Environment Tax

Covid 19 – Environmental taxes

03.04.2020

HMRC have introduced a raft of measures to alleviate the burden of VAT on the business community, but so far have remained silent regarding any similar relaxation for climate change levy (‘CCL’), landfill tax (‘LFT’) and aggregates levy (‘AGL’).

 All three environmental taxes are indirect taxes like VAT in that each one is collected from customers and then paid to HMRC on a periodic basis. So, also like VAT, all of these taxes have the potential to cause cashflow difficulties for registered businesses having to fund their tax liabilities in these difficult times.

 Various trade associations have approached HM Government to ask for the introduction of a deferral scheme similar to that for VAT, but as of today, no such scheme has been authorised. In the absence of a deferral scheme for environmental taxes there remains an inconsistent treatment where suppliers of commodities such as electricity and concrete, or of waste disposal services, will be issuing invoices that charge VAT (where payment to HMRC can be deferred) and CCL / AGL / LFT (where payment to HMRC is still required).

 For now, businesses registered for any of these taxes have only one course of action available to them if they are facing difficulties with their tax payments as a consequence of coronavirus: contact HMRC (helpline number 0800 0159 559)and discuss the possibility of:

  • agreeing an instalment arrangement;
  • suspending debt collection proceedings, or;
  • cancelling penalties and interest where they have difficulties contacting or paying HMRC.

 Our extensive experience of managing environmental taxes puts us in a great place to help. Please contact your usual Centurion specialist should you need support. Do remember to use emailus@centurionvat.com should you have any questions as all of our technical team have access to this email inbox and can respond to your query.

For the avoidance of doubt, the content recorded in this news article does not constitute formal advice and we do not guarantee the accuracy of any information provided at the time of reading. It is always recommended that you should seek professional advice before acting on any of the news articles or information included.

 


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