Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of removing the £100 default penalty for late tax returns during periods of covid-19 restrictions on working practices.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government and HMRC recognise the considerable pressure that many taxpayers and their accountants are facing at present, and that some of those taxpayers will not be able to file their return by 31 January.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) announced on Monday 25 January that Self-Assessment (SA) taxpayers will not receive a penalty for filing their SA return late provided they file it online by 28 February 2021.
This is not an extension of the deadline and taxpayers’ other SA obligations remain the same, including the obligation to pay their SA liability by 31 January.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many employees of HMRC were exclusively employed on facilitating the collection of customs duties on (a) 30 September 2020, (b) 31 October 2020, (c) 30 November 2020 and (d) 31 December 2020.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of scale rate expenses for accommodation and subsistence paid to cabin crew and other employees who travel outside of the UK.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Overseas Scale Rates (OSR) guidance was last updated in February 2019 and applied from 6 April 2019.
The published rates are designed to reflect the average cost of subsistence, including local taxes and gratuities, when staying overseas. This will, of course, vary from case to case as well as city to city.
Employers can pay or reimburse employees’ allowable travel expenses free of tax and National Insurance contributions in two ways. They can pay the actual expenses or use the scale rates HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) set. If they pay the actual expenses, they must check the employee’s receipts, but do not have to do this if they use the scale rates.
If an employee spends more than the amount their employer pays, they can claim tax relief on the difference. Guidance on how to do this can be found at: www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-income-tax-relief-for-your-employment-expenses-p87.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of scale rate expenses for accommodation and subsistence paid to airline cabin crew and other employees who travel outside of the UK.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Overseas Scale Rates (OSR) guidance was last updated in February 2019 and applied from 6 April 2019.
The published rates are designed to reflect the average cost of subsistence, including local taxes and gratuities, when staying overseas. This will, of course, vary from case to case as well as city to city.
Employers can pay or reimburse employees’ allowable travel expenses free of tax and National Insurance contributions in two ways. They can pay the actual expenses or use the scale rates HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) set. If they pay the actual expenses, they must check the employee’s receipts, but do not have to do this if they use the scale rates.
If an employee spends more than the amount their employer pays, they can claim tax relief on the difference. Guidance on how to do this can be found at: www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-income-tax-relief-for-your-employment-expenses-p87.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of businesses that are prepared for the completion of customs paperwork for export to the EU.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has been working for over a year to help businesses to understand and prepare for their new obligations, including customs paperwork for export to the EU.
The Government undertook significant readiness activity prior to 1 January, identifying key customer groups and delivering a high volume of targeted communications and engagement, including sending over 11 million letters and emails and hosting 50 webinars with over 30,000 attendees to date, preparing businesses for the new rules.
Through the cross-Government campaign since August the Government has reached 41m adults (15+) and 16m business decision makers through radio, and 18m adults (15+) and 3.5m business decision makers through print and digital articles, promoting key readiness messaging for importers and exporters.
The Government will continue to assess carefully how traders are adapting to the new customs arrangements over the next few weeks and months.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many customs officials were employed by HMRC on (a) 30 September 2020, (b) 31 October 2020, (c) 30 November 2020 and (d) 31 December 2020.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HMRC are unable to provide the information requested as HMRC do not categorise employees as “customs officials”.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the funding and financing package agreed between his Department and Transport for London announced on 1 November 2020, what assessment he has made of the effect of comparability factors on the allocation of funding to (a) Scotland, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
To?give the devolved administrations the upfront certainty to plan and deliver their coronavirus response,?we have guaranteed they will receive at least £16bn in additional resource funding this year on top of their Spring Budget?funding.
Any additional funding provided to the Department for Transport to support Transport for London will result in Barnett consequentials for the devolved administrations and these will contribute towards the guaranteed funding.
Where additional funding is being provided to departments in-year, the devolved administrations generally receive consequential funding using programme comparability rather than overall departmental comparability. Given local transport is devolved in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, a comparability factor of 100% will be applied as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy.
The Treasury is currently working with the devolved administrations to update and publish comparability factors in a revised Statement of Funding Policy alongside the upcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions the Government has had with (a) the Scottish Government, (b) the Welsh Government and (c) the Northern Ireland Executive on the disbursement of Barnett consequentials resulting from the extraordinary funding and financing package for Transport for London announced on 1 November 2020.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Any additional funding provided to the Department for Transport to support Transport for London will result in Barnett consequentials for the devolved administrations.
As is the normal process,?changes to departmental and devolved administrations’ funding will be confirmed at Supplementary Estimates.
Therefore, to?give the devolved administrations the upfront certainty to plan and deliver their coronavirus response,?we have guaranteed they will receive at least £14bn in additional funding this year on top of their Spring Budget?funding. This means a total increase this year of at least £7.2bn for the Scottish Government, £4.4 billion for the Welsh Government, and £2.4 bn for the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department had with representatives of the aviation industry regarding tax-free sales at UK airports to non-EU nationals after the closure of his Department's consultation that matter.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Ahead of the end of the transition period, the Government has announced the VAT and excise duty treatment of goods purchased by individuals for personal use and carried in their luggage to or from Great Britain. The following rules will apply from 1 January 2021:
- Passengers travelling from Great Britain to any destination outside the United Kingdom will be able to purchase duty-free excise goods once they have passed security controls at ports, airports, and international rail stations.
- Personal allowances will apply to passengers entering Great Britain from a destination outside of the United Kingdom, with alcohol allowances significantly increased.
- The concessionary treatment on tax-free sales of non-excise goods and the VAT Retail Export Scheme will not be extended to passengers travelling to the EU, and will be withdrawn for all passengers.
The Government published a consultation which ran from 11 March to 20 May. During this time the Government held a number of virtual meetings with stakeholders to hear their views and received 73 responses to the consultation. The Government has also continued to meet and discuss with key stakeholders following the announcement of these policies.
The concessionary treatment on tax-free sales currently affects airports that fly to non-EU destinations. The extension of duty-free sales to EU bound passengers will be a significant boost to all airports in England, Scotland and Wales, including Glasgow Airport and smaller regional airports which have not been able to offer duty-free before.
The final costing will be subject to scrutiny by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility and will be set out at the next forecast.
The Government also recognises the challenges the aviation sector is facing as it recovers from the impacts of Covid-19 and has supported the sector throughout the pandemic, and continues to do so, including schemes to raise capital, flexibilities with tax bills, and financial support for employees.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on employment levels of the proposed ending in January 2021 of tax-free sales in airports to travellers to non-EU countries.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Ahead of the end of the transition period, the Government has announced the VAT and excise duty treatment of goods purchased by individuals for personal use and carried in their luggage to or from Great Britain. The following rules will apply from 1 January 2021:
- Passengers travelling from Great Britain to any destination outside the United Kingdom will be able to purchase duty-free excise goods once they have passed security controls at ports, airports, and international rail stations.
- Personal allowances will apply to passengers entering Great Britain from a destination outside of the United Kingdom, with alcohol allowances significantly increased.
- The concessionary treatment on tax-free sales of non-excise goods and the VAT Retail Export Scheme will not be extended to passengers travelling to the EU, and will be withdrawn for all passengers.
The Government published a consultation which ran from 11 March to 20 May. During this time the Government held a number of virtual meetings with stakeholders to hear their views and received 73 responses to the consultation. The Government has also continued to meet and discuss with key stakeholders following the announcement of these policies.
The concessionary treatment on tax-free sales currently affects airports that fly to non-EU destinations. The extension of duty-free sales to EU bound passengers will be a significant boost to all airports in England, Scotland and Wales, including Glasgow Airport and smaller regional airports which have not been able to offer duty-free before.
The final costing will be subject to scrutiny by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility and will be set out at the next forecast.
The Government also recognises the challenges the aviation sector is facing as it recovers from the impacts of Covid-19 and has supported the sector throughout the pandemic, and continues to do so, including schemes to raise capital, flexibilities with tax bills, and financial support for employees.