Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to introduce plans to prevent landlords of residential properties from recouping the cost of changes to the taxation of rents of such properties which will come into force next year; and if so, how.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Using actual self-assessment data, HM Revenue and Customs estimate that only 1 in 5 landlords will pay more tax as a result of this measure. Given that only a small proportion of the housing market is affected by these changes, the Government does not expect them to have a large impact on rent levels.
Incorporated businesses will continue to receive relief at the corporate tax rate. However, the rate of relief (currently 20%) is not more generous than the rate of income tax relief once these changes are fully in place by 2020-21.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to take steps to ensure that limited companies are not better placed than other landlords in relation to the taxation of profits engendered by letting residential properties.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Using actual self-assessment data, HM Revenue and Customs estimate that only 1 in 5 landlords will pay more tax as a result of this measure. Given that only a small proportion of the housing market is affected by these changes, the Government does not expect them to have a large impact on rent levels.
Incorporated businesses will continue to receive relief at the corporate tax rate. However, the rate of relief (currently 20%) is not more generous than the rate of income tax relief once these changes are fully in place by 2020-21.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken to prevent the use of aggressive tax avoidance schemes under which employers reduce their national insurance payments and exploit VAT rules designed to benefit very small businesses; and with what results.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
These schemes are under investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Penalties are in place for those caught attempting to avoid tax by using an avoidance scheme. This includes promoters of such schemes who can face fines of up to £1 million for failing to notify an avoidance scheme under the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes regime.
In the last two years, HMRC has secured an additional £5.5 billion through targeting tax avoidance schemes. The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in the Autumn Statement 2016 that the Government will counter abuse of the VAT Flat Rate Scheme while keeping VAT accounting simple for the small businesses that use the scheme as intended.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much tax has accrued to the Exchequer from the reported removal of £6.1 billion from pension funds since the new pensions flexibility rules were introduced, and how much they estimate will accrue by 2020.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The latest estimate of the tax revenue consequences of the introduction of pensions flexibility was set out in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook in March 2016. This stated, in paragraph 4.40, that: “tax from pension withdrawals relating to the pension flexibility measure is expected to be around £0.9 billion for the whole of 2015-16, around £0.2 billion higher than assumed in the original costing”.
The estimated longer term tax impacts of the pensions flexibility measures announced at Budget 2014 were set out in Chart 1.11 (page 45) of the Budget 2014 document.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to reduce the level of uncollected tax, and if so, to what extent, and within what timescale.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published its latest tax gap estimates on 22 October 2015 in Measuring tax gaps; 2015 edition. The overall long term trend is a reducing tax gap, from 8.4 per cent in 2005-06 to 6.4% in 2013-14. The UK’s percentage tax gap is one of the lowest in the world.
This overall long term trend demonstrates that our approach is delivering steady and sustained progress. As set out in their Single Departmental Plan, HMRC will raise an additional £5 billion a year by 2019-20 by tackling tax avoidance and aggressive tax planning, evasion and non-compliance, and by addressing imbalances in the tax system.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 18 February (HL5912), when information about taxes paid by and benefits paid to EU migrants which was not available in February became available, and why that answer was not updated with the requested information.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The analysis on recently arrived non-UK EEA nationals subject to income tax and National Insurance contributions or receiving HMRC administered benefits became available on 12 May 2016 when it was published on HMRC’s publications page on GOV.UK.
No estimate of VAT paid by EU Nationals is held. VAT is levied on most goods and services, with the person’s nationality not generally recorded.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether VAT paid by EU migrants is included in the recently announced figures of taxes paid by EU migrants, and if not what is the estimate of such payments.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The analysis on recently arrived non-UK EEA nationals subject to income tax and National Insurance contributions or receiving HMRC administered benefits became available on 12 May 2016 when it was published on HMRC’s publications page on GOV.UK.
No estimate of VAT paid by EU Nationals is held. VAT is levied on most goods and services, with the person’s nationality not generally recorded.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of (1) the annual benefits paid to EU migrants in the UK, and (2) the contribution of those individuals to the public purse through income tax receipts and VAT.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The information is not available.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what provisions the contract with Concentrix regarding child tax credits and other benefits makes concerning the time within which decisions must be made about the eligibility for such benefits once they have been withdrawn, and what assessment they have made of how the company has performed against any such requirements in respect of the number of cases in which that period has been exceeded.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) contract with SYNNEX-Concentrix UK Limited, signed in May 2014, provides additional capacity to review and correct tax credit claims that are potentially based on incorrect information.
Full details of the contractual arrangements, including agreed performance indicators put in place in respect of the intervention service, can be found on gov.uk.
HMRC regularly monitors the performance of contractors but, due to the commercially sensitive nature of this information, it does not disclose such information.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the latest Bank of England figures showing elevated levels of personal indebtedness, what assessment they have made of what is an acceptable and safe level of such borrowing.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
Household debt as a proportion of income has fallen to 144 per cent in Q2 2015, from a peak of 168 per cent in Q1 2008. To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past we have created the independent Financial Policy Committee (FPC) within the Bank of England, to ensure emerging risks and vulnerabilities across the financial system as a whole are identified, monitored and effectively addressed.