Draughted reliefs fuel pubs

Draught Relief

The Chancellor announced that duty on average strength draught beer sold in pubs (and restaurants) would be frozen on 1 August, thus creating the ‘Brexit Pubs Guarantee’.  The result is that duty paid by pubs for draught beer would be 11p lower than the tax paid by supermarkets.

Whilst this will no doubt be welcome news to those within the hospitality sector, many may feel this is too little to help the struggling industry.

Will Fuel Duty remain the same?

The Chancellor confirmed that the 5p per litre fuel duty reduction introduced in the March 2022 budget will remain in place and that fuel duty will be frozen for 12 months, rather than increase with inflation.

Happy news for motorists who will on average, according to the Chancellor, look to save £100 over the next 12 months.

How will the Spring Budget 2023 impact imports and exports?

Though very limited details were provided, the Budget allowed for measures to simplify the customs imports and exports process, including improvements to the Simplified Customs Declaration Process and the Modernising Authorisations project. The latter being the project to improve ‘trusted trader’ offer and benefits for being an authorised trader.  

The implementation will allow for fewer declarations needing to be made, allowing additional time for declarations to be submitted and for the declaration to cover a longer period.

The measures will mainly assist smaller businesses, by helping to make processes and form-filling less time consuming and burdensome. Whilst the measures will undoubtedly assist smaller businesses, larger ones (and their agents) may also find the changes useful.

VAT and healthcare:

The government is extending two reliefs in relation to VAT and healthcare, to help reduce costs for the NHS and ease pressure on GP services.

1. The VAT exemption is being extended to include medical services carried out by staff directly supervised by a registered pharmacist; and
2. The zero rate will apply on prescriptions to medicines supplied via Patient Group Directions.

This is very welcome news, though arguably could have been brought in years ago, allowing for VAT to keep instep with the changes to healthcare.  Better late than never.

DIY housebuilders scheme – digitisation

The government will legislate to digitise the DIY housebuilder’s scheme and increase the time limit to submit a claim form three months to six.

Deposit Returns Scheme

The government will legislate to ensure that VAT is not charged on the deposit taken in relation to the sale of drinks in single-use containers, provided the container is returned for recycling. This relates to the ‘Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers’ which is due to be introduced across the UK in 2025 as an environmental measure and whilst a relief for many businesses, this will not prevent the consumer having to pay an upfront additional cost, per can/bottle purchased.    

VAT: nothing to see – yet

The fund management reform and review of the VAT treatment of financial services remain under consideration and any decision will be published in due course. 

In addition, the government has published a call for evidence on options to reform the VAT relief for the installation of energy saving materials in the UK.  Depending on the response, the government could legislate for the relief to be extended to buildings used solely for a relevant charitable purpose. 

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