Exemptions
Section 7 – Material removed from water
18.Section 7 ensures that necessary dredging operations and extraction operations are not hindered by the applicability of a tax to deposit the material. It provides that the disposal of material removed from a river, canal, watercourse, dock or harbour is not a taxable disposal. It also exempts the disposal of material removed from harbours etc. in the interests of navigation, the disposal of naturally occurring mineral material from commercial marine operations to obtain sand or gravel and the disposal of other material added to such dredging and excavations to ensure that it is not a liquid waste.
Section 8 – Material resulting from mining and quarrying
19.Section 8 provides that the disposal of naturally occurring material from mines and quarries is exempt from Scottish Landfill Tax. This encourages suitable landfill cover material to be used at landfill sites. If the material has been altered chemically after extraction, or is from a process separate to the mining or quarrying operations, then it does not qualify for this exemption.
Section 9 – Disposal of qualifying material at former quarries
20.Section 9 exempts the disposal of qualifying material (defined in sections 13 and 14) in a quarry in respect of which it is a requirement of planning permission for the quarry to be refilled, either partially or fully, and which has a license or permit which allows only the disposal of qualifying material. This allows for the reinstatement of quarries which planning authorities have required to be reinstated without the burden of tax being imposed. Quarries that ceased operating before 1 October 1999 must have had the requirements to infill imposed on or before this date. This is to prevent the misuse of this exemption on old quarries with no reinstatement requirements.
Section 10 – Pet cemeteries
21.Section 10 provides that disposals at pet cemeteries are exempt from Scottish Landfill Tax. Animal corpses are regarded as waste and cemeteries for pets require an environmental authorisation to operate as a landfill site. This exemption defines the disposal of dead domestic pets as a non-taxable disposal and allows for the activity to continue without the need to pay landfill tax.
