Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of business lost to the Northern Ireland economy from the maintained level of air passenger duty.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The government has devolved control over the direct long-haul rate of air passenger duty to the Northern Ireland Assembly (NIA). The NIA has set this rate at zero.
In March 2015, the Northern Ireland Executive (NIE) published an economic impact assessment on air passenger duty. The report informed the NIE’s decision not to pursue devolution of the short haul rate.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the Exchequer was of disposing of illegal fuel in each of the last three years.
Answered by Damian Hinds
HMRC does not have specific figures for disposing of illegal fuel.
HMRC fights fraud on a wide range of fronts, from special units performing thousands of roadside checks to raiding laundering plants. The UK has recently announced, jointly with Ireland, an improved new marker for rebated fuel, which will make it much harder to launder marked fuel and sell it at a profit.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the practice of HM Revenue & Customs is to deal with illegal fuel seized by that body.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Illegal fuel seized by HMRC is rendered into burning oil by contractors who are approved waste oil recyclers.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will investigate UK multinationals' corporate tax practices in Zambia.
Answered by David Gauke
Any investigation of UK multinationals’ corporate tax practices in Zambia would need to focus on, and require a full understanding of, the interaction between multinationals and the tax regime of Zambia. It would not be feasible or appropriate for the UK Government to undertake such an investigation.
The UK is supporting tax reform in Zambia. For example, the Department for International Development has funded the OECD and World Bank Group to provide technical assistance to Zambia to implement improvements in transfer pricing and related controls. More generally, the Government is committed to supporting developing countries access sustainable sources of revenue and collect the taxes they are due. The UK is a world leader on tax capacity building, contributing considerable human and financial resources to help developing countries to build robust tax administrations. And earlier this year we committed to doubling our funding for tax projects in developing countries.
The Government has also set up a specialist Tax Capacity Building Unit in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). At Autumn Statement 2014, the Chancellor announced that HMRC would recruit a new team of tax inspectors to work fulltime on tax capacity building, supporting HMRC’s Tax Capacity Building Unit and fulfilling missions such as the OECD’s Tax Inspectors Without Borders project.