Every parliamentary written question tabled by Ben Lake this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 1–20 of 117 · Treasury
What recent assessment has she made of the potential merits of reducing VAT to 10% for hospitality businesses in Wales.
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption. It is a reserved tax and applies across the UK, with the 20 per cent standard rate applying to most goods and services. Reduced rates of VAT come at a significant cost to the Exchequer and reduce the revenue availa...
If she will commission the Office for Budget Responsibility to undertake an independent assessment of the fiscal impact of (a) withdrawing postponed VAT accounting for imports and (b) requiring payment of import VAT
Postponed VAT accounting provides significant support for businesses, helping to manage cash flow and facilitate imports. HMRC undertakes regular operational work to ensure compliance with the rules around postponed VAT accounting. The VAT gap has reduced...
Pursuant to the Answer of 20 May 2025 to Question 51908, whether she has made an estimate of (a) the cash-flow to the Exchequer of withdrawing postponed VAT accounting for imports, including the interest foregone on
Postponed VAT accounting provides significant support for businesses, helping to manage cash flow and facilitate imports. HMRC undertakes regular operational work to ensure compliance with the rules around postponed VAT accounting. The VAT gap has reduced...
How many UK VAT registration numbers have been identified as having been used in customs declarations submitted under PVA (Postponed VAT Accounting) after the registration was cancelled, and what steps HMRC took to
HMRC does not hold information on de-registered VRNs being used in customs declarations. Since June 2025 it has not been possible for entities who have cancelled their VAT registration to continue to use that registration number (VRN) to use Postponed VAT...
With reference to the answer of 29 April 2026 to question 129483, how many (a) individual consignments and parcels were covered by BIRDs declarations under CPC 0020 21V submitted via the Customs Declaration Service
The information requested is not available. BIRDs declarations submitted under CPC 0020 21V and declarations submitted via the legacy CHIEF system are aggregated, with a single declaration covering multiple consignments or parcels using a reduced dataset....
What guidance HMRC has issued to freight forwarders and customs agents on the steps they should take to verify the genuine UK establishment status of importers before submitting indirect customs declarations; and wh
HMRC has published GOV.UK guidance which allows businesses to check if they meet the criteria for UK establishment for customs purposes: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-youre-established-in-the-uk-or-eu-for-customs. This guidance is intended to suppo...
How many BIRDs declarations submitted in each year between 2022 and 2025 were associated with (a) UK-incorporated companies that had been registered at Companies House for fewer than 24 months at the time of submiss
The information requested is not available.
How many addresses in the United Kingdom are currently registered as the VAT address of 100 or more businesses; and what processes HMRC has in place to verify that such addresses represent legitimate serviced office
As of Tuesday 19 May 2026, there are 165 UK addresses that are currently registered as the VAT address of 100 or more businesses.HMRC undertakes a range of checks to ensure that business addresses provided for VAT registration purposes are appropriate. As...
How many freight forwarders and customs agents have received demands from HMRC for unpaid import VAT or customs duty in respect of declarations submitted on behalf of importers who were subsequently found to be (a)
HMRC systems do not record, in a readily extractable format, the number of freight forwarders or customs agents issued demands for unpaid import VAT or duty linked to importers who are not UK established, use fraudulent or virtual VAT registrations, or ar...
With reference to the answer of 29 April 2026 to question 129483, what (a) the declared trade value of goods imported under BIRDs declarations across all procedure codes and both CDS and CHIEF, (b) HMRC's estimate o
(a) The trade value and number of declarations from the Bulk Import Reduced Data Set (BIRDS) under the Customs Declaration Service and Low-Value Bulking of Imports (LVBI) under the legacy CHIEF system are in the following table:YearLVBI Trade value (£bn)L...
Since January 2021, how many applications for UK VAT registration from companies incorporated in the UK within the previous 24 months have been (a) accepted without a compliance check, (b) accepted following a compl
HMRC introduced a new VAT Registration Service in August 2022. The previous registration service did not include incorporation date data, so figures are only available from August 2022 to 1 January 2026.The figures below relate to UK VAT registration appl...
How many BIRDs-authorised traders have had authorisation (a) suspended, (b) withdrawn, (c) reviewed following compliance investigations and (d) referred to HMRC's Fraud Investigation Service since the introduction o
HMRC does not systematically record data on the number of BIRDs authorised traders whose authorisation has been suspended, withdrawn, reviewed following compliance activity, or referred to the Fraud Investigation Service, and this information could only b...
What consideration has been given to adding (a) a company registration number field to the HMRC VAT number checker service and (b) a VAT registration number field to the Companies House public register, so that the
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Companies House (CH) are committed to preventing fraud and tax evasion by identifying and holding accountable corporate entities that attempt to evade their responsibilities and tax liabilities. The departments have stron...
How HMRC reconciles BIRDs import declaration data with (a) online marketplace order data, (b) VAT returns submitted by sellers and marketplaces and (c) the Customs Declaration Service consignee and importer data for
The purpose of BIRDS is to allow operators to comply with customs requirements. There is a separate VAT regime.Given the scope of the data, HMRC does not typically reconcile BIRDS declaration data with data from online marketplaces, VAT return data or Cus...
What consideration has been given to providing freight forwarders and customs agents with real-time access to the current VAT registration status of importers, so that agents can verify eligibility for Postponed VAT
HMRC provides a free online service which allows businesses, freight forwarders and customs agents to verify whether an importer or business is VAT registered at Check a UK VAT number - GOV.UK. Postponed VAT accounting (PVA) is not available where an inva...
How many non-established taxable persons liable to be registered for VAT under Schedule 1A to the VAT Act 1994 have an overdue VAT bill.
HMRC holds management information on VAT liabilities, but data for non‑established taxable persons is not robust enough to provide reliable estimates of the population with VAT debt or amounts overdue.
With reference to the Customs Declaration Service and its Bulk Import Reduced Data Set, how many entries were logged under Customs Procedure Code 0020 21V in each year since 2022.
For the purposes of this answer, “entries” have been interpreted as customs declarations. The table shows the number of customs declarations logged on the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) under Customs Procedure Code (CPC) 0020 21V, which is used for the Bulk Import Reduced Data Set (BIRDs).YearNumber of declarations202260,0002023278,0002024368,0002025403,000These figures represent the number of declarations submitted to CDS under CPC 0020 21V only.It should be noted that the figures are not directly comparable across years. In 2022 and 2023 a substantial proportion of BIRDs declarations were submitted via the legacy CHIEF system, under CPCs 4900003 and 4000003, and are therefore not included in the CDS figures shown above. In 2022 around 21% of BIRDs declarations were submitted via CDS, rising to around 75% in 2023.The figures also exclude BIRDs declarations submitted using multiple additional procedure codes and therefore do not represent total BIRDs volumes.Number of customs declarations are rounded to the nearest thousand.You should note that a BIRDs declaration can cover multiple consignments.
What the value is of overdue VAT owed by non-established taxable persons registered for VAT under Schedule 1A to the VAT Act 1994.
HMRC holds management information on VAT liabilities, but data for non‑established taxable persons is not robust enough to provide reliable estimates of the population with VAT debt or amounts overdue.
What estimate she has made of the revenue raised from fuel duty between January and April (a) 2026 and (b) 2025; and if she will consider offering targeted support to the road haulage sector.
Fuel duty receipts total approximately £8 billion for the period January to April 2025. Tax receipt data is available on GOV.UK, where data for April 2026 will be published in due course. Fuel duty is charged as a fixed amount per litre, so receipts depend on the volume of fuel sold, as opposed to pump prices. Since Autumn Budget 2024, the Government's decisions to freeze fuel duty will save hauliers 11 pence per litre compared to the plans inherited from the previous government. In addition, in order to support the haulage sector, the Government and industry are jointly providing up to £35.7m of investment to enhance truck stops across England, in addition to joint investment by National Highways and industry of up to a further £30 million.
What recent estimate her Department has made of the level of loss to public finances of VAT non-compliance by overseas retailers through online marketplaces.
HMRC’s best estimate of VAT losses, for 2021 to 2022, as a result of overseas seller non-compliance occurring through online marketplaces is £150 million per annum as published in the NAO report Tackling tax evasion in high street and online retail - NAO report. This will not include any subsequent compliance activity to recover any losses from OMPs. HMRC can raise assessments to recover unpaid VAT against an OMP should they incorrectly determine the establishment of an overseas seller unless they can demonstrate they have taken all reasonable steps to make that determination, leading to an under declaration of VAT.