Aggregates Tax and Devolved Taxes Administration (Scotland) Act 2024

6 Exempt aggregate

(1) A quantity of aggregate is exempt aggregate to the extent that it falls within subsections (2) to (8) of this section.

(2) Aggregate is exempt under this subsection if it is, or derives from, any aggregate that has already been subjected to a charge to tax.

(3) Aggregate is exempt under this subsection if it has previously been used for construction purposes (whether before or after the date on which this section comes into force).

(4) Aggregate is exempt under this subsection if it is aggregate that, on the date on which this section comes into force, is on a site other than—

(a) its originating site, or

(b) a site that is required to be registered under section 18 under the name of a person who is the operator, or one of the operators, of that originating site.

(5) Aggregate is exempt under this subsection if it consists wholly of aggregate won by being removed from the ground on the site of any structure or any proposed structure, or the site of any infrastructure or any proposed infrastructure relating to transportation or utilities, in the course of excavations lawfully carried out—

(a) in connection with, and necessary for, the construction, modification, maintenance or improvement of the structure or infrastructure, and

(b) not for the purpose of extracting that aggregate.

(6) Aggregate is exempt under this subsection if it consists wholly of aggregate won—

(a) by being removed from the bed of any river, canal or watercourse (whether natural or artificial) or of any channel in or approach to any port or harbour (whether natural or artificial), and

(b) in the course of the carrying out of any dredging undertaken exclusively for the purpose of creating, restoring, improving or maintaining that river, canal, watercourse, channel or approach.

(7) Aggregate is exempt under this subsection if it consists wholly of the spoil from any process by which—

(a) coal (including bituminous coal, cannel coal and anthracite),

(b) lignite,

(c) slate, or

(d) a substance listed in section 4(3),

has been separated from other rock after being extracted or won with that other rock.

(8) Aggregate is exempt under this subsection if it consists wholly or mainly of any one or more of the following, or is part of anything consisting wholly or mainly of the following—

(a) coal (including bituminous coal, cannel coal and anthracite),

(b) lignite,

(c) slate,

(d) the spoil or waste from, or other by-products of—

(i) any industrial combustion process, or

(ii) the smelting or refining of metal,

(e) the drill-cuttings resulting from any operations carried out in accordance with a licence granted under the Petroleum Act 1998 or the Petroleum (Production) Act (Northern Ireland) 1964,

(f) clay, soil or vegetable or other organic matter.

(9) For the purposes of subsection (2), aggregate has already been subjected to a charge to tax if and only if—

(a) there has been a previous occasion on which a charge to tax on that aggregate has arisen and at least some of the tax previously charged on that aggregate is either—

(i) tax in respect of which there is or was no entitlement to a tax credit, or

(ii) tax in respect of which any entitlement to a tax credit is or was an entitlement to a tax credit of an amount less than the amount of the tax charged on it, or

(b) before the date on which this section comes into force, there has been an occasion on which a charge to aggregates levy on that aggregate has arisen under the Finance Act 2001.

(10) An entitlement to tax credit which arises where a quantity of aggregate is used in an industrial or agricultural process specified in regulations by virtue of section 15(6) is to be disregarded for the purposes of paragraph (a) of subsection (9) (and therefore for the purposes of that paragraph no entitlement to a tax credit has arisen).