Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending business rates exemptions and the temporary VAT reduction for businesses in the wedding industry to relieve the financial pressure on the sector resulting from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jesse Norman
This year the Government has provided an unprecedented business rates holiday for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties due to the direct adverse effects of COVID-19, worth over £10 billion, and has frozen the business rates multiplier for all businesses for 2021-22.
The temporary VAT reduced rate came into effect on 15 July 2020 and was initially scheduled to end on 12 January 2021. In order to continue supporting the cash flow and viability of over 150,000 businesses and to protect 2.4 million jobs, the Government extended the temporary reduced rate of VAT (five per cent) to goods and services supplied by the tourism and hospitality sectors until 31 March 2021. The Government continues to keep all taxes under review, and any tax decisions will be made at Budget.
The Government has provided various schemes to support firms overall, including Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans, Bounce Back Loans, grants and VAT deferrals.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the potential tax revenues lost to the public purse as a result of a lack of regulation of the grey market in gambling.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The information requested is not available as HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not make an estimate of the amount of revenue lost as a result of the lack of regulation of the grey market in gambling.
However, HMRC does provide an illustrative estimate of the tax gap arising from ‘other excise duties’ which includes betting and gaming duties, cider and perry duties, spirit-based ready-to-drink duties and wine duties. The aggregate estimate for ‘other excise duties’ was £520 million for the tax year 2018-19.
Tax gap statistics are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing additional financial support to businesses still not allowed to trade as a result of covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government has announced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency. Businesses that remain unable to trade as a result of Covid-19 restrictions continue to have access to a range of support measures that the Government has already made available.
This includes, but is not limited to, the four government-backed loan schemes for firms of all sizes, and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). The CJRS will continue to provide support to the end of October. The Business Support website provides further information about how businesses can access the support that has been made available, who is eligible and how to apply - https://www.gov.uk/business-coronavirus-support-finder.
The Government is following its COVID-19 recovery strategy, which was published on 11 May. The strategy sets out our plan for moving to the next phase of our response, alongside a cautious roadmap for easing existing measures in a safe and measured way. This roadmap and our financial support schemes are kept constantly under review. The Government will continue to work closely with businesses that are yet to reopen on plans for a safe, phased reopening, subject to public health guidance, and consider how to best continue supporting these businesses.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to implement the recommendations contained in Sir Amyas Morse's Loan Charge review published in December 2019.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Disguised Renumeration (DR) schemes seek to avoid tax by paying users their earnings in the form of loans, usually via an offshore trust, so that neither Income Tax nor National Insurance Contributions are paid on the income channelled through the scheme.
The Loan Charge was designed to tackle DR tax avoidance schemes. The Independent Loan Charge Review led by Sir Amyas Morse assessed the impact of the policy on affected taxpayers and concluded that it was right for the Loan Charge to remain in force, and for the Government to seek to collect the tax due. However, the Review did also raise a number of concerns.
The Government accepted all but one of the recommendations made by the Review. The Government is currently legislating to implement these changes to the Loan Charge in the Finance Bill.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether (a) income tax and (b) national insurance contributions have been deducted from income from loan schemes through third parties that were entered into before 9 December 2019.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Disguised Renumeration (DR) schemes seek to avoid tax by paying users their earnings in the form of loans, usually via an offshore trust, so that neither Income Tax nor National Insurance Contributions are paid on the income channelled through the scheme.
The Loan Charge was designed to tackle DR tax avoidance schemes. The Independent Loan Charge Review led by Sir Amyas Morse assessed the impact of the policy on affected taxpayers and concluded that it was right for the Loan Charge to remain in force, and for the Government to seek to collect the tax due. However, the Review did also raise a number of concerns.
The Government accepted all but one of the recommendations made by the Review. The Government is currently legislating to implement these changes to the Loan Charge in the Finance Bill.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to enable child benefit claims to be split between parents.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
At present, the law provides for Child Benefit to be paid to one parent only. The parent who claims Child Benefit can voluntarily choose to pay an agreed proportion to the other parent. Where parents separate and both have care of their child, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) encourages them to agree who should claim Child Benefit. Where they cannot reach an agreement, the law allows HMRC to decide, at their discretion, who should receive the payment.
Currently there are no plans to change the law to split payments of Child Benefit where parents have separated and share care of their children. The government believes that directing payment to the person mainly responsible for the child best ensures that the money goes to the person most likely to bear the weight of everyday care and expenditure.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessments were undertaken on the negative effects on smaller, rural businesses of Making Tax Digital.
Answered by Jesse Norman
By 24 October 2019 over 1.25 million businesses had joined the new MTD service and over 1.75 million VAT returns had been successfully submitted using MTD-compatible software.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have worked with and taken feedback from stakeholders including Defra and the National Farmers’ Union, to help shape the design and to understand the impact of the MTD service. An assessment of the impact on smaller, rural businesses is included within the wider Impact Assessment.
Broadband connectivity was presented as a particular challenge for some rural communities. The Government has committed more than £1 billion for the next generation of digital infrastructure, with the Chancellor recently announcing a £5 billion commitment to fund gigabit-capable (speeds of 1,000Mbps>) deployment in the hardest to reach 20% of UK premises. This will close the digital divide and ensure rural areas are not left behind.
Those that cannot go digital are already not required to join MTD.