Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increasing the VAT registration threshold on small businesses; and if she will consider raising the VAT registration threshold to support entrepreneurs.

At £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This means the majority of UK businesses are not in the VAT system at all.

Any consideration of changes to the threshold would have to carefully balance potential impacts on small businesses, the economy as a whole, and tax revenues. Tax breaks reduce the revenue available for public services and must represent value for money for the taxpayer.