To ask His Majesty's Government how much income the Exchequer received in (1) 2021, and (2) 2022, from import duty of food from the Maldives’ sustainable tuna line fishing industry.
Answered on
9 February 2023
HMRC does not hold the information requested.
Traders pay customs duty and import VAT based on calculated liabilities for goods, either immediately or on a monthly basis via duty deferment accounts. Also, VAT-registered businesses can account for import VAT on their VAT Return by using postponed VAT accounting. The subsequent revenue collected is not recorded on a product or sector basis and thus no breakdown by product or country of origin is held. This is because businesses are not required to provide figures at a product level within their VAT returns, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden.