Finance Act 1988
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1988 c. 39 |
Finance Act 1988
1988 CHAPTER 39
An Act to grant certain duties, to alter other duties, and to amend the law relating to the National Debt and the Public Revenue, and to make further provision in connection with Finance.
[29th July 1988]
Most Gracious Sovereign,
We , Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom in Parliament assembled, towards raising the necessary supplies to defray Your Majesty's public expenses, and making an addition to the public revenue, have freely and voluntarily resolved to give and grant unto Your Majesty the several duties hereinafter mentioned; and do therefore most humbly beseech Your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Customs and Excise
Duties of excise: rates
1 Beer, wine, made-wine and cider.
(1) In section 36 of the Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979 (excise duty on beer)—
(a) for ‘25.80’ and ‘0.86’ there shall be substituted ‘27.00’ and ‘0.90’ respectively; and
(b) for the words from ‘at the rate’ onwards there shall be substituted the words ‘at the rate of 0.90 per hectolitre for every degree by which the original gravity of the beer exceeds 1000 degrees’.
(2) In sections 42(6) and 43(4) of that Act (rates of drawback), the words ‘but as respects’ onwards shall cease to have effect.
(3) For the Table of rates of duty in Schedule 1 to that Act (wine and made-wine) there shall be substituted the Table in Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act.
(4) In section 62(1) of that Act (excise duty on cider) for ‘15.80’ there shall be substituted ‘17.33’.
(5) That Act shall have effect subject to the amendments set out in Part II of Schedule 1 to this Act (which relate to beverages of an alcoholic strength not exceeding 5.5 per cent.).
(6) In this section—
(a) subsections (1)(a), (3) and (4) (with Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act) shall be deemed to have come into force at 6 o'clock in the evening of 15th March 1988;
(b) subsections (1)(b) and (2) shall come into force on 1st October 1988; and
(c) subsection (5) (with Part II of Schedule 1 to this Act) shall come into force on such day as the Commissioners may by order made by statutory instrument appoint;
and different days may be appointed under paragraph (c) above for different provisions or different purposes.
2 Tobacco products.
(1) For the Table in Schedule 1 to the Tobacco Products Duty Act 1979 there shall be substituted—
‘Table
| 1. Cigarettes | An amount equal to 21 per cent. of the retail price plus 31.74 per thousand cigarettes. |
| 2. Cigars | 48.79 per kilogram. |
| 3. Hand-rolling tobacco | 51.48 per kilogram. |
4. Other smoking tobacco and chewing tobacco |
24.95 per kilogram.’ |
(2) This section shall be deemed to have come into force on 18th March 1988.
3 Hydrocarbon oil.
(1) In section 6(1) of the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979 , for ‘0.1938’ (light oil) and ‘0.1639’ (heavy oil) there shall be substituted ‘0.2044’ and ‘0.1729’ respectively.
(2) In section 13A of that Act (rebate on unleaded petrol), for ‘0.0096’ there shall be substituted ‘0.0202’.
(3) This section shall be deemed to have come into force at 6 o'clock in the evening of 15th March 1988.
4 Vehicles excise duty.
(1) The Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971 (‘the 1971 Act’) and the Vehicles (Excise) Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 (‘the 1972 Act’) shall be amended as follows.
(2) In Part I of Schedule 1 to each Act (annual rates of duty on motor bicycles etc.), in paragraph 2 (concession for certain bicycles first licensed before 1933 or, in Northern Ireland, 1935)—
(a) in sub-paragraph (a), for the words ‘for which a licence was taken out before the beginning of the year’ there shall be substituted the words ‘constructed before’; and
(b) in sub-paragraph (b), for the words ‘224 pounds’ there shall be substituted the words ‘101.6 kilograms’.
(3) In Part I of Schedule 3 to each Act (annual rates of duty on tractors etc.)—
(a) in paragraph 6 (definition of ‘haulage vehicle’), after the words ‘foregoing paragraphs’ there shall be inserted the words ‘or paragraph 8 below’;
(b) at the end of sub-paragraph (2) of paragraph 8 (recovery vehicles) there shall be added ‘and
(e) any purpose prescribed for the purposes of this sub-paragraph’;
(c) in sub-paragraph (3) of that paragraph in paragraph (c), for the word ‘paragraph’ there shall be substituted the word ‘sub-paragraph’;
(d) after that sub-paragraph there shall be inserted—
(4) A vehicle which is constructed or permanently adapted as mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) above shall not be a recovery vehicle if at any time the number of vehicles which it is used to recover exceeds a number specified by an order of the Secretary of State made for the purposes of this sub-paragraph.
(5) The power to make an order under sub-paragraph (4) above shall be exercisable by statutory instrument; but no such order shall be made unless a draft of it has been laid before and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.’
(4) In Part II of Schedule 4 to the 1971 Act (annual rates of duty on goods vehicles), for Tables A, A(1) and A(2) (rates for rigid goods vehicles having plated gross weight exceeding 12 tonnes) there shall be substituted the Tables set out in Part I of Schedule 2 to this Act.
(5) The Tables set out in Part I of Schedule 2 to this Act shall also be substituted for Tables A, A(1) and A(2) in Part II of Schedule 4 to the 1972 Act, but modified for that purpose by the substitution for any reference to a plated gross weight of a reference to a relevant maximum weight.
(6) In Part II of Schedule 5 to each Act (annual rates of duty on motor cars etc.), in column 1, for paragraph 1 (vehicles first registered before 1947) there shall be substituted—
‘1. Vehicles constructed before 1947.’
(7) The amendments of the 1971 and 1972 Acts set out in Part II of Schedule 2 to this Act shall have effect for the purpose of, and in connection with, establishing vehicles carrying or drawing exceptional loads as a class of vehicles chargeable with a specific duty of excise.
(8) Section 2(1)(c) of the 1971 Act and section 2(1)(c) and (d) of the 1972 Act (seven day licences) shall cease to have effect.
(9) Subsections (2) and (4) to (6) above shall have effect in relation to licences taken out after 15th March 1988; and subsections (7) and (8) above shall be deemed to have come into force on 1st June 1988.
Duties of excise: other provisions
S-5 Relief from excise duty on goods imported fortesting etc. 5 Relief from excise duty on goods imported fortesting etc.
(1) After section 11 of the Customs and Excise Duties (General Reliefs) Act 1979 there shall be inserted—
S-11A 11A ‘Relief from excise duty on goods importedfor testing etc.
(1) The Commissioners may by order provide that, in such cases and subject to such exceptions as may be specified in the order, goods imported into the United Kingdom for the sole or main purpose—
(a) of being examined analysed or tested; or
(b) of being used to test other goods,
shall be relieved from excise duty chargeable on importation; and any such relief may take the form either of an exemption from payment of duty or of a provision whereby the sum payable by way of duty is less than it otherwise would be.
(2) An order under this section—
(a) may make any relief for which it provides subject to conditions specified in or under the order, including conditions to be complied with after the importation of the goods to which the relief applies;
(b) may contain such incidental and supplementary provisions as the Commissioners think necessary or expedient; and
(c) may make different provision for different cases.
(3) In this section references to excise duty include any additions to such duty by virtue of section 1 of the Excise Duties (Surcharges or Rebates) Act 1979 .’
(2) In section 17 of that Act (statutory instruments containing orders or regulations: parliamentary procedure)—
(a) after ‘7’ in subsection (3) and after ‘4’ in subsection (4) there shall be inserted ‘, 11A’; and
(b) for ‘or 4’ in subsection (5) there shall be substituted ‘, 4 or 11A’.
S-6 Remission of duty in respect of spirits used formedical or scientific purposes. 6 Remission of duty in respect of spirits used formedical or scientific purposes.
(1) For section 8 of the Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979 there shall be substituted—
S-8 ‘Remission of duty in respect of spirits usedfor medical or scientific purposes. 8 ‘Remission of duty in respect of spirits usedfor medical or scientific purposes.
(1) Where a person proposes to use spirits—
(a) in the manufacture or preparation of any article recognised by the Commissioners as being an article used for medical purposes; or
(b) for scientific purposes,
the Commissioners may, if they think fit and subject to such conditions as they see fit to impose, authorise that person to receive, and permit the delivery from warehouse to that person of, spirits for that use without payment of the duty chargeable thereon.
(2) If any person contravenes or fails to comply with any condition imposed under this section then, in addition to any other penalty he may have incurred, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty of level 3 on the standard scale.’
(2) In section 22 of that Act (drawback on...
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