Documents published online have revealed HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) plans to secretly access bank account information. The panned new powers come in the form of information orders, which are used by the Revenue to determine that taxpayers are paying the correct amounts of Income Tax, Corporation Tax, Capital Gains Tax and VAT. Banks, building… Read more…

Figures released by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) show that the UK’s tax gap – the difference between tax owed and actual receipts – is continuing to fall. The Revenue has revealed that the tax gap for the 2016-17 tax year was 5.7 per cent, down from six per cent in the previous year and… Read more…

A survey has revealed strong support from the UK’s small business community for measures to simplify business rates. A total of 71 per cent of the small businesses questioned said business rates should be simpler and have a greater degree of flexibility. Meanwhile, 49 per cent of SMEs said the Government is doing too little… Read more…

The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has called on the Treasury to resist pressure to reduce the VAT threshold from its current £85,000 until after the implementation of Making Tax Digital (MTD) and Brexit. The call came after the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) urged the Treasury… Read more…

The TUC has launched a new campaign calling on the Government to extend paternity pay to more workers, after discovering that a quarter of fathers may be missing out. It found that of the 620,000 new working dads last year, more than 140,000 did not qualify for paternity pay, which provides up to two weeks’… Read more…

According to a new study, Making Tax Digital (MTD) is currently one of the biggest concerns for VAT-registered small business owners. The research, prepared by Intuit QuickBooks, found that more than three-quarters of SME owners found the legislation challenging and difficult to understand. It also reveals that 70 per cent were struggling to find the… Read more…

Those working in the construction and building industry are being encouraged to get to grips with a new way of accounting for VAT. Draft legislation, subject to consultation until 20 July, provides that from 1 October 2019 builders, contractors and other trades associated with the construction industry will have to change the way they invoice… Read more…

With the issue of intergenerational fairness continuing to be high on the agenda, a thinktank has suggested that the Treasury returns to the drawing board when it comes to taxing bequests and inheritances. Instead of Inheritance Tax (IHT), the Resolution Foundation has floated the idea of a ‘lifetime receipts tax’, which would give individuals a… Read more…

The average amount contributed by parents towards home purchases has fallen by 17 per cent over the last year, according to Legal & General (L&G). While buyers who received assistance from their parents in 2017 enjoyed an average contribution of £21,600, those receiving assistance this year can expect an average contribution of £18,000. This equates… Read more…

Businesses and individuals are being encouraged to redouble their vigilance as fraudsters fake security measures in order to gain the information needed to access and drain bank accounts of funds. In one instance, an academic received a call that was supposedly from her bank saying that her account had been frozen owing to unusual transfers.… Read more…