Asked by: Charlie Elphicke (Independent - Dover)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what contribution the HM Revenue and Customs Border Planning Group has made to the Autumn Budget 2017.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Border Planning Group is a cross-Whitehall group of senior officials set up by Permanent Secretaries. The Border Planning Group’s role is to provide oversight and assurance of departmental plans for border related impacts of leaving the EU. The Border Planning Group does not report to the Chancellor and it has not contributed directly to the Autumn Budget 2017. Some individuals on it will have been involved in the Autumn Budget process.
Asked by: Charlie Elphicke (Independent - Dover)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons HM Revenue and Customs plans to change the sleep cab allowance for lorry drivers from April 2017; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Finance Act 2015 introduced an exemption for general business expenses, to reduce reporting for employers when reimbursing actual costs. The legislation which took effect from April 2016 applies to all employers and brought in a statutory requirement to operate a checking system to ensure that employees are incurring allowable expenses. Employers in the haulage sector were allowed a further year to put checking systems in place.
Asked by: Charlie Elphicke (Independent - Dover)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when HM Revenue and Customs plans to reply to applications from the haulage sector for bespoke agreements to pay overnight allowances to drivers; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
This information is not available. HM Revenue and Customs does not record turnaround times for dealing with approval notices from the haulage sector.
Asked by: Charlie Elphicke (Independent - Dover)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what potential effect treating payments to employees derived from image rights as earnings subject to taxation would have on the public purse.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Payments made by an employer for an employee’s image rights are taxable and the appropriate treatment has been set out in guidelines by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The guidance is clear that payments that are, in reality, earnings cannot be treated as image rights payments.
HMRC enforces the image rights rules and has a project looking specifically at compliance risks in football to ensure that football clubs, players, managers and agents pay the correct amount of tax. Since 2014-15 HMRC has brought in over £260m by tackling non-compliance in football.
Asked by: Charlie Elphicke (Independent - Dover)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the economy of a reduction in UK fuel duty to (a) the EU average, (b) an equivalent rate to that used in France and (c) an equivalent rate to that used in Luxembourg; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The government has made no assessment of the impact of reducing fuel duty rates to these levels.
At current exchange rates, the UK fuel duty rate on petrol is already lower than that applied in France.
Asked by: Charlie Elphicke (Independent - Dover)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the fuel duty differential between the UK and each of the other 27 member states of the EU has been for each of the last five years for which data is available.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The European Commission collates figures for fuel duty from each of the Member States once a year. Information on fuel duty rates over the past 5 years can be found at the following links. While fuel duty is levied in local currency, the EC figures convert these into euros, using the prevailing exchange rates at the date of publication.
2017: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/resources/documents/taxation/excise_duties/energy_products/rates/excise_duties-part_ii_energy_products_en.pdf
2016: https://circabc.europa.eu/sd/a/58bf9e30-7bdd-4a29-9bb2-4a62c542f1d1/EDT-Ref%201045%20(II-Energy)%20-%20January%202016.pdf
2015: https://circabc.europa.eu/sd/a/bba65b10-5803-41f6-abd5-9be8490d36b6/EDT-Ref%201042%20(II-Energy)%20-%20January%202015
2014: https://circabc.europa.eu/sd/a/f52da286-1c43-401e-bbb8-11132b349880/II-Energy_July2014%20final.pdf
2013: https://circabc.europa.eu/sd/a/ee2fb487-3c8c-468e-80f7-e89393a4477a/II-Energy_January2013_final.pdf
Asked by: Charlie Elphicke (Independent - Dover)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a Norwegian-style oil exploration tax rebate system for encouraging further oil exploration in the UK sector of the North Sea.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Government recognises the importance of exploration and appraisal activity to the future of the oil and gas industry. The best way to support this is through a competitive tax regime, rewarding exploration by improving the economics of new discoveries.
Since 2014, the Government has significantly cut tax rates for the oil and gas sector and introduced a new Investment Allowance, reducing the effective tax rate paid by producers at the exploration stage. The UK now has one of the most competitive tax regimes for oil and gas in the world.
The Government has also funded two £20m programmes of seismic surveys, across 2015 and 2016. The data and analysis from these surveys will help to support activity in under-explored areas of the UK Continental Shelf.
Asked by: Charlie Elphicke (Independent - Dover)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the loss of tax revenue resulting from EU-based hauliers paying below the minimum wage while working in the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) receives them. Anyone who feels they have been underpaid NMW or NLW should contact the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reviews all complaints that are referred to the department. HMRC do not collect information on employer nationality as part of minimum wage investigations.
Asked by: Charlie Elphicke (Independent - Dover)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many investigations have been launched into EU hauliers paying below the minimum wage to their drivers in each of the last five years for which data is available; and how many of those investigations resulted in successful prosecution.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) receives them. Anyone who feels they have been underpaid NMW or NLW should contact the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reviews all complaints that are referred to the department. HMRC do not collect information on employer nationality as part of minimum wage investigations.
Asked by: Charlie Elphicke (Independent - Dover)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the Government's strategy is for reducing the tax gap on import taxes, levies and VAT.
Answered by Jane Ellison
HMRC’s Compliance Strategy for tackling non-compliance in all taxes and duties is ‘promote, prevent, respond’. For non-compliance relating to VAT and duties on imports HMRC operates a range of compliance responses to tackle the problems of undervaluation and misdescription of imported goods, as well as the non-payment of VAT on the subsequent sale of those goods. HMRC also operates in partnership with UK Border Force.