Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to amend corporation tax rules for social enterprises to include social enterprise social impact costs to be considered under allowances and charges not included in calculation of trading profits and losses.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The government recognises the contribution that businesses can make in addressing social issues in the UK.
Charities do not pay tax on most types of income, as long as they use the money for charitable purposes. Corporate donations to charities are also deductible from taxable profits.
Many social enterprises are companies. As such, they are subject to corporation tax on their profits, and eligible for the same tax reliefs as any other company.
Providing special tax treatment for social impact costs would be costly, complex to administer, difficult to defend against abuse, and could lead to competitive distortions.
To help address the challenges that social enterprises face raising capital, the government introduced the Social Investment Tax Relief in 2014 to support investment in social enterprises across the UK.
In April 2017, the government increased the amount of investment that qualifying social enterprises could raise through this relief to £1.5 million.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much corporation tax was paid by social enterprises in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Many social enterprises are liable to Corporation Tax. HMRC does not collect the level of detail on Corporation Tax returns to estimate revenue received from social enterprises. To do so would present an additional compliance burden to businesses.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will he make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing the amount of corporation tax payable by a social enterprise if the amount spent on social impact of the enterprise is 50 per cent or more of that enterprise's previous year’s profits.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The government recognises the important contribution that businesses can make in addressing social issues in the UK.
However, providing special tax treatment for social impact costs would be costly, complex to administer, difficult to defend against abuse, and could lead to competitive distortions.
To help address the challenges that social enterprises face raising capital, the government introduced the Social Investment Tax Relief in 2014 to support investment in social enterprises across the UK.
In April 2017, the government increased the amount of investment that qualifying social enterprises could raise through this relief to £1.5 million.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 September to Question 172413 on Public Houses: Non-domestic Rates, what evaluation has been made of the effect of increasing the duty on wine on (a) pubs and (b) the wine industry.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
When considering changes in alcohol duty rates, the Government models changes in consumption driven by those duty-changes, but it does not explicitly model other effects on pubs and the wine industry. The Treasury takes all issues into account when setting alcohol duty rates.
At Budget 2018, we froze duty on beer, cider and spirits. Pubs, and other businesses, with a rateable value below £51,000 will also benefit from the business rates discount announced.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing duty on beer.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
This government remains clear in its support for consumers, pubs and breweries, and we have taken action to this end – meaning that the price of a pint of beer is 12p is lower than it otherwise would have been since 2013/14.
However, we cannot ignore the cost to the Exchequer of successive freezes – equal to over £4 billion since 2013/14. Any assessment of the merits of further freezes or cuts needs to consider the resulting reduction in funds available for vital public services.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending Business Rate Relief for pubs after the 2018-19 tax year.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The government remains clear on its support for pubs, which are a vital part of local communities.
Pubs are benefiting from wider action on alcohol duty and business rates. Autumn Budget 2017 announced a freeze to all alcohol duties, including beer duty. Cuts to alcohol taxes since 2013 mean the average tax on a typical pint of beer is estimated to be 12p lower than it otherwise would have been. Pubs are also benefiting from recent cuts to business rates worth over £10 billion by 2023.
All taxes are kept under review. Future decisions on business rates will be taken as part of the normal Budget process.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the security of HMRC’s practice of returning important personal documents including (a) passports and (b) birth certificates by standard post.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
HMRC monitors the security of all its operational activity on a continuing basis.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February to Question 124952 on Taxation: Developing Countries, whether his Department (a) commissioned and (b) conducted an analysis of the effect of tax treaties on the promotion of international trade and investment.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The UK government has not undertaken such an analysis.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, Pursuant to the Answer of 30 January to Question 123438, on Children: Childcare, what estimate he has made of the number of parents who will not receive support for childcare through the Childcare Vouchers scheme for children aged 11 and over in the next five years.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The information requested in question 133960 is not available.
HMRC regularly engage with employers and attend employer events and forums to talk directly to employers about the benefits of Tax-Free Childcare. Resource and information about Tax-Free Childcare has been included in the HMRC employer bulletin, reaching over 750,000 employers.
Robust estimates are not available for the information requested in question 133963. The Government announced the closure of the childcare voucher scheme to new entrants at Budget 2016. Therefore, parents of 12 to 15 year olds have either decided not to join the voucher scheme or are unable to join the scheme because they are self-employed or their employer does not offer vouchers.
I refer the honourable member to the answer I gave on 30 January (124938) which provided our estimate of those parents who will be eligible for Tax-Free Childcare and those that receive childcare vouchers.
Tax-Free Childcare is now fully rolled out, and we will keep it under review to ensure it’s delivering the support needed for working families.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, Pursuant to the Answer of 30 January to Question 124938, Children: Child Care, what steps HMRC is taking to ensure that employers understand the merits of tax-free childcare.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The information requested in question 133960 is not available.
HMRC regularly engage with employers and attend employer events and forums to talk directly to employers about the benefits of Tax-Free Childcare. Resource and information about Tax-Free Childcare has been included in the HMRC employer bulletin, reaching over 750,000 employers.
Robust estimates are not available for the information requested in question 133963. The Government announced the closure of the childcare voucher scheme to new entrants at Budget 2016. Therefore, parents of 12 to 15 year olds have either decided not to join the voucher scheme or are unable to join the scheme because they are self-employed or their employer does not offer vouchers.
I refer the honourable member to the answer I gave on 30 January (124938) which provided our estimate of those parents who will be eligible for Tax-Free Childcare and those that receive childcare vouchers.
Tax-Free Childcare is now fully rolled out, and we will keep it under review to ensure it’s delivering the support needed for working families.