Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing further business rate reliefs to support (a) small businesses, (b) other businesses, (c) high streets and town centres and (d) local authorities.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
At Autumn Statement 2022, the Government announced a package of changes and tax cuts worth £13.6 billion over the next five years, including:
Decisions on future business rates support will be made in due course.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of retaining the business rates multiplier at the current level for the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government has taken action to hold the tax rate steady over the last three years, protecting businesses from inflationary pressures at a cost of £14.5 billion to the Exchequer.
Most recently, the Government froze the business rates multiplier for a third consecutive year in 2023-24, a tax cut worth £9.3 billion to business over the next 5 years. This will support all ratepayers, large and small, with the revaluation in 2023, meaning bills are 6 per cent lower, before any reliefs or supplements are applied, than without the freeze.
Decisions on the level of the multiplier for 2024-25 will be made in due course.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the income from VAT on defibrillator sales in the last five years; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making defibrillator sales VAT exempt.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Businesses are not required to provide figures at a product level within their VAT returns, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden. Therefore, HM Revenue and Customs does not hold information on VAT revenue from specific products or services, including VAT on defibrillators.
The Government currently provides various VAT reliefs to aid the purchase of defibrillators and other first aid equipment. For example, when an AED is purchased with funds provided by a charity or by voluntary contributions, and then donated to an eligible body (such as an NHS body or a charitable care institution), this purchase can then be zero rated, meaning no VAT is charged. Otherwise, they attract the standard rate of VAT.
The Department of Health and Social Care are examining whether there are ways to further expand public access to defibrillators. The Government keeps all taxes under constant review.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the statement on Net zero by the Prime Minister on 20 September 2023, whether he plans to amend air passenger duty rates.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Air Passenger Duty (APD) is the Government’s principal tax on the aviation sector, since tickets are VAT free and aviation fuel incurs no duty. Its primary objective is to ensure that airlines make a fair contribution to the public finances.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps the rates of APD under review and any changes are announced by the Chancellor at fiscal events.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he has made on implementation of OECD Pillar 2 on corporation tax; and if he will make an assessment of the potential economic impact of that implementation.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The government has legislated for the Pillar 2 Multinational top-up tax (MTT) and Domestic top-up tax (DTT) for implementation from 31 December 2023.
An updated Tax Impact and Information Note and costing were published at Spring Budget 2023. An update on the latest revenue forecast from the OBR and a status update on international implementation will be provided at Autumn Statement 2023.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential economic merits of (a) freezing and (b) reducing fuel duty.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
In response to high fuel prices, the Government announced at Spring Statement 2022 a temporary 12-month cut to duty on petrol and diesel of 5p per litre. This is the largest cash-terms cut across all fuel duty rates at once, ever, and is only the second time in 20 years that main rates of petrol and diesel have been cut. This represents a tax cut worth around £2.4 billion in 2022-23, benefiting anyone who consumes fuel across the UK
The Government will confirm future policy on fuel duty in the Budget in the Spring, as has been the case in previous years.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what additional funding will be required by (a) his Department and (b) the OECD to ensure monitoring and compliance with the proposed Pillar 2 rules of BEPS 2.0.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
At Autumn Statement 2022, the Government set out that Pillar 2 will raise £2.3 billion a year by 2027-28.
An estimate of HMRC operational costs to implement Pillar 2 was published in a tax information and impact note in July 2022. This can be accessed on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/introduction-of-the-new-multinational-top-up-tax/multinational-top-up-tax-uk-adoption-of-organisation-for-economic-co-operation-and-development-pillar-2
The Government will publish an updated tax information and impact note at the Spring Budget.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether a disputes resolution mechanism agreed as part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s BEPS 2.0 Pillar 2 proposals would be binding upon UK courts.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is publicly consulting on tax certainty in the pillar 2 rules, covering dispute prevention and dispute resolution mechanisms, until 3 February 2023. This includes options for legal instruments to implement the dispute resolution process.
The public consultation can be accessed online at https://www.oecd.org/tax/beps/oecd-invites-comments-on-compliance-and-tax-certainty-aspects-of-global-minimum-tax.htm.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the most recent version of the agreement on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting framework.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The UK is a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)/Group of Twenty (G20) Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), which is collaborating on 15 actions to address tax avoidance.
The OECD sets out the 15 BEPS actions at https://www.oecd.org/tax/beps/beps-actions/.
The recent focus of developments in international tax has been the Two-Pillar Solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy.
The OECD published the two-pillar agreement in 2021, so far signed by 138 countries including the UK, which can be accessed at https://www.oecd.org/tax/beps/statement-on-a-two-pillar-solution-to-address-the-tax-challenges-arising-from-the-digitalisation-of-the-economy-october-2021.htm.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to hold a formal public consultation before bringing forward legislative proposals to implement the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s base Erosion and Profit Shifting framework.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
As part of the tax policy making process, the Government routinely holds public consultations on tax policy ahead of implementation.
Since international agreement on the BEPS project in 2015, the Government has consulted ahead of the introduction of new rules in accordance with the BEPS actions. This includes on hybrid mismatch rules, the tax deductibility on corporate interest expense and country by country reporting.
The Government has recently demonstrated its commitment to consultation. In 2022, the Government consulted on the implementation of Pillar 2 in the UK and published a response in July 2022 which can be accessed on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/oecd-pillar-2-consultation-on-implementation.
In July 2022, the Government also led a technical consultation on Income Inclusion Rule draft legislation published on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/introduction-of-the-new-multinational-top-up-tax.
Following consultation, the Government confirmed at Autumn Statement 2022 that it will implement the OECD Pillar 2 rules for accounting periods beginning on or after 31 December 2023.