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1177731

registered interest
date	11/02/2020
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Tax Avoidance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many promoters of loan charge schemes have been (a) charged and (b) fined in relation to their activities.
tabling member constituency	Midlothian
tabling member printed	Owen Thompson
uin	685
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2020 answer text <p>A key part of HM Revenue &amp; Customs’ (HMRC) strategy in tackling promoters of disguised remuneration and other tax avoidance schemes is to change their behaviour so that they stop this activity altogether.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC have a range of legislative powers to tackle promoters, under three main regimes: Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes (DOTAS), Promoters of Tax Avoidance Schemes (POTAS), and the Enablers penalty. Penalties can be charged for various failures to comply with the requirements of these regimes. HMRC’s Counter-Avoidance directorate, created in 2013, is responsible for applying these penalties in cases of marketed tax avoidance.</p><p> </p><p>Fewer than five penalties have been charged under DOTAS by the Counter-Avoidance team since 2013. Before then a further 11 penalties were charged for more historic DOTAS failings.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, there are four litigation decisions received since 2017, all in relation to disguised remuneration (DR) avoidance arrangements, which confirmed HMRC’s view that the schemes are notifiable under the DOTAS regime. Penalty action is being considered in each case.</p><p> </p><p>No penalties have to date been issued under the POTAS or Enablers legislation. These regimes have had a positive impact in changing the behaviour of some promoters. As a result of HMRC’s concerted action under these regimes, a number of major promoters have now cooperated with HMRC and have either stopped selling schemes or ceased business altogether.</p> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman question first answered 19/02/2020 13:32:26 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	4482 label Biography information for Owen Thompson

1177732

registered interest
date	11/02/2020
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Tax Avoidance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure the proportionality of his Department's policy on (a) promoters and enablers of loan charge schemes and (b) people who have been mis-sold a financial arrangement.
tabling member constituency	Midlothian
tabling member printed	Owen Thompson
uin	686
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2020 answer text <p>The Government is determined to continue to tackle promoters of tax avoidance schemes.</p><p> </p><p>The Government announced measures to reduce the scope for promoters to market tax avoidance schemes in its response to the independent Loan Charge Review. Further detail of the measures will be set out at Budget, and new legislation will be scrutinised by Parliament during the passage of the 2020/21 Finance Bill.</p><p> </p><p>In 2019/20 HMRC are doubling their resource involved in tackling promoters and have committed to publish a revised strategy for tackling promoters of tax avoidance schemes by the end of March 2020.</p><p> </p><p>While the Government empathises with anyone who believes they were misled into using a disguised remuneration scheme, it is an individual’s responsibility to ensure the accuracy of their tax return and to understand the consequences of their decisions. It remains right that the Government takes action to tackle tax avoidance, which is unfair to the vast majority of taxpayers who pay the correct tax.</p><p> </p><p>The Government does recognise the importance of taxpayers being able to get reliable tax advice and announced, in response to the Review, a call for evidence on what steps the Government can take to raise standards in the tax advice market to give taxpayers more assurance that the advice they are receiving is reliable.</p> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman question first answered 19/02/2020 10:01:45 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	4482 label Biography information for Owen Thompson

1177733

registered interest
date	11/02/2020
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Off-payroll Working
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what independent research his Department has commissioned on the administrative costs for SMEs of the roll-out of the off payroll working rules.
tabling member constituency	Midlothian
tabling member printed	Owen Thompson
uin	687
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2020 answer text <p>The reform of the off-payroll working rules in April 2020 will apply only to medium and large-sized businesses, minimising administrative burdens for the vast majority of engagers. The existing rules will continue to apply to the smallest 1.5m businesses.</p><p> </p><p>The Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) published in July 2019 sets out HMRC’s assessment that the reform to the off-payroll working rules is expected to affect 170,000 individuals. The TIIN can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rules-for-off-payroll-working-from-april-2020/rules-for-off-payroll-working-from-april-2020" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rules-for-off-payroll-working-from-april-2020/rules-for-off-payroll-working-from-april-2020</a>.</p> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman question first answered 19/02/2020 09:53:06 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	4482 label Biography information for Owen Thompson

1177734

registered interest
date	11/02/2020
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Temporary Employment: Taxation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if the Government will undertake a review of the tax system to improve support for contingent workers.
tabling member constituency	Midlothian
tabling member printed	Owen Thompson
uin	688
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/02/2020 answer text <p>The Government keeps all elements of the tax system under review and aims for the tax system to support all sections of the workforce effectively.</p><p> </p><p>Specifically, the Government has announced that it will review how it can better support the self-employed, including by making the tax system easier to navigate as well as improving access to finance and credit.</p> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman question first answered 18/02/2020 18:57:36 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	4482 label Biography information for Owen Thompson

1177735

registered interest
date	11/02/2020
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Off-payroll Working
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps the Government has taken to support the private sector for the roll-out of the IR35 rules.
tabling member constituency	Midlothian
tabling member printed	Owen Thompson
uin	689
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2020 answer text <p>The Government is committed to working with organisations to ensure changes to the rules are implemented correctly. HMRC is undertaking an extensive programme of education and support to help organisations prepare for the reform. This includes:</p><ul><li>Offering one-to-one support to more than 2,000 of the UK’s biggest employers, and writing directly to 43,000 medium sized businesses and other organisations.</li><li>Providing large and medium sized businesses, public bodies, and charities with factsheets to share with their contractors, and publishing this factsheet on gov.uk.</li><li>Holding workshops with small tax agents, recruitment agencies, charities, and public bodies.</li><li>Holding webinars at least weekly, with small tax agents, recruitment agencies, charities, public bodies and contractors.</li><li>Publishing an enhanced version of the Check Employment Status for Tax online tool in November 2019 to help individuals and organisations make the right status determinations and apply the off-payroll rules correctly.</li></ul> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman question first answered 19/02/2020 10:04:07 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	4482 label Biography information for Owen Thompson

1177749

registered interest
date	11/02/2020
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	High Speed 2 Line
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of High Sped Two's construction costs will be recouped through (a) VAT, (b) corporation tax, (c) income tax and (d) National Insurance being levied on (i) the bodies contracted to construct the project and (ii) their employees.
tabling member constituency	North Cornwall
tabling member printed	Scott Mann
uin	697
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/02/2020 answer text <p>HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are unable to provide estimates on how much will be recouped from High Speed Two's construction costs.</p><p>HMRC publish aggregate level statistics on annual and monthly revenue on GOV.UK here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk</a></p> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman question first answered 18/02/2020 18:59:16 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	4496 label Biography information for Scott Mann

1177831

registered interest
date	11/02/2020
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Agriculture: VAT
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the judgment of Shields and Sons Partnership v The Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs [2017] UKUT 0504, whether he plans to reinstate farmers that have been excluded from the flat rate VAT Scheme as a result of obtaining a greater benefit from that scheme than a VAT registration.
tabling member constituency	South Antrim
tabling member printed	Paul Girvan
uin	743
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2020 answer text <p>The Agricultural Flat Rate Scheme (AFRS) is intended for use by small agricultural businesses and was designed to provide relief for those businesses facing administrative burdens from standard VAT obligations.</p><p> </p><p>Following the judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the Upper Tribunal, Shields &amp; Sons Partnership was reinstated to the AFRS. Other agricultural businesses removed from the scheme did not appeal HMRC’s decision and subsequent appeals are out of time. These businesses will not be automatically reinstated to the scheme.</p> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman question first answered 19/02/2020 09:50:20 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	4633 label Biography information for Paul Girvan

1177853

registered interest
date	11/02/2020
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the operation of the high income child benefit charge.
tabling member constituency	North Down
tabling member printed	Stephen Farry
uin	760
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2020 answer text <p>The Government introduced the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) from January 2013 to ensure that support is targeted at those who need it most. The latest published figures on the operation of HICBC can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-income-child-benefit-charge-data/high-income-child-benefit-charge" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-income-child-benefit-charge-data/high-income-child-benefit-charge</a>.</p> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman grouped question UIN 761 question first answered 19/02/2020 10:06:39 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	4856 label Biography information for Stephen Farry

1177854

registered interest
date	11/02/2020
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of applying the high income child benefit charge to the higher-earning parent regardless of which parent takes main caring responsibility.
tabling member constituency	North Down
tabling member printed	Stephen Farry
uin	761
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2020 answer text <p>The Government introduced the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) from January 2013 to ensure that support is targeted at those who need it most. The latest published figures on the operation of HICBC can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-income-child-benefit-charge-data/high-income-child-benefit-charge" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-income-child-benefit-charge-data/high-income-child-benefit-charge</a>.</p> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman grouped question UIN 760 question first answered 19/02/2020 10:06:39 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	4856 label Biography information for Stephen Farry

1177354

registered interest
date	10/02/2020
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Employment: Taxation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that policies to tackle disguised employment do not adversely affect genuine contractors.
tabling member constituency	North West Durham
tabling member printed	Mr Richard Holden
uin	14749
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/02/2020 answer text <p>Government policies to tackle disguised employment only apply to individuals who are working like employees under the current employment status tests. They do not apply to the self-employed or stop anyone working through their own company.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC are committed to working with organisations to ensure changes to the rules are introduced correctly. This includes:</p><ul><li>An enhanced version of the Check Employment Status for Tax tool</li><li>Webinars for tax agents</li><li>Online guidance</li><li>Targeted communications for organisations affected.</li></ul> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman question first answered 13/02/2020 10:55:00 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	4813 label Biography information for Mr Richard Holden