The ICAEW has responded to HMRC’s consultation on transposing the EU vouchers directive into UK VAT law, issued on 1 December 2017. The ICAEW makes a number of points in its response, including:
The Soft Drinks Industry Levy (Enforcement) Regulations, SI 2018/264, will enable HMRC to use a range of enforcement powers available under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979, including entry, search and seizure, for the purposes of tackling ‘fraud offences’ in relation to the soft drinks
The Council of the EU has formally approved revised EU ETS targets for the period from 2021 to 2030. This will involve an annual reduction of 2.2% in the cap on overall emissions from 2021 onwards (compared to the current rate of 1.74%).
The Welsh government has decided to put forward a tax on vacant land as the preferred option for testing its powers under the Wales Act 2014 to propose new devolved taxes. The vacant land tax was one of four new tax ideas shortlisted in October 2017.
A new report from the OECD, ‘Taxing Energy Use 2018’, finds energy taxes provide only limited incentives to improve energy efficiency and remain poorly aligned with the negative side effects of energy use.
HMRC is to begin a phased introduction of its new customs declaration service (CDS) from August 2018.
The Public Bill Committee completed its consideration of the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Bill on 1 February. No amendments were made to the Bill, which will now go to report stage in the House of Commons on a date to be announced.
The Climate Change Levy (General) (Amendment) Regulations, SI 2018/118, amend the formula used by businesses in the climate change agreement (CCA) scheme to calculate their climate change levy (CCL) relief entitlement, including the reduced rate, with effect from 1 April 2019.
The Landfill Disposals Tax (Tax Rates) (Wales) Regulations, SI 2018/131, specify the standard rate (£88.95), lower rate (£2.80) and unauthorised disposals rate (£133.45) for landfill disposals tax in Wales, applying to taxable disposals made on or after 1 April 2018.
HMRC has issued clarification of its view that educational providers who receive payment for tuition fees in the form of advanced learner loans from Student Finance England must account for VAT at the standard rate, unless they are ‘eligible bodies’ for the purposes of the VAT education exemption