Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many advance transfer pricing agreements have been signed by HM Revenue and Customs in each of the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue and Customs has entered into the following number of advance pricing agreements in the past five tax years:
This information is included in the Transfer Pricing and Diverted Profits Tax Statistics 2022 to 2023 which are publicly available and published on gov.uk[1].
[1] Transfer Pricing and Diverted Profits Tax statistics 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 8 April (HL3589), whether they will now answer the question put; namely, what is their assessment of the implications for calculating entitlement to contributory working age benefits and pensions of abolishing, rather than cutting, national insurance contributions.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government already cut employee NICs by 4p, self-employed NICs by 3p and abolished the requirement to pay Class 2 for self-employed people across Autumn and Spring without increasing borrowing or cutting spending. That is the model the Government wants to follow when it is prudent to go further.
The ambition to abolish NICs is about reducing tax and rewarding work, not about reforming the contributory benefits system. It is a long-term ambition, and the Government has been clear, this cannot be done overnight and this can only be done in a fiscally responsible way.
Cutting NICs rates does not affect anyone’s entitlement to the State Pension or contributory benefits.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to remarks by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 21 February (HL Deb col 666) with regard to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement in the context of engaging with the EU for approval for extending the enterprise investment scheme (EIS) and venture capital trust (VCT) scheme, whether the subsidy control provisions of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement apply to EIS and VCT relief, in particular the requirement under Article 363 of that agreement that a subsidy must be selective.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is extending the sunset clause for the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Venture Capital Trust (VCT) scheme to 2035.
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement is now the primary framework governing subsidy control between the UK and EU. As such, EU State aid rules no longer apply to the UK, save for the limited circumstances covered by the Windsor Framework.
For the EIS and VCT schemes, the government is engaging with the EU, under the Windsor Framework, due to Northern Ireland’s unique access to the EU Single Market.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether self-employed individuals who file their tax returns late but owe no tax are penalised.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC issues SA tax returns to customers when the information they hold suggests that the customer meets the published criteria for completing one. HMRC often cannot determine someone’s tax liability until they have sent in a tax return, therefore they need the return to establish whether there is tax due or not. Late filing and payment penalties are charged to encourage customers to file on time but we can cancel a customer’s late filing penalty if they have a reasonable excuse. Customers can also ask HMRC to remove them from the SA process for future years if they no longer meet the criteria.
From October 2011 the penalty legislation changed, from this point the capping of penalties was no longer factored into the calculation and any fixed penalty applied remained at the full amount regardless of liability.
Although no change to the current penalty regime has been announced, Penalty Reform within Making Tax Digital will change the way we calculate penalties for late Submission and late payment of tax. The new legislation will factor in the Liability amount, Filing frequency and length of time outstanding within its penalty calculations.
In reforming late payment and late filing penalties HMRC’s aim is to encourage those who persistently default to comply with their tax obligations rather than penalise those who make occasional errors.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) officials in his Department on compensation and support for affected Equitable Life policyholders.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Equitable Life Payment Scheme has been fully wound down and closed since 2016 and there are no plans to reopen any previous decisions relating to the Payment Scheme or review the £1.5 billion funding allocation previously made to it. Further guidance on the status of the Payment Scheme after closure is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equitable-life-payment-scheme#closure-of-the-scheme.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he is developing economic models to forecast (a) price trends and (b) growth potential in cryptocurrencies.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is not developing economic models to forecast cryptoasset trends. Rather, it uses information from a range of sources to understand broad trends in the market in order to inform policy development.
In October last year, the Treasury published its final proposals for creating the UK’s financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets, and is currently working to deliver legislation giving effect to its proposals. As part of this, the government will publish analysis of the impacts of its legislation on cryptoasset businesses in scope of the forthcoming regime in the usual way.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what incentives are available to encourage growth strategies among UK tech firms; and whether he plans to take steps to help increase the number of high-value tech companies based in the UK.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is backing British business to drive long-term economic growth by tackling barriers to investment, cutting taxes and rewarding work, and by supporting the priority growth sectors, including digital technology, which are helping to turn the UK into the world’s next Silicon Valley. The UK has Europe’s leading tech ecosystem, valued at over $1trillion, and the government is acting to create the best environment for our most innovative tech companies to start, scale and stay in the UK. This includes making over £3.5 billion of public investment in the AI ecosystem since 2014, extending the sunset clause for the Enterprise Investment Scheme and the Venture Capital Trust scheme to 6 April 2035, making changes to simplify and improve R&D tax reliefs, extending the British Business Bank’s Future Fund: Breakthrough investment programme, and implementing the measures the Chancellor announced at last year’s Mansion House speech to reform the pensions market to unlock investment into high growth sectors and generate increased returns for savers.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2024 to Question 21846 on Oil: Imports, what volume of oil has been identified as being from Russia in cases where investigations have been concluded.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pursuant to the answer provided on 18 April 2024 to Question 21846, HM Revenue and Customs is responsible for enforcing and investigating export controls on strategic goods and sanctions and investigating potential breaches of those controls. HM Revenue and Customs does not comment on operational enforcement matters pertaining to specific import or export scenarios.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2024 to Question 21846 on Oil: Imports, in how many cases action has (a) been and (b) not been taken where investigations have concluded.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pursuant to the answer provided on 18 April 2024 to Question 21846, HM Revenue and Customs is responsible for enforcing and investigating export controls on strategic goods and sanctions and investigating potential breaches of those controls. HM Revenue and Customs does not comment on operational enforcement matters pertaining to specific import or export scenarios.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the of the impact of changes made to the (a) Enterprise Investment Scheme and (b) Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme on levels of investment in the UK screen sector since 2018.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recognises the importance of the film and TV sector to the UK and is committed to making the UK the best place to invest through our generous and reliable fiscal support, as well as wider business support through our funded bodies like the British Film Commission.
The government keeps all tax-advantaged venture capital schemes under review to ensure they continue to meet their policy objectives in a way that is fair and effective. Information on the Enterprise Investment Scheme and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme is published annually by HM Revenue and Customs. The data published relates to overall scheme statistics and not sector specific performance.