Climate Change Levy - are you paying the right amount?
Many businesses claim relief from the Climate Change Levy (CCL) and it can be worth tens of £1,000’s p.a. But claiming relief and keeping it on the rails is not always as simple as it might seem. We can make sure that you don’t miss out on the CCL savings that you are entitled to. Here are a few tips / common mistakes:
Have you changed energy supplier recently?
If you change energy supplier you need to tell them (using HMRC forms PP10 and PP11) you are eligible for relief; otherwise they will charge you CCL at the full rate.
If there are no PP10-11’s in place, you can complete them and back date them to the day your new energy contract started. This will likely mean a credit and re-billing exercise for the period affected but it will be worth it!
Climate Change Agreement (CCA) - did you notify your energy supplier when the rate of relief changed?
On 01 April 2021 the rate of CCL relief on gas increased from 81% to 83%. Energy suppliers do not automatically change this. You need to submit updated PP10 and PP11 forms.
The slightly tricky bit with this is that, unlike the change of supplier example above, you cannot back date your PP10-11’s if there are already some in force. You still have to submit new ones but only with ‘todays’ date on them.
If you have overpaid CCL and want to claim a refund you have to claim it direct from HMRC. As is often the case with HMRC if you’re asking for a refund they will want to see a very clear calculation and relevant documents to support your claim.
It’s also worth noting that you have to tell your energy suppliers if you are no longer in a CCA.
Just received your 2020 CHPQA Certificate – what next?
Sites often have a single gas supply but many different uses; even a simple one could have a CHP and a boiler. So even if your CHPQA certificate says that you pay no CCL on gas used by your CHP year after year, the ratio of CHP gas and boiler gas will usually change. This means that on receipt of your CHPQA certificate each year you need to:
Issue updated PP10 and PP11 forms based on the weighted average CCL relief that you were actually entitled to in 2020
Reconcile the amount of CCL paid in 2020 vs. what you now know you should have paid:
Then pay the balance to HMRC or claim a refund.
How far back can you claim a refund?
The maximum you can go back in time to claim a refund is 4-years. It can be quite a task to go through all of your energy invoices etc. But if, for example, you changed energy supplier and didn’t issue new PP10 and PP11 forms it can be well worth it.
How do you ‘settle the books’?
This can take many different routes depending on:
Whether it is the result of a routine annual reconciliation or a mistake you want to correct
Whether you already submit a quarterly CCL return via a CCL100 form or not
The amount.
One thing is clear though – if you have paid too little CCL and you are subject to a CCL audit (yes these are a thing) then the normal HMRC penalty system kicks in.
How can we help?
We can:
Ensure you pay the correct amount of CCL ‘now’
Check your energy bills to identify over or underpayment
Help you to ‘settle the books’ with HMRC
Provide ongoing support to keep your CCL payments on track.
From a one-off tidy up to long-term support contact us on:
email: tim@nowthenenergy.co.uk
Tel: 07971111053
