Highlights from the broader tax news for the week ending 23 March 2022, including: guidance on plastic packaging tax that has the force of law; increased interest rates for late payment of tax; and a tax-geared penalty for failure to comply with an information notice.
Plastic Packaging Tax force of law guidance issued
HMRC has issued guidance on plastic packaging tax that has the force of law under the primary legislation (Sch 9, Finance Act 2021) or secondary legislation (The Plastic Packaging Tax (General) Regulations 2022, SI 2022/117) for the tax. The guidance covers a range of administrative and technical issues. Read more.
HMRC increases late payment interest rates
As HMRC interest rates are linked to the Bank of England base rate, the increase in the base rate from 0.5% to 0.75% on 17 March 2022 has triggered an increase in rates for late payments. The rate is increased from 1.5% to 1.75% from 28 March 2022 for quarterly instalment payments. Late payment interest for other payments is increased from 3.00% to 3.25% from 5 April 2022. The rate of interest paid by HMRC on repayments remains unchanged at 0.5% as this rate is calculated as the higher of:
- 0.5%; and
- the Bank of England base rate minus one.
Tax-related penalty of £150,000 imposed for failure to comply with information notice
The Upper Tribunal has imposed a penalty of £150,000 for a company’s failure to supply information in relation to checking the company’s tax position concerning certain tax avoidance schemes utilised by UK contractors and sub-contractors. This tax-related penalty is in addition to fixed and daily penalties. Read the Upper Tribunal’s decision.
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