Guidance

Reliefs from Aggregates Levy

Check how you can claim relief, including exported aggregate and industrial and agricultural processes.

From:
HM Revenue & Customs
Published
12 December 2014
Last updated
6 January 2021 — See all updates

Who can claim relief

A relief is a credit or repayment of the levy which you can claim under certain circumstances.

You can only claim if you are the person who commercially exploited the aggregate and accounted for the levy. Intermediaries and brokers cannot claim the relief.

You must have records that show you’re entitled to claim relief.

When you can claim relief

You can claim a relief from the levy for aggregate that is:

If the aggregate is used for landfill site engineering like constructing a permanent cap or drainage, or other construction purposes on the site, it’s not true waste so the levy will apply.

Spoil, off-cuts and by-products from an exempt process are taxable if they are commercially exploited unless they are specifically exempt.

You may also be able to claim bad debt relief.

How to claim relief

You claim relief on your levy return by putting the total tonnage of aggregate that you’re claiming in the ‘relieved aggregate’ box.

If you account for the levy and claim the relief on the same return you will not have to pay the levy. You can also claim relief on levy you accounted for and paid on a previous return.

You must claim relief from Aggregates Levy within 4 years from the date you paid the levy.

If you claim relief incorrectly, you may have to pay a penalty.

If you claim export relief

If you are claiming export relief for aggregate you supply to somewhere outside the UK, you can make the claim once the aggregate has left the UK.

You must have the export documentation within 3 months of making the claim. If you do not have this after 3 months you must account for and pay the levy on your next return.

Proof of export

You must keep documentation to show that you’ve removed the aggregate from the UK. You can use either:

  • official evidence – normally a Single Administrative Document (Form C88) stamped by us
  • commercial documents – such as authenticated waybills or PIM/PIEX International consignment notes for individual consignments, vehicles and containers

Your claim must be supported by documents you normally keep such as:

  • customers’ orders
  • sales contracts
  • correspondence between companies
  • copies of export invoices
  • advice notes
  • consignment lists
  • details of insurance or freight charges
  • evidence of payment
  • evidence the aggregate has arrived abroad

If you send aggregate to the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, you should treat it as an export for Aggregates Levy purposes.

If you claim industrial and agricultural processes relief

When you claim, you must have evidence to show the aggregate was used, or was intended to be used, in a relieved industrial or agricultural process.

If you use the aggregate in the process yourself, you will have the required evidence. If you supply aggregate to a customer to use in any of the processes, they will need to give you evidence of this use so that you can claim relief.

You should check:

Sales through intermediaries

If you want to claim relief on aggregate sold through intermediaries, like merchants and haulage contractors, your intermediary must:

  • give you evidence of use of the aggregate in a relieved process
  • keep details of who used the aggregate in the process
  • have an audit trail which links the aggregate you supplied to its final destination and use

Where this is not available, you cannot claim relief.

The intermediary does not need to register for the levy but HMRC may visit them and ask them to give information.

Published 12 December 2014
Last updated 6 January 2021 + show all updates

  1. This page has been updated because the Brexit transition period has ended.

  2. First published.

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