Landfill Tax: What you need to know

If your business gets rid of its waste using landfill sites, you’ll have to pay landfill tax on top of the normal fees. The government states that all waste that is disposed of by way of landfill at a licenced landfill site on or after October 1996. It works by weight with two different rates, the standard and lower rate, each is charged by the tonne. For any inactive waste, such as rocks and soil, you’ll pay the lower rate. Any other waste streams recieve a charge at the standard rate. It’s placed on the landfill operator, but this cost will usually be passed on to businesses who are using the site.

The environmental tax is in place to work as a way of encouraging alternative disposal routes for waste. By placing an extra tax on using landfills as a waste disposal method, people will be more likely to chose other methods, such as recycling, to avoid the costs and have a better impact on the environment. There’s been a significant decrease in the amount of waste that is sent to landfill over recent years, suggesting that it is driving changes in behaviour.

There are a few things you won’t have to pay the tax on, such as quarrying and mining, pet cemeteries and inactive waste used for filling quarries. On top of this, you also don’t have to pay the tax for any dredging activities. If you’re sending waste from landfill to be recycled, incinerated, or reused, you can get tax credits too.

Every April, the amount businesses will pay for landfill tax will increase. On April 1^st, the environmental tax covering England and Northern Ireland will increase from £98.60 for the standard rate per tonne to £102.10 per tonne. For the lower rated, there will be an increase from £3.15 to £3.25 per tonne.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) collects the money raised from the tax on behalf of the government. The money goes towards different environmental projects and programmes. The main aim for the tax is to encourage people to avoid landfill and protect the environment, so, the money raised will go towards achieving green targets – not raising money for the government.