Determining whether Landfill Disposals Tax is payable

LDT is chargeable on taxable disposals. A taxable disposal is a disposal of material as waste made by way of landfill in Wales from 1 April 2018.

A disposal of material as waste

A disposal of material is a disposal of it as waste if the person responsible for the disposal intends to discard the material. 

At an authorised landfill site, the person responsible for the disposal is the landfill site operator at the time of the disposal (the person holding the environmental permit authorising landfill disposals at the site).

If the disposal is made without the permission of the landfill site operator, then the person responsible for the disposal is the person who makes the disposal.

An intention to discard material may be inferred from the circumstances of its disposal and in particular from the deposit of material in an area on a site, such as a void, that's generally used for landfill disposals.

Sometimes a landfill site operator continues to make a temporary or incidental use of material deposited on the site or otherwise derives a benefit from it, such as using gas produced by its decomposition to generate electricity. Where that's the case, it does not necessarily mean the operator, when depositing the material, did not intend to discard it. The intention to discard the material can still be inferred in these circumstances and, ordinarily, the disposal of the material in a landfill disposal area will be a taxable disposal.

At an unauthorised site, the person responsible for the disposal is the person who made that disposal.

Disposal of material made by way of landfill

A disposal is made by way of landfill where material is deposited (whether or not material was in a container before being deposited):

• on the surface of land
• on a structure set into the surface of the land
• or under the surface of the land such as in a mine or cavern

This includes disposals made at authorised landfill sites (sites operating under an environmental permit authorising the disposal of waste by landfill) and disposals made elsewhere, where the disposal requires an environmental permit.

LDTA includes a list of activities (at section 8(3)), which are to be treated as taxable disposals, whether or not the activity would otherwise meet the conditions for a taxable disposal. For these activities, there's no need to consider whether the person responsible for the disposal intended to discard the material. The use of material in the following specified landfill site activities at an authorised landfill site is a taxable disposal:

• using material to create or maintain a temporary road giving access to a landfill disposal area
• using material to create or maintain a temporary hard standing
• using material to create or maintain a cell bund
• using material (other than naturally occurring material extracted from the site) to create or maintain a temporary screening bund
• using material to cover a landfill disposal area during a temporary cessation in landfill disposals
• placing material in a landfill disposal area to provide a base for, or prevent damage to, anything used to line, cap or drain that area
• keeping material in a non-disposal area beyond the end of the maximum period specified in the notice designating the area under section 55, unless the material is dealt with in accordance with an agreement under section 56(4)(a)
• storing ashes for example, fly ash and bottom ash
• using material in restoration work

The disposal is to be treated as taking place when material is first used in relation to a specified activity. For example, the point at which material was used to create a temporary road would trigger a taxable disposal and if further material was subsequently used to maintain or repair that road, that material would be the subject of a taxable disposal on the date on which it was used.

Permanent and temporary roads

A temporary road giving access to a landfill disposal area may have the following features:

• they do not have engineered features, which may include kerbs, drainage, road signs or other markings or landscaping
• they'll be constructed using crushed or re-usable materials, including concrete and tarmac as well as dry household or construction waste
• they may eventually be subsumed into the landfill site
• they're not usually surfaced

In contrast, a permanent road (whether at the approach or entrance to the site or a primary or secondary access road) does not meet the conditions of a taxable disposal and may have the following features:

• they've engineered features, which may include kerbs, drainage systems, culverts, road signs or other markings or landscaping
• they'll have a surface that is paved and/or finished, which may comprise concrete or tarmac
• they're more likely to have been constructed before the start of tipping operations on the site
• they're unlikely to be subsumed into the landfill site
• they have to be maintained