Finance Act 2020

Jurisdiction: UK

Commencement: 22 July 2020

Summary

The Finance Acts 1996 to 2020 confirm and detail environmental taxes and duties as summarised below. This includes: 

• landfill tax; 
• climate change levy; 
• vehicle excise duty; and 
• carbon emissions tax. 

 The rates specified in this entry are from the Finance Act 2020 (c.14) and apply from 1st April 2020. 

Businesses are affected by the charges for waste disposal to landfill, energy use and carbon emissions. 

 

Duties

Vehicle Excise Duty

Rates payable: 

Light passenger vehicles registered before 1st April 2017 (vehicles other than higher rate diesel vehicles)  

CO2 emissions		Rate (£)
Exceeding g/km	Not exceeding g/km	Reduced rate (£)	Standard rate (£)
100	110	10	20
110	120	20	30
120	130	115	125
130	140	140	150
140	150	155	165
150	165	195	205
165	175	230	240
175	185	255	265
185	200	295	305
200	225	320	330
225	255	555	565
255	–	570	580

 

Light passenger vehicles registered on or after 1st April 2017 (vehicles other than higher rate diesel vehicles)  

CO2 emissions		Rate (£)
Exceeding g/km	Not exceeding g/km	Reduced rate (£)	Standard rate (£)
0	50	0	10
50	75	15	25
75	90	100	110
90	100	125	135
100	110	145	155
110	130	165	175
130	150	205	215
150	170	530	540
170	190	860	870
190	225	1295	1305
225	255	1840	1850
255	–	2165	2175

 

Higher rate diesel vehicles  

CO2 emissions
Exceeding g/km	Not exceeding g/km	Rate (£)
0	50	25
50	75	110
75	90	130
90	100	150
100	110	170
110	130	210
130	150	530
150	170	855
170	190	1280
190	225	1815
225	255	2135
255	–	2135

 

Landfill tax

Two different rates of landfill tax exist for the disposal of relevant waste made at authorised landfill sites in England and Northern Ireland. Rates for disposal made on or after 1st April 2020 are: 

• Landfill tax standard rate: £94.15 per tonne. 
• Landfill tax reduced rate: £3.00 per tonne. 

Inert or inactive waste, e.g. rocks or soil, is subject to the reduced rate. 

From 1st April 2018, the landfill disposal tax replaced the UK landfill tax in Wales. For further information and rates, see The Landfill Disposal Tax (Tax Rates) (Wales) Regulations 2018. 

 For landfill tax rates in Scotland, see the Landfill Tax (Scotland) Act 2014 for further information. 

 

Climate change levy

Climate change levy rates that apply from 1st April 2020   

Taxable commodity supplied	Rate at which levy if supply is not a reduced-rate supply
Electricity	£0.00811 per kilowatt hour
Gas supplied by a gas utility or any gas supplied in a gaseous state that is of a kind supplied by a gas utility	£0.00406 per kilowatt hour
Any petroleum gas, or other gaseous hydrocarbon, supplied in a liquid state	£0.02175 per kilogram
Any other taxable commodity	£0.03174 per kilogram

 

Climate change levy rates that apply from 1st April 2021  

Taxable commodity supplied	Rate at which levy if supply is not a reduced-rate supply
Electricity	£0.00755 per kilowatt hour
Gas supplied by a gas utility or any gas supplied in a gaseous state that is of a kind supplied by a gas utility	£0.00465 per kilowatt hour
Any petroleum gas, or other gaseous hydrocarbon, supplied in a liquid state	£0.02175 per kilogram
Any other taxable commodity	£0.03640 per kilogram

 

Aggregate levy

Aggregate levy is a tax on sand, gravel and rock that has either been: 

• dug from the ground; 
• dredged from the sea in UK waters; or 
• imported. 

If your business exploits aggregate in the UK (i.e. a quarry operator), you must tell HMRC how much aggregate you have produced or sold. 

Certain materials are excluded from the tax. A full list of exempted materials can be found here. 

The current levy is £2.00 per tonne for sand, gravel or rock. 

 

Link to full government text

 

The Legislation Update Service is the best way to stay up to date automatically with legislation in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Sign up for your free trial to get instant access.