The government has published draft legislation introducing new measures to help smaller businesses source the finance they need. The legislation, which forms part of the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Bill, will introduce a requirement that banks turning down small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for loans must offer to share their details with government-designated platforms… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is warning taxpayers to be on their guard against fraudulent phishing emails. A total of 74,743 scam emails were reported to HMRC’s dedicated phishing email account between April and September, a 70 per cent increase on the same period in 2013. Over the same period, HMRC worked with other agencies… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has updated its advisory fuel rates, applying to all journeys on or after 1 September 2014. HMRC-approved advisory fuel rates apply where employers reimburse employees for business travel in their company cars, and where employees reimburse the cost of fuel used for private travel in a company car. There is… Read more…

New guidance has been published to help employers support employees following bereavement. Workplace expert Acas, which published the guide on 17 September, said that research had found that a third of employees who had suffered bereavement in the past five years felt they had not been treated with compassion by their employer. Acas’ new guide… Read more…

An estimated 11,000 UK medium-sized businesses could benefit to the tune of £8 million a year as a result of planned changes to accounting rules. The measures, which would bring the EU’s new Accounting Directive into UK law, would allow companies to prepare and file simpler, less detailed accounts with Companies House. These documents currently… Read more…

Hundreds of thousands of small businesses have been urged to check when they need to meet their new workplace pensions duties. The call from the Pensions Regulator, the UK regulator of work-based pension schemes, follows research published on 24 September revealing that 19 per cent of small employers (employing between five and 29 people) and… Read more…

Thousands of UK businesses supplying digital services across the European Union (EU) will be able to register for a new online VAT service from 20 October. Signing up to the VAT Mini One Stop Shop (VAT MOSS) means they will not have to register for VAT separately in each EU member state where they do… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has announced that the introduction of automatic penalties for late real time information (RTI) submissions will be put back for smaller employers. Automatic penalties were due to start for all employers from 6 October 2014 but on 9 September, HMRC said that employers with fewer than 50 employees would not… Read more…

Millions of taxpayers will receive a new personal tax summary from October 2014. The tax summary will show 24 million people how their personal income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs) have been calculated for the previous tax year and give an indication of how their taxes have been spent by the government. The summary… Read more…

People could face criminal prosecution if they fail to declare and pay offshore tax liabilities. A new criminal offence of failing to declare taxable offshore income and gains has been set out in an HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) consultation paper published on 19 August. The consultation seeks views on the design of the new… Read more…