The Government has responded to the Treasury consultation on reforms to the tax treatment of red diesel that ran in the summer of 2020. The owners of private pleasure boats, a term within which the Government includes boats used as homes, can continue to use red diesel as they do now, in England, Wales and Scotland. They will not be able to use red diesel in Northern Ireland.
The Government is planning legislation to prohibit the use of red diesel for propulsion in “private pleasure boats” (in the Government’s eyes this seems to include boats used as homes), following the 2018 judgement by the European Court of Justice (CJEU) regarding red diesel in private pleasure boats. This is part of a wider phasing out of red diesel for many uses, to meet environmental obligations. The Government plans to implement the changes from April 2022, though this may be phased in later for private boats. The current consultation follows a 2019 HMRC consultation on implementing the CJEU judgement on red diesel in private boats.
The deadline is 1st October 2020. The consultation and the response form are online here https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-reforms-to-the-tax-treatment-of-red-diesel-and-other-rebated-fuels
The Government has been running a consultation on the use of red diesel, which opened in March 2017 and closes on 30th June 2017.
The consultation document gives a list of uses of red diesel which includes ships and private pleasure craft, but makes no mention of boat dwellers. If you think it is important that the Government fully recognises the use made of red diesel by liveaboard boaters, please respond.