Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2024 to Question 24152 on Natwest: Shares, if he will list each adviser by (a) the purpose for which they were appointed and (b) the value of the contract awarded.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has not published a comprehensive list of all advisers at this time, however, the publicly available list of relevant procurement contracts can be found at the government’s Contract Finder website.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to consult on proposed changes to the Furnished Holiday Lets tax regime.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Draft legislation will be published in due course and the Government will consult on it in the usual way.
The Government keeps all aspects of tax policy under review and any decisions on future changes will be taken by the Chancellor in the context of the wider public finances.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of including an employee share element as part of the sale of the Government's remaining shares in NatWest.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Spring Budget 2024, the Chancellor set out that, as part of the plan to return NatWest to private ownership, the government intends to deliver a retail offering, subject to supportive market conditions and achieving value for money for taxpayers. The government is currently exploring the most suitable terms, structure, and timing for a potential sale.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2023 to Question 5600 on Natwest: Shares, whether his Department has appointed advisers to review the potential merits of a NatWest retail share offer.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has appointed a number of advisers to support the government’s assessment of options for a retail offer, including firms specialising in market research, financial services, legal advice and marketing.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 5.67, page 75 of the Spring Budget 2024, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the abolition of the Furnished Holiday Lettings tax regime on the number of businesses that will (a) continue as short-term holiday lets, (b) become longer term rental properties and (c) sell the property in question.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has announced that it will abolish the Furnished Holiday Lettings (FHL) tax regime from April 2025.
The Government will publish draft legislation, explanatory notes, and a tax information and impacts note in due course.
As with all aspects of tax policy, the Government keeps the taxation of property landlords under review and any decisions on future changes will be taken by the Chancellor in the context of the wider public finances.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Statement 2023, whether his Department has appointed advisers to review the potential merits of a NatWest retail share offer.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Autumn Statement 2023, the Chancellor set out that, as part of the plan to return NatWest to the private sector, the government will explore options to launch a share sale to retail investors in the next 12 months, subject to supportive market conditions and achieving value for money. Commercial advisers will be required to support the government’s assessment of options for a retail offer and any decisions regarding the merits of an offer will be taken by ministers in due course.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the VAT registration threshold on incentives for small businesses to increase their turnover above that threshold.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government recognises that accounting for VAT can be a burden on small businesses. This is why, at £85,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU Member State and the second highest in the OECD. This keeps the majority of UK businesses out of VAT altogether. Nearly half of businesses that are VAT registered are voluntarily registered under the threshold.
Views on the threshold are divided and the case for change has been regularly reviewed over the years. While some businesses have argued that a higher threshold would reduce administrative and financial burdens, others contend that a lower threshold would provide a fairer competitive environment.
Following the Office of Tax Simplification report published on 7 November 2017, the Government published a call for evidence on 13 March 2018 inviting views on the effect of the current threshold and what policy options could better incentivise growth. A summary of responses was published at Budget 2018. The responses did not provide a clear option for reform.
While the Government continues to keep all taxes under review, it was announced at Autumn Budget 2022 that the VAT threshold will be maintained at its current level of £85,000 until 31 March 2026.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the potential impact of increasing the VAT registration threshold by the retail price index in each year to March 2026 on annual VAT revenues.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU member state and the second highest in the OECD at £85,000. This keeps the majority of businesses out of VAT altogether. Any business with turnover of £85,000 or less does not have to register for VAT.
At Autumn Statement 2022 the Government announced that the VAT Registration Threshold would be frozen for two further years until March 2026. The Exchequer impact of this measure is shown in Table 4.2, Spring Budget 2023: Spring Budget 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). This costing has been certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate the number of businesses that are not required to register for VAT at the current threshold that would be required to register if the threshold were increased to (a) £90,000 and (b) £100,000 as of 23 May 2023.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The numbers of VAT registered businesses in various turnover ranges can be found in Table 5a of this statistical publication on the GOV.UK website here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/value-added-tax-vat-annual-statistics. Out of a total of 2,554,470 businesses registered for VAT in 2021-2022, a total of 1,222,240 were voluntarily registered below the threshold, representing slightly less than half the total.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of the VAT threshold on small business growth.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU member state and second highest in the OECD – which keeps the majority of UK businesses out of VAT altogether.
The Government have also put in place a generous package of Business Rates relief worth £13.6 billion.
The Government has demonstrated its long-standing commitment to supporting small businesses. At Spring Budget, the Government confirmed that, from April 2023, the Small Profits Rate will mean 70 per cent of businesses will see no increase in Corporation Tax this April. In fact, the UK has the lowest corporation tax rate in the G7.
In addition, the Government continues to invest in the 38 Growth Hubs providing businesses across England with free one-to-one support and advice. Growth Hubs offer a triage, diagnostic and signposting service to make sure that all businesses, whatever their size or sector, know what help is available and can access the most appropriate support.
While the Government keeps all taxes under review, it was announced at Autumn Budget 2022 that the VAT threshold will be maintained at its current level of £85,000 until 31 March 2026.