Asked by: Lord Colgrain (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the Making Tax Digital service and improve the current (1) process of, and (2) software used by, that service.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
HMRC are constantly reviewing the progress of the Making Tax Digital (MTD) service. As at 18 July, over 712,000 businesses have joined the VAT service and over 460,000 VAT submissions have been made successfully.
The VAT Helpline has been performing within the 5 minute target for average waiting time. A small proportion of customers – around 0.5% - have been affected by service issues which HMRC are addressing.
The Government recognises the value of independent assurance. MTD is part of the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio and the VAT service will be reviewed by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) in September.
Software enabling customers to use MTD is provided by a wide range of third-party software providers. This approach has led to a rich choice of products to meet businesses’ different needs, preferences and budgets.
Asked by: Lord Colgrain (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Environment Agency computer systems share information with the computer systems of the Rural Payments Agency; and if not, when this might be introduced.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
At present, there are no direct system-to-system data exchanges between Rural Payments Agency and Environment Agency systems. Defra is committed to sharing data internally within the Department, externally across Government and with any interested party. Both the Rural Payments Agency and the Environment Agency publish datasets on the publicly available Defra Multi-Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside website, and within the Defra Spatial Repository and Toolkits which are accessible to all Defra Group organisations. Defra also publishes more than 8,000 datasets, which are publicly available under open licence.
However, both organisations have access to the Defra Customer and Land Database (CLAD) which is due to be replaced in 2019 by a system called CLARIS, which will enable the Environment Agency to have access to Rural Payments Agency land data. Additionally, the Rural Payments Agency periodically provides the Environment Agency with a manual extract of data relating to the ownership of land within Nitrate Vulnerable Zones for cross-compliance purposes.
As part of its wider consolidation and upgrade of IT systems the Defra Group is adopting shared IT platforms, for example cloud email services, document management, customer relationship management and identity management platforms. Agency data will coexist within the same physical platforms which may facilitate data sharing where there is a specific purpose for that data to be shared, and this is done in accordance with regulations such as the Data Protection Act and appropriate interagency data sharing agreements.
Asked by: Lord Colgrain (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the use of blockchain will not deprive HM Treasury of tax that might otherwise be chargeable on more conventional commercial and financial transactions and structures.
Answered by Lord Bates
HMRC has published guidance setting out its position on the tax treatment of income received from, and charges made in connection with, activities involving Bitcoin and other similar cryptocurrencies, specifically for VAT, Corporation Tax, Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax. The Government continues to keep this area of policy under review.