Fair Tax Mark Statement for Westmill Solar Co-operative Limited (May 2025)
This statement of Fair Tax compliance was compiled in partnership with the Fair Tax Foundation
(“FTF”) and certifies that Westmill Solar Co-operative Limited (“the Society”) meets the standards
and requirements of the FTF’s Solely UK-based Business Standard for the Fair Tax Mark certification.
Tax Policy
The Society is committed to paying all the taxes it owes in accordance with the spirit of all tax laws
that apply to its operations. We believe paying our taxes in this way is the clearest indication we can
give of being responsible participants in society. We will fulfil our commitment to paying the
appropriate taxes that we owe by seeking to pay the right amount of tax, in the right place, and at the
right time. We aim to do this by ensuring we report our tax affairs in ways that reflect the economic
reality of the transactions that we undertake during the course of our trade.
We will not seek to use those options made available in tax law, or the allowances and reliefs that it
provides, in ways that are contrary to the spirit of the law. Nor will we undertake specific transactions
with the sole or main aim of securing tax advantages that would otherwise not be available to us based
on the reality of the trade that we undertake. The Society will never undertake transactions that would
require notification to HM Revenue & Customs under the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes
Regulations or participate in any arrangement to which it might be reasonably anticipated that the
UK’s General Anti-Abuse Rule might apply.
We believe tax havens undermine the UK’s tax system. As a result, while we may trade with customers
and suppliers genuinely located in places considered to be tax havens, we will not make use of those
places to secure a tax advantage, and nor will we take advantage of the secrecy that many such
jurisdictions provide for transactions recorded within them.
Our accounts and tax filings will be prepared in compliance with this policy and we will seek to provide
all the information that users, including HM Revenue & Customs, might need to properly appraise our
tax position.
The Society’s Secretary shall be responsible for overseeing the application of this policy; and the board
of directors will review this policy annually to ensure that it is complied with
Our Tax Information
In 2023, the Society’s surplus before tax was £201,415. The corporation tax expected on this surplus
would be £47,333 (23.50%). In fact, the actual current tax charge was £97,981 (48.64%). The reason
behind the Society’s current tax charge being higher than what would be expected is due to the
following tax adjustment:
Adjustments to prior periods (-6.38%)
Adjustments to tax charges in prior periods are quite common and can arise for a number of reasons.
Sometimes the tax charge for the previous year was calculated for the accounts before the corporation
tax return had been finalised and submitted to HMRC, due to the different deadlines for both the
accounts and the tax return. This is then updated the year after to reflect any changes between the
tax in the accounts and the actual tax charge that was submitted. Other times, we may currently be
correcting a mistake from a previous year(s), which is then adjusted for in the current year’s tax
charge.
Expenses not deductible and effect of capital allowances (+31.52%)
Some expenses, although entirely appropriate for inclusion in our accounts, are not allowed as a
deduction against taxable income when calculating our tax liability. An example of such an expense
is depreciation – which is subject to capital allowances instead. This is because, the treatment of fixed
assets is different for accounting and tax purposes. For accounting purposes, fixed assets are
depreciated over their useful economic lives. For tax, there are specific rules on what can be claimed
and when (capital allowances). These differences can create tax adjustments. However, these tax
adjustments are only timing differences, as eventually, the total depreciation charged in the accounts
will match the total capital allowances claimed in the tax returns. As at the year ended 31 December
2023, we have not made a provision in our accounts in relation to these timing differences (i.e. no
deferred tax has been accounted for).