These notes refer to the Welsh Tax Acts etc. (Power to Modify) Act 2022 (asc 2)
which received Royal Assent on 8 September 2022
7.
Subsection 1(1)(b)–to protect against tax avoidance in relation to landfill disposals tax and land transaction tax. The Welsh Ministers may wish to take such action where they consider that amendment of the legislation will put its intended application beyond any doubt, as well as in cases where a loophole is being exploited. Tax avoidance is not defined in the Act. It therefore takes its natural meaning.
8.
Subsection 1(1)(c)–to respond to changes made to the predecessor taxes which affect, or may affect, the amounts paid by the Secretary of State into the Welsh Consolidated Fund. The predecessor taxes are defined in section 1(4) as being stamp duty land tax and landfill tax.
9.
Subsection 1(1)(d)–to respond to a court or tribunal decision which affects, or may affect the operation of the Welsh Tax Acts or regulations made under those Acts. These decisions need not necessarily be decisions on the provisions of the Welsh Tax Acts themselves, or their associated regulations. Decisions affecting the predecessor taxes or on general points of law may also be capable of affecting the operation of the Welsh Tax Acts and their associated regulations.
10.
Section 1(2) places certain restrictions on the general power provided to the Welsh Ministers by section 1. Those restrictions are set out in sections 2(4), (5) and (6) and are discussed further below.
11.
Sections 1(3) and 1(4) provide a series of definitions.
Section 2 – Regulations under section 1: supplementary
12.
Section 2(1) permits regulations made using the power in section 1 to impose landfill disposals tax and land transaction tax and to impose or extend liability to a penalty.
13.
Section 2(2) allows regulations made using the power in section 1 to have retrospective effect, as long as—
- the regulations do not retrospectively impose any new penalty or extend liability to any existing penalty (section 2(2)(a));
- those regulations that retrospectively create or increase a liability to land transaction tax or landfill disposals tax, do not have effect from a date earlier than the date of an oral or written statement to the Senedd by then Welsh Ministers (section 2(2)(b));
- those regulations that retrospectively reduce or withdraw an entitlement to a landfill disposals tax credit, do not have effect from a date earlier than the date of an oral or written statement to the Senedd by the Welsh Ministers (section 2(2)(c)).
14.
Section 2(3)(a) allows the regulations made using the power in section 1 to make different provision for different purposes.
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