These Regulations provide for various matters relating to the administration of the devolved taxes.

Regulation 3 prescribes the Natural Resources Body for Wales as a person to whom the Welsh Revenue Authority (“WRA”) may delegate any of its functions in relation to landfill disposals tax.

Regulation 4 establishes that WRA’s first planning period (for the purposes of its corporate plan) will commence on 1 April 2018 and end on 31 March 2019.

Part 3 of these Regulations provides for the rates of late payment interest and repayment interest. Regulation 5 provides that the rates of interest are calculated by reference to the Bank of England rate as last announced at the latest meeting of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee. But where that meeting has taken place within 3 working days of the date on which interest is to be calculated, the rates of interest are calculated as if that latest meeting did not take place.

Part 4 sets out the procedures which apply for the determination of disputes as to whether information or a document requested by WRA under the powers conferred by Part 4 of the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016 (“the TCM Act”) is protected by legal professional privilege.

Regulation 9 makes clear that any information or document requested by WRA which is not in dispute must be provided to WRA in accordance with the notice which has been issued.

Regulation 10 establishes the procedure for disputes relating to any information or document requested by WRA in the course of correspondence. In these cases, the person in receipt of the notice (“the notice recipient”) must compile a list of any documents which they consider are privileged. Regulation 10(2)(b) requires the notice recipient to serve that list on WRA by the date specified in the notice.

Regulation 11 provides for the procedure where a document is requested by WRA during the course of an inspection of premises. In these cases, the notice recipient must place any document in dispute in an appropriate container, which must be given to WRA. Regulation 11(4) requires WRA to make an application to the tribunal to consider and resolve the dispute within 42 working days.

Regulation 12 provides that a notice recipient is to be treated as having complied with the information notice in relation to any document in dispute pending the decision by the tribunal or until an agreement has been reached between the notice recipient and WRA.

Regulation 13 requires the tribunal to resolve the dispute and direct the disclosure of any document (or any part of a document) which it concludes is not privileged.

Regulation 14 provides that the notice recipient and WRA may agree to resolve the dispute at any point prior to the tribunal reaching its decision.

In accordance with regulation 1(2), Parts 1 and 2 will come into force on 21 November 2017, while the remaining provisions will come into force on 1 April 2018.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from the Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NQ.