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Written question asked by Lord Beamish (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 September 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 23 September 2022 (named day). It was answered by Richard Fuller (Conservative) on Friday, 23 September 2022 on behalf of the Treasury.

Funerals: VAT

Question

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making costs associated with the organisation of remembrance services exempt from VAT.

Answer

VAT has been designed as a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to the vast majority of goods and services.

It would be administratively challenging for suppliers to identify and apply a different VAT treatment to supplies based on the type of event and for HMRC to ensure that the VAT treatment and VAT accounting is applied correctly throughout the supply chain. Businesses and organisations in the supply chain are normally able to recover VAT on costs. However, they are unable to recover the VAT on costs used in making exempt or out of scope supplies.

The Government keeps all taxes under review and welcomes representations to help inform future decisions on tax policy, as part of the tax policy making cycle and Budget process.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
51458
Session
2022-23
Subjects
Costs Funerals VAT
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk