HMRC has warned taxpayers completing their 2020/21 tax returns to ‘be on their guard’ and stay vigilant in regard to tax-related scams. Nearly 800,000 tax scams were reported in the last year, HMRC revealed. It said that fraudsters use self assessment to attempt to steal money or personal information from taxpayers. In the last year,… Read more…

New rules to help protect pension savers from scammers have become law. Under the regulations, pension trustees and scheme managers will be given the power to stop suspicious transfers before cash gets into the hands of fraudsters. Fraudsters frequently offer ‘too good to be true’ incentives to pension savers, such as free pension reviews, early… Read more…

Optimism improved for firms across the services sector in the three months to November, according to the latest Service Sector Survey from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). However, cost growth continued to pick up, increasing at the fastest pace since survey records began in 1998. Additionally, business volumes continued to grow at a strong… Read more…

New company car advisory fuel rates have been published and took effect from 1 December 2021. The guidance states: ‘you can use the previous rates for up to one month from the date the new rates apply’. The rates only apply to employees using a company car. The advisory fuel rates for journeys undertaken on or… Read more…

A report published by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has revealed that the costs associated with going green have impacted small firms’ plans for becoming more sustainable. The FSB’s report found that the majority of UK small firms are concerned about climate change but just one in three has plans in place to combat… Read more…

For many years, investing within the stock market was seen as a reservation of bankers and the super-rich. However, thanks to smartphones and apps, there has been a real democratisation of investment. Many people are realising that you don’t need a large amount of money to enter the stock market and therefore, pretty much anyone… Read more…

Homeowners in England and Wales will be offered subsidies of £5,000 from next April to help them to replace old gas boilers with low carbon heat pumps. The grants are part of the government’s £3.9 billion plan to reduce carbon emissions caused by heating homes and other buildings. It is hoped no new gas boilers… Read more…

A single person will need post-tax annual income of £10,900 for a minimum standard of living in retirement, according to the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA). The minimum retirement living standard is based on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Minimum Income Standard and covers a typical retiree’s basic needs plus enough for some social activities,… Read more…

Businesses that are planning to operate in the UK’s new freeports can now apply to HMRC. The tax authority has published the application forms to operate special customs procedures within the sites, along with further guidance on procedures for declaring goods moving into and out of sites. Freeports are areas that benefit from a range… Read more…

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has warned that tax rises could threaten the UK’s ongoing recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the FSB, small businesses are coming up against ‘unprecedented strain’, with the cost of doing business higher than ever. Small businesses are also being affected by disruption to supply chains and increasing… Read more…