A new report has found that a significant proportion of the UK’s Business Relief goes to those with more than £1 million in assets. Tax Justice UK, a campaigning organisation, has revealed that 234 wealthy families shared £458 million in tax relief in the 2015-16 year thanks to Inheritance Tax breaks via Business Relief. The… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is trialling a new trigger, which is intended to improve the accuracy of employees’ PAYE tax codes. According to HMRC, as many as half a million tax codes being used by employers across the UK could be incorrect, leading to employees either overpaying or underpaying tax. To address the problem,… Read more…

A new code has been launched by 17 UK banks to protect customers who fall victim to a sophisticated form of fraud known as Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams. APP scams involve tricking people into making payments to fraudsters, who are masquerading as legitimate payees. Victims of these scams who notify the banks signed up… Read more…

A rise over the course of the 2017-18 tax year saw funding for the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) tax reliefs pass the £2.1 billion mark. The EIS scheme saw the larger increase in approved funding, with an increase in funds raised of £28 million. In comparison, SEIS approved funding… Read more…

A new report published by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has revealed a worrying lack of awareness about the Inheritance Tax (IHT) benefits of making a gift. Its study found that only 25 per cent of those who had made a gift had a ‘working knowledge’… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has updated its VAT notice regarding Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT to relax several of the digital recordkeeping requirements. One of the changes, secured with the help of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIoT), relates to purchase invoices from suppliers. It has become apparent in sectors that receive a… Read more…

From April next year, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will rank third just after secured creditors, such as banks, and insolvency practitioners in order to recover additional outstanding tax from failing businesses. Currently, HMRC is ranked alongside unsecured creditors, such as suppliers, trade creditors, contractors and customers, who on average rarely recover more than four… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has warned businesses across the UK that the registration process for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT takes seven working days. This means that VAT-registered businesses turning over £85,000 or more need to register more than seven days before submitting a return if they want to pay their tax bill… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has published new guidance on the expansion of the IR35 requirements to contractors working in the private sector. IR35 governs the tax status of people working through personal service companies (PSCs) and until now required public sector employers to determine whether contractors working for them should be taxed as employees.… Read more…

The Chancellor’s Spring Statement contained an important nugget of information for businesses that had been wondering when they will need to be ready for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for taxes other than VAT. Until recently, the Government’s official line was that the rollout of the UK’s digital system would be confined to VAT until “April… Read more…