Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - 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 - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
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 (Conservative - 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 - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
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 (Conservative - 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 - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
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 (Conservative - 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 - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
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 (Conservative - 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 - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
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 (Conservative - 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 - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
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 (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to introduce tax relief for investment in (a) agricultural buildings and (b) farming equipment.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The UK’s capital allowances regime provides tax relief for investment in buildings via the structures and buildings allowance, which allows businesses to deduct 3 per cent of the cost of construction and renovation of non-residential structures and buildings a year.
The UK’s capital allowances regime also provides tax relief for investment in plant and machinery. For example, the super-deduction allows companies to claim 130 per cent of qualifying plant and machinery investments for expenditure incurred from 1 April 2021 until the end of March 2023. The Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) currently provides 100 per cent relief for plant and machinery investments up to £1 million. At Autumn Budget 2021, the Government extended the temporary £1 million AIA limit to 31 March 2023.
In the Spring Statement 2022, the Chancellor set out a series of potential policy changes to the UK’s existing capital allowances regime, which the Government will consider ahead of the end of the super-deduction. HM Treasury is currently seeking the views of businesses on the different options via business engagement and a survey that can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1062708/Spring_Statement_2022_Print.pdf.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential tax revenues that would be generated annually by a regulated cannabis market.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has no current plans to legalise and introduce a tax on cannabis.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support he plans to make available to gyms in respect of (a) VAT and (b) the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to enable those businesses to re-open after the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The temporary reduced rate of VAT was introduced on 15 July to support the cash flow and viability of over 150,000 businesses and protect 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors, and is due to run until 31 March 2021. This policy will cost over £2 billion.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was set to close on 31 October 2020. However, in light of the path of the virus and to provide certainty to businesses and employees, the CJRS has been extended until the end of April 2021 for all parts of the UK.
The Chancellor has always been clear that the Government would keep the situation under review, adapting its approach as the context evolved. The Government will set out the next phase of the plan to tackle the virus and support jobs at Budget.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will extend the business rates relief scheme through the 2021-22 financial year.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The full business rates holiday for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties for the financial year is worth about £10 billion to business in 2020-21. The Government will continue to look at how to adjust its support in a way that ensures people can get back to work, protecting both the UK economy and the livelihoods of people across the country. In order to ensure that any decisions best meet the evolving challenges presented by COVID-19, the Government will outline plans for future reliefs in due course.