Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress the Government is making on its plans for measures to reduce online fraud in VAT; and if he will make a statement.

At Budget 2016, the Government announced a package of measures to tackle VAT non-compliance by overseas businesses that sell goods via online marketplaces to UK customers.

We took swift action to make online marketplaces jointly and severally liable for the unpaid VAT of overseas sellers. We also announced the introduction of the fulfilment house due diligence scheme. This is on track to open for registration next year. Together these two measures will deliver £875 million for the Exchequer by 2021.

At Spring Budget 2017, the Government published a call for evidence on the case for a new VAT collection mechanism for online sales by overseas sellers. This would harness technology to allow VAT to be extracted directly by the Exchequer from online transactions at the point of purchase. This means the VAT would never get into the hands of the overseas seller.