Another 'fine' mess comes to a head

You may recall the “skip tax” row in 2012 which was reported to have increased the cost of hiring a skip by 2,500% and resulted in skip lorries protesting outside Parliament. This disagreement focussed on the Landfill Tax (LFT) liability of trommel fines (which are fine residual materials from recycling processes) by subjecting it to the standard rate of LFT. It was highly controversial and the policy was abandoned shortly after its introduction. This was not the end of the story however, as the government remained concerned that trommel fines were being incorrectly classified for landfill tax purposes. This article contains commentary on the risks for landfill operators.