THE Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) has warned that the sector is not ready for the impending Plastic Packaging Tax.
It comes following a survey amongst its members on the new tax, which is due to come into effect on April 1. Conducted the week commencing January 17, the survey found that almost 80% of its member companies who sell plastic packaging and products are not yet ready to administer the tax.
This is despite three quarters of respondents having attended an HMRC PPT webinar and/or read the tax guidance notes. Some 85% of members who attended a webinar said they found it to be ‘unhelpful’ with too many questions being unanswered.
Despite the new tax looming, just over half of respondents said they are still unsure which of their packs and products are subject to the tax – with over 60% yet to work out a method for measuring recycled content, and over half not having implemented a system for recording recycled content.
Over 80% of firms importing packaging said they will rely on their overseas suppliers for confirmation of recycled content, with less than 10% considering third party certification/evidence.
Invoicing requirements are also causing great concern, with 77% of respondents unclear on requirements. The FPA said this could have been caused by HMRC’s original proposals for invoices to include plastic content and volume information for each pack on the invoice.
Only 23% disagree with the statement that ’the cost of PPT administration will exceed what we pay’. FPA said the view is ‘no doubt formed by almost 70% of respondents having already appointed a someone with the sole responsibility of administering the tax or intending to do so’. While 38% agree with the tax’s intention to encourage recycled content, 84% expressed concern that some businesses will avoid paying the tax.
FPA executive director, Martin Kersh, said, “HMRC should be concerned that if an informed group of businesses is unprepared, where does that leave the many businesses we suspect may not be aware of the tax or, if aware, have given no thought to setting up procedures to manage the tax? We think some importers, traders on portals and parts of the economy are unaware of what they consider to be products that are defined by HMRC as packaging.
“We intend asking HMRC to step up the provision of information and ensure there is greater clarity in the guidance. We know that new taxes take time to bed in, however, there is clearly a feeling among members that the good guys will spend the money and time to comply but there are far too many businesses outside of our immediate sector who might not. Huge effort must go into ensuring a completely level playing field for this tax and we hope the HMRC PPT team is given the resources to achieve this.”
