Environmental Taxes |
Environmental Taxes Overview
As environmental issues soar up the political agenda, different ‘green’ taxes have been introduced by governments across the globe to encourage more environmentally friendly behaviour. These taxes can affect a wide range of businesses and for many businesses, understanding environmental taxes is an integral part of controlling tax risk and costs.
There is no common system of environmental taxes within the European Union, with the type and scope of taxes, the rates and reliefs varying significantly between countries. As such, businesses may face difficulties identifying their environmental tax obligations across the countries in which they operate. With an increased focus on managing tax risk in many organisations, businesses are starting to consider their environmental tax strategy and risk profile.
The UK, along with many other European Member States, has a well-established set of environmental taxes (including Climate Change Levy (CCL), Landfill Tax and Aggregates Levy), although the regimes regularly change. There are plans to significantly increase the rates of some of these taxes over the coming years, and a carbon price support rate of CCL will apply to supplies of fossil fuels to a generator with effect from 1 April 2013. There are various reliefs and exemptions from environmental taxes available for more environmentally friendly business practices, but businesses must be vigilant in identifying these opportunities and meeting the requirements to obtain relief.
At Deloitte, our Environmental Taxes Team comprises specialists from different areas of tax, and the team can help you to negotiate the increasingly complex field of environmental taxes and explore cost saving opportunities in this area.
Environmental Taxes Guide
Given the broad range of environmental taxes in force across Europe, it can be difficult to take the first step towards building this strategy – gathering information on the types of tax that businesses may pay or be required to comply with. This makes forecasting future costs and identifying business risks very difficult.
Against this backdrop, Deloitte’s Environmental Taxes Guide is designed to provide businesses with a user-friendly knowledge management tool, collating key information on the different environmental taxes across the 27 EU Member States, Norway and Switzerland. It provides a starting point from which to map the business’ environmental tax footprint and begin to understand key compliance requirements and costs.
Organised by country and type of tax – such as energy, waste, packaging, water and transport – Deloitte’s Guide is an intuitive tool allowing subscribers to access key information such as the scope of the tax, the rates, the person liable for the tax, the tax point and the main compliance requirements.
Contact your local Deloitte advisor or any of those listed below for more information.
Contacts
Kendra Hann
Partner
020 7007 3814
Zoe Hawes
Manager
020 7007 9033
