Tag: Lord Lucas

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2015-11-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of recent reports about VAT fraud by online traders operating from abroad, whether they plan to require HM Revenue and Customs to work closely with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute in tackling such tax evasion, in particular through Amazon’s and eBay’s online marketplaces.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

HM Revenue and Customs is actively targeting operational and intelligence activity to tackle this problem. This involves working closely with a number of external bodies, including Trading Standards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2015-11-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of recent reports about VAT fraud by online traders operating from abroad, whether they plan to pursue (1) Amazon, and (2) eBay, for any UK VAT that has been evaded by traders using those online marketplaces; and if not, why not.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is actively targeting operational and intelligence activity to tackle this issue. However, HMRC is unable to give details of its plans in respect of any individual taxpayer because of taxpayer confidentiality.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2015-11-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 17 November (HL3227), what discussion HMRC has had with Trading Standards about VAT fraud among online traders operating from abroad; on what dates they held those discussions; by what medium; and with what outcome.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

HM Revenue and Customs is engaging with Trading Standards, both bi-laterally and through cross-government groups, to establish a coordinated response to VAT fraud by online traders operating from abroad. Additionally, HMRC has on-going policy and operational exchanges with Trading Standards via various media including face-to-face meeting, e-mail and telephone, sharing information and intelligence in line with established information gateways.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2015-12-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 8 December (HL3854), what were the dates of the last three written communications from HMRC to Trading Standards about VAT fraud among online traders operating from abroad, including email, and to what persons at what offices they were addressed.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

HM Revenue & Customs does not disclose communications it has with its enforcement partners, or the content of those communications, to avoid compromising sensitive policy and operational activities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2015-12-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of their obligation under EU law to prevent VAT evasion.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

In considering fraud against European own resources, including VAT collection, the European Court recently clarified in the Taricco judgment that Member States are obliged under EU law (Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) to have in place effective and dissuasive criminal penalties against VAT fraud. The UK applies a full range of penalties to address various behaviours from dishonesty and deliberate inaccuracies through to criminal prosecutions for VAT offences.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2015-12-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the liability of online marketplaces for unpaid VAT where a business trading in that marketplace evades VAT.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

Online marketplaces have no liability for unpaid VAT where the operator merely provides a marketplace for businesses to sell goods. However, HM Revenue and Customs is continuing to work with major online marketplaces to tackle this issue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2015-12-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have conducted any test purchases in online markets to provide evidence of the evasion of VAT.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has a range of operational activity in place to tackle evasion and to establish evidence of the scale of the problem. HMRC does not routinely carry out test purchases through online platforms.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the announcement of the sale of Corbis, Corbis Motion and Veer, what assessment they have made of how the interests of the UK and of the National Gallery, whose picture bank was put into data files and a database by Corbis, have been protected.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The National Gallery operates at Arm’s length from DCMS, and as such has responsibility for its own mage licensing arrangements. The arrangements between the National Gallery and Corbis in relation to the licensing of National Gallery images came to an end on 31 August 2008. When the arrangements terminated all National Gallery images were returned to the Gallery. As a result, the sale of Corbis, Corbis Motion and Veer, has no implications for the National Gallery. Ownership of the National Gallery database of images rests with, and has always rested with, the Gallery itself.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of who now owns the National Gallery database of images, and of the arrangements in place to protect the database of the National Gallery from being exploited to the prejudice of that institution.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The National Gallery operates at Arm’s length from DCMS, and as such has responsibility for its own image licensing arrangements. Ownership of the National Gallery database of images rests with, and has always rested with, the Gallery itself. The arrangements between the National Gallery and Corbis in relation to the licensing of National Gallery images came to an end on 31 August 2008. When the arrangements terminated all National Gallery images were returned to the Gallery.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that Southern Rail does not close ticket offices until it installs ticket machines that make it possible for customers to buy the best-value ticket combinations.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) which operates Southern services is developing proposals to improve the passenger experience at stations. This will include changes to the way staff work at stations and how tickets are retailed and incorporates a plan to install additional ticket vending machines.

Where the changes involve changes to ticket office opening hours there is an industry process which GTR must follow, starting with their public consultation which commenced on 22 February. We recognise that passengers can feel very strongly about ticket office opening hours and we expect GTR to take on board the views of stakeholders before taking the proposal forward.