The European Commission has presented a proposal to the European Parliament and the Council to keep the aviation EU ETS in its current limited form, applying only to flights within the EEA for 2017 and beyond.
The European Commission has opened three consultations as part of the ongoing work on its action plan on VAT, launched in April 2016. The three consultations are:
HMRC is to introduce regulations to put the existing 'vapour recovery scheme' extra-statutory concession on a statutory footing with effect from 1 April 2017.
The Scottish government has introduced the Air Departure Tax (Scotland) Bill, to replace air passenger duty in Scotland from April 2018.
HMRC has issued Revenue and Customs Brief 17/2016, setting out its policy, effective from 1 April 2017, on the VAT treatment of colouring and dot-to-dot books, many of which are specifically labelled as suitable for children and/or adults.
The Raw Tobacco (Approval Scheme) Regulations, SI 2016/1172, set out the detail of the approval scheme for users and dealers in raw tobacco, as introduced by Finance Act 2016.
The Value Added Tax (Small Non-Commercial Consignments) Relief (Amendment) Order, SI 2016/1199, increases the value limit for relief from VAT on small non-commercial consignments imported into the EU from £34 to £39 with effect from 1 January 2017.
The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has published the terms of reference for its two latest reviews, announced at the Autumn Statement, covering stamp duty on paper share transactions and VAT.
For the review of stamp duty, the OTS will consider:
Michael Conlon QC and Julian Hickey (Temple Tax Chambers) review some important VAT decisions made this year, including BPP Holdings, Aspiro, Bookit and Airtours, and consider the implications of Brexit on the VAT landscape.
The Welsh government has published the Landfill Disposals Tax (Wales) Bill, which will introduce the devolved landfill disposals tax in Wales from April 2018. Consideration of the Bill in committee starts on 1 December.