National Statistics

Aggregates Levy Background Information

Updated 10 June 2021

As a result of the recent consultation on the reduction and consolidation of HMRC statistics publications, the Aggregates Levy (AGL) Bulletin will be published within the ‘Environmental Taxes Bulletin’ annually from 30 June 2021.

1. Overview

Aggregates Levy (AGL) is a tax on the commercial exploitation in the UK of rock, sand and gravel, and is due from any business that quarries, dredges or imports these products.

The levy came into effect on 1 April 2002, and was introduced to address the environmental costs associated with quarrying that were not already covered by regulation, including noise, dust, visual intrusion, loss of amenity and damage to biodiversity.

The levy aims to bring about environmental benefits by making the price of aggregates better reflect these costs and encouraging the use of alternative materials such as recycled materials and certain waste products.

Go to Aggregates Levy: detailed information for further details on AGL, including how to pay.

1.1 Taxable tonnage:

This is tonnage declared by traders at the standard rate (currently £2 per tonne of aggregate). Traders will pay less on smaller amounts; for example, you would pay £1.00 on half a tonne. Prior to 25 November 2004 this was labelled as Standard Tonnage in this bulletin.

1.2 Relieved tonnage:

Reliefs can be claimed on any aggregate:

• exported from the UK in the form of aggregate (including to the Isle of Man and Channel Islands)

• used in specific industrial and agricultural processes

• disposed of as waste (for example in a landfill site)

More information on what can be relieved can be found in excise notice AGL1.

1.3 Exempt tonnage:

Exemptions apply to certain materials such as slate, clay, soil and vegetable or other organic matter. Exemptions also apply to aggregate arising as a by-product of some processes, such as road-building and laying foundations. There are certain exempt processes for the aggregates levy, such as producing lime or cement from limestone.

2. Background

These statistics cover the United Kingdom. It is not possible to provide any regional breakdown on where tax liability arose as HMRC does not collect this data on the tax return. However, statistics showing an estimate of receipts at a country level have been published. More information on Country level breakdown of tax liabilities.

HMRC does not collect sector information for AGL as this information is not included on the AGL return.

These statistics are reported according to the last month of the taxpayers accounting/liability period.

Most AGL taxpayers submit returns quarterly and the return is due to be received by HMRC before the end of the following month (for example, ‘Levy Declared on Trader Returns’ statistics for March 2019 refer to all returns that ended in March 2019; the accounting period for these returns is generally the quarter from January 2019 to March 2019 and the returns are due to be received by HMRC by the 30 April 2019).

The ‘Taxable Tonnage’, ‘Relieved Tonnage’ and ‘Exempt Tonnage’ statistics are revised whenever amendments are made to returns or when late returns are received. For this reason the first three months of publication are provisional and may be updated based on incomplete or unfinalised return data.

‘Levy Declared on Trader Returns’ refers to the amount of tax declared on tax returns submitted for each calendar month. The source of this data is the information provided by traders on the Aggregates Levy return through form AL 100.

Prior to 25 November 2004 ‘Taxable Tonnage’ was known as Standard Tonnage.

From 25 November 2004 ‘Total Tonnage’ is calculated by the addition of ‘Taxable Tonnage’ and ‘Exempt Tonnage’. To avoid double-counting, ‘Relieved Tonnage’ is now excluded from the calculation as it is also taxable aggregate, which is commercially exploited and is therefore accounted for in ‘Taxable Tonnage’.

The data source for the ‘Total Cash Receipts’ statistics is HMRC’s bank accounts. ‘Total Cash Receipts’ is based on the cleared cash receipts in HMRC’s bank accounts received during the month relating to AGL (for example, ‘Total Cash Receipts’ statistics for March 2019 refer to cash received in HMRC’s bank accounts during the month of March 2019). ‘Total Cash Receipts’ may be negative where repayments made to taxpayers exceed payments.

3. Statistical quality

HMRC’s statement on statistical quality is published in HMRC: Official Statistics on the HMRC website.

These statistics are based on administrative data sources. These statistics undergo a thorough internal quality assurance procedure before publication. The ‘Total Cash Receipts’ statistics are aligned with HMRC’s Trust Statement, which is audited by the National Audit Office.

The quality of these statistics depends on the purpose that they are intended to be used for. For understanding tax liable and paid for AGL these statistics are of high-quality as they are based on the returns and payments of all registered taxpayers. However for other purposes the statistics may not be the most appropriate as the scope of the statistics is defined by tax laws.

4. Related statistics

National statistics for cash receipts for all HMRC administered taxes are published in HM Revenue and Customs receipts.

The Environmental Taxes Factsheet has been discontinued as a result of the Indirect Taxes User Consultation Exercise. Archived copies are still available on the UK Trade Info website.

Statistics on the number of AGL registered taxpayers can be found in Numbers of taxpayers and registered traders published on the HMRC website.

HMRC does not publish a Tax Gap for AGL. Official statistics on Tax Gaps are published in Measuring Tax Gaps on the HMRC website.

The illustrative effects of tax changes are published in Tax expenditures and ready reckoners on the HMRC website.

The Office for National Statistics and HM Treasury publish ‘Public Sector Finances’, which covers tax receipts from all taxes on the ONS website. This does not separate out AGL receipts.

AGL receipts are forecast by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and published on the OBR website.

5. Rounding policy

Tonnages are rounded to the nearest thousand tonnes. ‘Levy Declared on Trader Returns’ and ‘Total Cash Receipts’ have been rounded to the nearest million pounds. Any apparent discrepancy between totals and the sum of the constituents in the bulletin is due to rounding. Percentage changes are based on unrounded figures so will differ from percentages calculated using figures published in this bulletin.

6. Contacts

The Aggregates Levy Bulletin is produced by the Indirect Tax Receipts Monitoring team as part of the ‘Excise duties, VAT and other tax statistics’ collection.

For statistical enquiries, contact:

S Taylor revenuemonitoring@hmrc.gov.uk

HMRC
Knowledge, Analysis and Intelligence (KAI)
Floor 2 Annex
Albert Bridge House
Manchester
M60 9AF

For media enquiries see HMRC press office.

For taxpayers with excise enquiries see the Excise Helpline.

7. Hyperlinks

Review of the Aggregates Levy

HMRC Annual Report and Resource Accounts