Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to amend approved mileage allowance payment rates for volunteer-led organisations.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
As with all taxes and allowances, the Government keeps the AMAP rate under review. In considering changes to the Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAPs) rate, the Government has to balance the responsible management of public finances, which fund our essential public services with support for individuals.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to take steps with the Payment Systems Regulator to increase the compensation available to people affected by authorised push payment fraud.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The Government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime. We have now introduced legislation in the Financial Services and Markets Bill which enables the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to mandate banks to reimburse victims of Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud. Moreover, the legislation also specifies that the PSR must mandate reimbursement for payments made via the Faster Payments system within 6 months of the legislation coming into effect. This will ensure the vast majority of victims are protected to a swift timescale.
We expect that this legislation will result in more consistent and comprehensive reimbursement outcomes, ensuring victims are not left out of pocket through no fault of their own. The Government will also continue its work across Departments to tackle APP fraud at the source, and will shortly publish a comprehensive Fraud Strategy to detail our ongoing and upcoming actions.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure that VAT registrations for trusts are processed in a (a) time-considerate and (b) effective manner.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Trusts are not treated differently from any other customer when they apply to register for VAT, and therefore the response will need to be ascribed to all VAT Registration applications.
HMRC continues to deal with most VAT Registrations applications within their usual 40 working days, however they have seen more applications requiring additional checks.
HMRC are dedicating extra resource to this and they expect service levels to improve quickly. Businesses including Trusts can continue trading while they register.
HMRC expect to have improved the on-hand position in VAT Registration significantly and to have reduced those cases that are older than 40 working days, by end of December 2022.
HMRC has also targeted the resource to their VAT Registration telephone helpline to help genuine customers to expedite their applications.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the HMRC system for registering VAT for trusts was operating correctly as of 28 November 2022.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The VAT Registration Service has been operating correctly from the 28th of November 2022, and has progressed applications for Trusts normally during this time.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a total online sales tax exemption for SMEs, regardless of the type of business and value of remote or online sales they transact.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Business Rates Review reaffirmed the importance of business rates for raising revenue for essential local services. The review concluded there is no alternative which would raise sufficient revenue to replace business rates without significant trade-offs. The review delivered meaningful reform to the system, reducing the burden of business rates with a package of changes worth £7 billion to business over the next five years and committing to more frequent revaluations from 2023, which will make the system fairer and more responsive for all ratepayers.
In the final report of the Business Rates Review, the Government also announced that it would continue to explore the arguments for and against an Online Sales Tax, the revenue from which would be used to provide business rates relief for in-store retail. The consultation, which was published on 25 February and ran for 12 weeks, has now closed.
The Government conducted extensive engagement with a wide range of stakeholders and is currently reviewing the feedback received. It will publish a response to the consultation on the Government’s website in due course.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of comprehensive business rates reform rather than the introduction of an online sales tax.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Business Rates Review reaffirmed the importance of business rates for raising revenue for essential local services. The review concluded there is no alternative which would raise sufficient revenue to replace business rates without significant trade-offs. The review delivered meaningful reform to the system, reducing the burden of business rates with a package of changes worth £7 billion to business over the next five years and committing to more frequent revaluations from 2023, which will make the system fairer and more responsive for all ratepayers.
In the final report of the Business Rates Review, the Government also announced that it would continue to explore the arguments for and against an Online Sales Tax, the revenue from which would be used to provide business rates relief for in-store retail. The consultation, which was published on 25 February and ran for 12 weeks, has now closed.
The Government conducted extensive engagement with a wide range of stakeholders and is currently reviewing the feedback received. It will publish a response to the consultation on the Government’s website in due course.