Jurisdiction: UK

Commencement: 1^st July 2021

Amends: The Climate Change Levy (General) Regulations 2001 (SI 2001/838)
Mini Summary

Amendment

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.

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)  

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

Higher rate diesel vehicles  

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   

Climate change levy rates that apply from 1st April 2021  

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.

Jurisdiction: UK

Commencement: IP completion day

Amends:

• The Climate Change Agreements (Amendment of Agreements) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 
• The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 
• The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 

Mini Summaries
The Climate Change Agreements (Amendment of Agreements) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 set out the eligibility criteria for facilities wishing to enter into Climate Change Agreements (CCAs) in order to receive a discount on their Climate Change Levy (CCL). The CCl is a tax on electricity, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas and solid fuels supplied to the business and public sectors. The CCA scheme was introduced in order to allow certain energy intensive businesses to pay a reduced rate of CCL in return for entering into sector-energy specific energy efficiency agreements.

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (CRC), formerly the carbon reduction commitment, is designed to promote energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions in the UK. CRC targets emissions that are not included within Climate Change Agreements (CCA) or the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).

The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 introduce the Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme which is a mandatory energy assessment and energy saving identification scheme for large undertakings and their corporate groups. All must audit their energy use every four years.

 
Amendments
The Climate Change Agreements (Amendment of Agreements) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018

The 2018 Regulations are amended to change the term ‘exit day*’ to ‘IP completion day**’ (in relation the UK leaving the EU). This means the 2018 Regulations will come into force on IP completion day instead of exit day. This does not make any changes to duties. 

*Exit day was 31st January 2020. 

**IP completion day is the day the transition period ends (31st December 2020).

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 

The 2018 Regulations are amended to change the term ‘exit day*’ to ‘IP completion day**’ (in relation to the UK leaving the EU). This means the 2018 Regulations will come into force on IP completion day instead of exit day. This does not make any changes to duties. 

*Exit day was 31st January 2020. 

**IP completion day is the day the transition period ends (31st December 2020). 

The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 

The 2018 Regulations converted the financial thresholds for ESOS from euros to pounds sterling to reflect the UK’s exit from the EU. This conversion originally applied from exit day* but this has now been updated to be relevant from IP completion day**. 

*Exit day was 31st January 2020. 

**IP completion day is the day the transition period ends (31st December 2020).

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.