§ Mr. Lathamasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is now able to announce the detailed provisions of a relief from value added tax for alterations to listed buildings; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HayhoeDuring the debate on schedule 6 to the Finance (No. 2) Bill on 30 April, at column 147, I announced that I would consider a concession limited to structural alterations to listed buildings. As I hoped then, I am now able to announce the detailed provisions, in advance of the general application of VAT to building alterations from 1 June.
The Government intend to move an amendment to the Finance Bill at Report stage, to add a new group to the zero rating schedule. The broad effect will be to zero rate the following:
- 1. Any alteration (but not repair or maintenance) of a listed building which both requires and has received listed building consent from the appropriate planning authority.
- 2. The sale or long lease (exceeding 21 years) of a listed building by a person substantially reconstructing it, subject to certain conditions. One of these will be that at least three quarters of the cost of reconstruction will relate to work which would have been zero rated as alterations to a listed building if supplied by a contractor. This is intended to be roughly equivalent in its effect to the present 50 per cent. test for reconstructed buildings, which is calculated on a different basis.
Similar relief will apply to ancient monuments and to listed churches. The amendment will be backdated to 1 June.
The detailed provisions will be as follows: