Keeping records for Aggregates Levy
Find out how to use your Aggregates Levy account, what records you must keep and how long to keep them.
Who must keep records
You must keep records if you:
Records you must keep
The records you keep must show that the amount you declare on your return is accurate. You must keep the following records where relevant:
- Aggregates Levy account
- Aggregates Levy tax credits account
- Aggregates Levy bad debts account
- record of exempt aggregate
- invoices, weighbridge tickets, business and accounting records
- approved methods
- materials you’ve brought onto or moved from your registered site
- material dumped or put to landfill
- an annual record of all industrial and agricultural processes relief claims including customer and address details
Keeping and saving records
How long to keep records
You must keep your business records for 6 years.
You must have our agreement before you destroy any of your records if they’re less than 6 years old.
Contact HMRC if you’re unsure.
How to store your records
You do not have to keep your records in any set way, as long as you can produce copies and let us view them when we need to. Your records must be accessible for at least 6 years.
When you must produce your records
You must make your records available to us when we ask. You must also give any information we ask for about your taxable activities.
We may visit your premises to audit your records, your accounting systems and your business. We’ll usually make visits by appointment, at a time that’s convenient for you.
The following sections covering the ‘Aggregates Levy account’, the ‘bad debts account’ and the ‘tax credits account’ have the force of law under regulation 9(4) of the Aggregates Levy (General) regulations 2002.
Aggregates Levy account
This is your regular summary of total Aggregates Levy due for each period. It must detail any credits of levy and any adjustments.
The account must have 2 sides. The first side shows gross levy due on all taxable activity in the period. The other side must show the value of credits claimed in the same period.
The gross levy due includes the aggregate that’s also shown as a credit on the contra side of the account for exports, authorised relief, and returns (aggregate returned by customers in the same state and returned to stock).
Transfer any of these credits from the tax credits account. In the same way, transfer any bad debt relief calculated in the period from the bad debt account. If you discover net errors which do not exceed the limit, you can show these in the Aggregates Levy account.
Example of an Aggregates Levy account
You’ve commercially exploited 10,000 tonnes of taxable aggregate in a period.
- 100 tonnes are returned in the same state and returned to stock.
- 1,000 tonnes are exported.
- 2,000 tonnes are supplied to users for prescribed industrial and agricultural uses.
- £125 bad debt relief is claimed.
- An invoice error is discovered where a customer was charged twice for the same sale in a previous period (250 tonnes). Another error is discovered where authorised relief was mistakenly given (750 tonnes).
| Levy due | Credits |
|---|---|
| Gross levy due £20,000 (10,000 tonnes at £2) |
Returns £200 (100 tonnes at £2) |
| Exports £2,000 (1,000 tonnes at £2) Transferred from the Aggregates Levy tax credit account |
|
| Authorised relief £4,000 (2,000 tonnes at £2) Transferred from the Aggregates Levy tax credit account |
|
| Bad debt relief £125 Transferred from the Aggregates Levy bad debts account |
|
| Errors £1,500 (750 tonnes at £2) |
Errors £500 (250 tonnes at £2) |
| £21,500 | £6,825 |
| Net levy due £14,675 (£21,500 - £6,825) |
You should enter the net levy due in box 1 (levy due for this period) of the Aggregates Levy return (form AL100).
Aggregates Levy bad debts account
If you claim bad debt relief you must have kept:
- proof of your customer’s insolvency
- a copy of the invoice you sent
- evidence that you accounted for and paid the levy involved
- any evidence of payment from your customer (before or after you make the claim)
You’ll also need a bad debts account showing the:
- amount you’ve written off as a bad debt
- amount you wish to claim as bad debt relief
- period in which you claim a refund
- period in which the levy was originally accounted for
- period in which payment (if any) was received from your customer
- name of your customer and proof of insolvency
- date and number of the invoice to which the bad debt relief relates
Aggregates levy tax credits account
If you claim any reliefs other than bad debt relief on your return, you must keep evidence and records to show you were entitled to claim that amount. For example, proof of export or evidence of use in a relieved industrial or agricultural process.
Record of exempt aggregate
A record of the evidence needed to support any exempt aggregate you’ve declared on your return.
Invoices
You need to keep copies of all invoices and other accounting documents that you send or receive.
Approved methods
As a condition of our approval, we’ll tell you which records to keep, if you’re authorised to use an approved method to work out:
- your Aggregates Levy liability
- the weight of your aggregate
This will be in addition to any other records you need to keep for the Aggregates Levy.
Records for industrial and agricultural processes reliefs
Customer records
If you claim relief for aggregate used in industrial or agricultural processes, you need to keep evidence that the aggregate has gone to a relieved end use. You may need to get this from your customer. You must make sure this evidence is satisfactory and that it’s kept for 6 years.
We’ll not usually visit your customers, but we might ask to see any aggregates related records they hold during any assurance visits for other tax regimes.
You must keep:
- the customer name and address
- cross references to invoices and weighbridge tickets
- a description of the product that is enough to support an audit trail between the sale and your production or stock records
- a description of the use for which you’re claiming relief
- a customer declaration of the intended use by an authorised signatory
- a declaration setting out the limits of your liability and the authority of HMRC to charge a penalty on the customer
Example declaration
‘We (the supplier) have claimed a relief from the Aggregates Levy due on the material in this sale with you (the customer), based on evidence of your intention to use the aggregate for a qualifying industrial or agricultural use. Our price to you has been adjusted accordingly. If it later turns out that you’ve used this material in a way that does not qualify for relief, or that you’ve made a false statement about this, you may become liable to either civil or criminal penalties administered by HMRC.’
This information may be given in different forms depending upon the nature of the relationship between you and your customer and the circumstances of the supply. When supplies are made under contract a composite certificate will be enough.
Sales made on credit terms
For sales made on credit terms you should keep orders, quotations, and other commercial documents to support each sale. One signed declaration can support a number of individual sales so long as the individual invoices or weighbridge tickets give a clear audit trail.
Penalties
You may get a penalty if you do not keep correct records. If you get a penalty, you have the right to appeal.
We’ll also take into account any reasonable excuse for making an error.
Updates to this page
Published 12 December 2014Last updated 20 December 2016 + show all updates
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You can now send a return online. This page has been updated to tell about the changes relating to this new process.
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First published.