

(asked on 18th July 2022) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a total online sales tax exemption for SMEs, regardless of the type of business and value of remote or online sales they transact.


Answered by
Lucy Frazer Portrait
Lucy Frazer
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This question was answered on 25th July 2022

The Business Rates Review reaffirmed the importance of business rates for raising revenue for essential local services. The review concluded there is no alternative which would raise sufficient revenue to replace business rates without significant trade-offs. The review delivered meaningful reform to the system, reducing the burden of business rates with a package of changes worth £7 billion to business over the next five years and committing to more frequent revaluations from 2023, which will make the system fairer and more responsive for all ratepayers.

In the final report of the Business Rates Review, the Government also announced that it would continue to explore the arguments for and against an Online Sales Tax, the revenue from which would be used to provide business rates relief for in-store retail. The consultation, which was published on 25 February and ran for 12 weeks, has now closed.

The Government conducted extensive engagement with a wide range of stakeholders and is currently reviewing the feedback received. It will publish a response to the consultation on the Government’s website in due course.

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