Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to prioritise the recovery of tax debts for those who have moved overseas.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMRC recognises the importance of ensuring taxpayers living overseas pay their tax debts like those living in the UK and has a dedicated team that manages the recovery of these debts. HMRC initially pursue overseas debts in the same way as UK debts where they will make attempts to contact the taxpayer through letters and phone calls.
Where a taxpayer does not respond, HMRC have a number of Assistance in Collection agreements in place with various countries. These agreements are reciprocal and allow tax authorities to recover debts on each other’s behalf. That country will use the same recovery processes and powers they do to pursue their own debts.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that individuals living overseas are paying tax debts.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMRC recognises the importance of ensuring taxpayers living overseas pay their tax debts like those living in the UK and has a dedicated team that manages the recovery of these debts. HMRC initially pursue overseas debts in the same way as UK debts where they will make attempts to contact the taxpayer through letters and phone calls.
Where a taxpayer does not respond, HMRC have a number of Assistance in Collection agreements in place with various countries. These agreements are reciprocal and allow tax authorities to recover debts on each other’s behalf. That country will use the same recovery processes and powers they do to pursue their own debts.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to improve the (a) efficiency of and (b) resources available to HMRC's tax recovery strategy.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMRC’s approach to debt is to strike a balance between doing everything it can to collect the debt in a timely manner and taking more robust action where taxpayers do not engage or refuse to pay. More information can be found in HMRC’s published tax debt strategy on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department conducted distributional analysis of the impact of the reduction to National Insurance contributions announced in the Spring Budget 2024 on people in different income brackets.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HM Treasury published distributional analysis at Spring Budget 2024, which can be found here:
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of his measures introduced in the Spring Budget 2024 on the cost of living.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The government has demonstrated its commitment to supporting the most vulnerable at Spring Budget 2024 – including the extension of the Household Support Fund, freezing fuel duty, and helping households in debt.
The measures introduced by this government to support households have contributed to real incomes being stronger than expected this year. Real wages are now higher than pre-pandemic level.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the level of profits made by companies outside the oil and gas industries on (a) the cost of living and (b) inflation.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The Government monitors UK corporates’ performance on an ongoing basis. Profits as a share of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) for UK private non-financial corporations excluding firms in the UK Continental Shelf have been relatively stable since 2000.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the amount and proportion of tax identified by HMRC as being avoided through disguised remuneration schemes that will be paid by people who (a) recommended, (b) promoted and (c) operated such schemes in each of the next five years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
I refer the hon. Member for Portsmouth South to the answer given on 20 March to Question UIN 18112
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that (a) women and (b) ethnic minority individuals are not disproportionately affected by changes to the Financial Promotion Order exemptions for high-net-worth individuals and sophisticated investors.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The changes to the financial promotion exemptions that came into force on 31 January 2024 were subject to a public consultation which closed in March 2022.
However, the Government recognises the significant concerns that have been raised recently about these changes. I met recently with the angel investing sector and listened carefully to the representations made, and the Government is working closely with the sector to address the concerns raised
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has undertaken a gender equality impact assessment of the reforms to the Financial Promotion Order exemptions for high-net-worth individuals and sophisticated investors.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The changes to the financial promotion exemptions that came into force on 31 January 2024 were subject to a public consultation which closed in March 2022.
However, the Government recognises the significant concerns that have been raised recently about these changes. I met recently with the angel investing sector and listened carefully to the representations made, and the Government is working closely with the sector to address the concerns raised
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the level of the interchange fee set by LINK to help ensure that there is no cost to customers for using ATMs.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups or who are reliant on cash as a payment method.
The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect free access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of free cash withdrawal and deposit facilities. This will help prevent financial exclusion for those who are reliant on access to cash.
The government published a policy statement earlier this year. This stated that consideration should be taken of the degree to which services meet local needs in relation to both business and personal use. The government’s policy statement is available at: Cash Access Policy Statement.
The FCA is currently holding a consultation on its proposed regulatory approach, ahead of this coming into effect by Q3 2024: https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/consultation-papers/cp23-29-access-cash