An apparently counterintuitive judgement was handed down last month by the Upper Tier Tribunal as it ruled VAT should be applied to the strawberry and banana flavours of Nesquik milk powder, but not to the chocolate equivalent. The case arose after Nestlé, the manufacturer of the powders made a repayment claim to HM Revenue &… Read more…

New data from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) shows that businesses in London and the South East account for 66 per cent of the Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) uptake. Despite accounting for 62 per cent of the UK economy, businesses outside London and the South-East only account for £610 million out of nearly £1.9 billion… Read more…

New research from finance and banking trade body, UK Finance, has found that debit card transactions will overtake those made with cash this year. Meanwhile, ATM usage peaked several years ago, with more than 2.9 billion transactions taking place in 2012, falling to 2.7 billion in 2016, which amounted to £6 billion less than in… Read more…

The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, has asked the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) to undertake a review of the Inheritance Tax (IHT) system to ensure that it meets the needs of modern households. In a letter to the OTS, an independent branch of the Treasury, Mr Hammond said that the current system is “particularly complex” and… Read more…

The team at Salhan Accountants’ Chinese Bureau would like to wish you a Happy New Year and hope that 2018 brings a year of prosperity and good fortune. On 16 February, Chinese New Year marks the start of the year of the dog – the eleventh sign of the Chinese zodiac. Those born under this… Read more…

Former Conservative Treasury Minister, Lord Jim O’Neil has told the BBC that gloomy predictions for the post-Brexit UK economy are likely to be ‘dwarfed’ by global growth figures surpassing expectations. He said: “I certainly wouldn’t have thought the UK economy would be as robust as it currently seems. “That is because some parts of the… Read more…

A new report from think-tank, the Resolution Foundation, predicts that so-called ‘millennials’, those aged between 17 and 35, will receive the biggest inheritance of any post-war generation from their baby boomer parents and grandparents. The think-tank estimates that the average value of inheritances will more than double over the next two decades, peaking in 2035.… Read more…

A ban on passing on charges from credit card providers to consumers, which came into effect last month, is hitting small businesses in the pocket. Businesses are now faced with the option of either increasing prices for all customers to cover the charges or taking a hit to their own bottom lines. Before the ban… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has once again revealed the worst excuses that taxpayers have given them for failing to meet the 31 January Self-Assessment (SA) deadline. Whilst there are sometimes reasonable excuses for a late submission, such as a serious illness, disability or a serious mental health condition that makes a person incapable of… Read more…

The start of 2018 saw the somewhat unexpected collapse of one of the UK’s largest construction and contracting businesses, Carillion. Despite winning a number of new public sector bids, including a £1.4 billion contract for HS2, it was revealed in early January that the company would be going into compulsory liquidation. In the months prior… Read more…