4.This is the third of three related items of legislation. The Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016 (TCMA) was the first of these pieces of legislation and sets the legal framework necessary for the devolved tax regime in Wales, covering the arrangements for the collection and management of tax, including the establishment of the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA), whose main function will be to collect and manage devolved Welsh taxes. TCMA also includes provision about:
steps that can be taken in relation to tax returns, including amendments, enquiries and assessments;
record keeping duties of persons making a tax return;
the investigatory powers of WRA;
penalties and interest;
payment and enforcement;
reviews and appeals; and
powers relating to the investigation of criminal offences.
5.The second item of tax legislation is the Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017 (LTTA). The LTTA Act provides for Land Transaction Tax to replace Stamp Duty Land Tax in Wales and is the first of the devolved taxes to fall under WRA’s remit. LTTA also makes amendments to TCMA, including amendments relevant to this Act. These include amendments in the areas of postponement of recovery of devolved taxes; late payment penalties and interest; and the introduction of a General Anti Avoidance Rule in relation to all devolved taxes.
6.This Act provides for the establishment of a Landfill Disposals Tax (LDT), which it is anticipated will replace Landfill Tax (LfT) in Wales from April 2018. The context and background to this Act was set out in Chapter 1 of the Welsh Government’s consultation on Developing a Landfill Disposals Tax, published on 24 February 2015(1).
7.In summary the Act makes provision for a Welsh tax to be charged on disposals to landfill in Wales. Further, it:
establishes LDT and sets out when a taxable disposal is made;
provides the statutory framework for the responsibilities on taxpayers to make tax returns and calculate their tax liabilities;
sets out the reliefs and exemptions from the charge to tax that are available and empowers the Welsh Ministers to create tax credits through regulations;
sets out the details of the materials and mixtures of materials that may qualify for the lower rate of tax if specified conditions are met;
sets out penalties for non-compliance;
establishes that LDT may be chargeable on a disposal of material as waste made at a place other than at an authorised landfill site if an environmental permit would have been required for the disposal in question (an “unauthorised disposal”);
empowers named bodies to share information with WRA to assist with the exercise of its functions and
expands the investigatory powers given to WRA by TCMA so that WRA can carry out the kinds of investigations that may be necessary in order to collect LDT;
places a duty on the Welsh Ministers, when exercising their powers or duties under the Act, to have regard to the objective of reducing landfill disposals in Wales; and
places a duty on the Welsh Ministers to prepare and publish a Landfill Disposals Tax Communities Scheme.