The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has urged Chancellor Rishi Sunak to use the forthcoming Budget to raise taxes. The think tank stated that the Chancellor either needs to raise taxes or ‘break a fiscal rule’ in order to avoid day-to-day spending cuts beyond 2021. However, the Conservative Party’s election manifesto promised not to raise… Read more…

The government has confirmed that reforms to off-payroll working rules for the private sector will go ahead from 6 April 2020. The off-payroll rules have applied to the public sector since 2017 and the government has carried out a review of the roll-out to the private sector. The review has now concluded, and the changes… Read more…

The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has announced that employees will be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from day one when self-isolating rather than having to wait until day four under the SSP waiting days rules. The change will be included in a package of measures, to be introduced by emergency legislation, to deal with… Read more…

The government has confirmed that parents who suffer the loss of a child will be entitled to two weeks’ statutory leave. Under the new entitlement working parents who lose a child under the age of 18 will get two weeks’ statutory leave and where they meet the necessary conditions a legal right to two weeks’… Read more…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed it will introduce new rules in April this year that it says will make the costs of overdrafts clearer and easier to compare. The rules will mean banks can only charge for overdraft users a simple annual interest rate – without additional fees and charges. According to the… Read more…

Employees are allowed to claim tax relief on their annual professional fees or subscriptions to some HMRC approved professional organisations. The costs are tax deductible generally where the individual must have membership to do their job or it is helpful for their work. Where the fees are paid by the individual’s employer this will not… Read more…

HMRC has now published draft secondary legislation for the off-payroll working rules that are due to come into force in April this year. In 2017, HMRC introduced new off-payroll rules to the public sector, which saw some contractors’ net income cut significantly. HMRC also shifted the responsibility for compliance from individual contractors to public bodies… Read more…

Vengeful witches and pet hamsters feature in HMRC’s list of imaginative excuses and expense claims, which has been published in the run up to the self assessment deadline. HMRC has compiled a list of the weirdest unsuccessful excuses from the last decade. The list includes one taxpayer who claimed their mother-in law was a witch… Read more…

Chancellor Sajid Javid has announced that he will deliver the 2020 Budget on Wednesday 11 March 2020. The 2020 Budget will be the first to be delivered after the UK’s departure from the EU on 31 January 2020. It is also Mr Javid’s first Budget as Chancellor, following the cancellation of last November’s planned Budget… Read more…

Minister for Public Finance and Digital Economy, Kate Forbes, delivered the 2020/21 Scottish Draft Budget on Thursday 6 February 2020, setting out the Scottish Government’s financial and tax plans. The current Scottish income tax rates and bands for 2019/20 and the proposed rates and bands for 2020/21 on non-savings and non-dividend income are as follows:… Read more…