The government has launched new reviews designed to slash red tape in five key industry sectors. The reviews, announced by Business Secretary Sajid Javid announced on 16 July, are part of a government commitment to axe unnecessary regulation and its poor implementation by a further £10 billion by 2020. They will focus on the energy,… Read more…

Workplace pension participation has hit its highest level in a decade with young people among the biggest winners, new research has found. Office for National Statistics figures published on 16 July revealed that overall, 70 per cent of eligible employees –13.9 million people – paid into a workplace pension in 2014, a 15 per cent… Read more…

The start date for a new government scheme offering help with childcare costs has been put back by more than a year. It was originally planned that the Tax-Free Childcare initiative would be introduced in autumn 2015. But when legal action was brought by a group of childcare voucher providers involved in delivering the scheme… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) collected a record £517.7 billion in tax in 2014-15, £12 billion more than the previous year. The figures were included in HMRC’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2014-15, published on 16 July, which featured achievements including: securing and protecting a record £26.6 billion through tax compliance crackdowns prosecuting 1,289 cases,… Read more…

Changes to the way dividend income is taxed could drag people on lower incomes into self assessment and have implications for incorporation, tax experts have warned. Under current arrangements, basic rate taxpayers pay no tax on dividends received. Higher and additional rate taxpayers pay rates of 25 per cent and 30.55 per cent respectively on… Read more…

Almost two-third of landlords are considering raising rents as a result of summer Budget tax changes, research has found. In the summer Budget on 8 July, Chancellor George Osborne announced that mortgage interest relief for residential landlords would be restricted to the 20 per cent basic rate of income tax, phased in over four years… Read more…

Tax campaigners have raised concerns that safeguards for taxpayers from whose bank accounts HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) wishes to directly take money are not “watertight”. The Summer Finance Bill 2015, published on 15 July, includes measures to give HMRC the power to seize money directly from the bank and building society accounts of tax… Read more…

Budget Summary Two months on from the General Election result, the Chancellor of the Exchequer today delivered his second Budget of 2015. George Osborne will have known, as he stood up to address the Commons, that there was plenty riding on what came out of the famous red box. This was the first Conservative Budget… Read more…

Companies House has launched a new, free of charge search service of digital data held on the UK register of companies. The service provides access to more than 170 million records concerning companies and directors, including financial accounts, company filings and details of directors and company secretaries throughout the life of the company. Companies House… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has updated its guidance on how to keep VAT records. The guidance, issued on 22 June, replaces the edition published in December 2007. As well as correcting out of date information, the publication includes new guidance on issuing VAT simplified invoices by businesses other than retailers. Topics covered in the… Read more…