What is landfill tax?
Landfill tax is a tax on waste that is disposed of at a permitted landfill site.
Landfill tax was introduced to encourage people to reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill. As a business, you can save money by finding alternatives to landfill, such as reducing, reusing, recycling or recovering the waste you produce.
The landfill site operator is responsible for paying landfill tax. However, operators will pass the cost on to businesses and local councils on top of normal landfill fees. VAT is charged on the landfill fees and the landfill tax.
Landfill tax rates 2010-2011
There are two rates for landfill tax:
- Standard rate: £48 per tonne. Standard rate will increase by £8 a year until April 2013.
- Lower rate for inactive waste, such as rocks and soil: £2.50 per tonne.
This means that if you have to send waste to landfill you may be able to save money by separating your different types of waste first.
Wastes exempt from landfill tax
There are some waste types that you don’t currently have to pay landfill tax for. These include:
- dredgings from inland waterways and harbours
- waste from mining and quarrying operations
- in some instances, waste from clearance of contaminated land.
You may need a certificate or other evidence that your waste is exempt from landfill tax. For more information about exemptions and their qualifying conditions see the HM Revenue and Customs website.
Landfill site operators
If you operate a landfill you must register with HM Revenue and Customs in order to charge landfill tax for waste disposed of at your site.
You may be able to apply for part of your site to be designated as ‘tax-free’ if you recycle, sort or incinerate waste. However, you should contact your environmental regulator before making any changes to your site as you may need to change the conditions of your permit or licence first.
Landfill Communities Fund
The Landfill Communities Fund has replaced the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme. As a landfill operator, if you make contributions to environmental bodies for projects that have environmental benefits, you may be able to claim tax credit.
Businesses - reducing the amount of landfill tax you pay
You can reduce the amount of landfill tax you pay by:
- minimising waste
- increasing the amount of waste you reuse
- increasing the amount of waste you recycle
- increasing the amount of waste you recover
- separating different types of waste so that you pay the lower rate of landfill tax for some part of it.
Use the NetRegs waste directory to search for recycling sites near to you.
