Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland in firing line in Australian rate rigging case brought in the US August 18, 2016 Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland are all in legal hot water after a case was filed in the US against a slew of banks on allegations they rigged a key Australian benchmark rate. The US lawsuit claims the lenders manipulated the bank bill swap rate (BBSW), a benchmark used mainly in Australian [...]
Experts fight back against government’s tax avoidance proposals August 17, 2016 Accountants and lawyers have today pushed back against new tax avoidance proposals from the Treasury, arguing they risk punishing people for merely trying to do right by their clients. Earlier today, the Treasury laid out plans which would penalise advisers for offering information on how to sidestep tax, while a consultation run by HM Revenue [...]
Why spreadsheet skills alone won’t make the finance chiefs of the future August 17, 2016 For those looking to climb to the top of the finance career ladder, a good command of pivot tables on its own is no longer going to cut it, research out today shows. A survey of more than 500 finance directors, chief finance officers and senior partners by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England [...]
Ex-Barclays trio in bid to appeal their Libor convictions August 15, 2016 Former Barclays bankers Jonathan Mathew, Alex Pabon and Jay Merchant have applied to appeal their convictions for Libor-rigging offences, which were handed down last month. City A.M. can reveal that applications have been lodged on behalf of the three men, who were found guilty of one charge each of conspiracy to defraud on grounds they conspired to [...]
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) scraps quarterly updates for 1.3m small businesses, and takes next step in plans to make tax digital August 15, 2016 The taxman has this morning confirmed it is no longer planning to have the smallest businesses report back quarterly on their tax affairs. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) announced 1.3m unincorporated businesses and landlords with turnover less than £10,000 would be able to use the digital services it’s currently rolling out without having to either [...]
Can we get a witness? Ed Sheeran facing copyright suit over Marvin Gaye classic August 10, 2016 Ed Sheeran has been hit with a copyright suit in the US over claims his smash hit Thinking Out Loud rips off the Marvin Gaye classic Let's Get It On. The suit has been brought by descendants of the late Ed Townsend, who wrote the 1973 hit with Gaye and held the copyright. The lawsuit, filed yesterday US federal court [...]
Harry Potter star fails to conjure up a win in tax case August 10, 2016 One of the stars of the Harry Potter movies has discovered magic is no match for the taxman, after losing his case at a tribunal. Rupert Grint had attempted to include two tax accounting periods in his filings for tax year 2009-10, which would have prevented a proportion of his income from being taxed at the [...]
Former Deloitte chief and private equity house plot challenger to big four accountancy firms August 9, 2016 A former Deloitte executive is teaming up with a private equity house to launch a challenger to the big four accountancy firms. John Connolly, who was chief executive of Deloitte UK, is said to be plotting a string of acquisitions to take on his former employer along with EY, PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG. He is working on [...]
Barclays to fork out another $100m in the US over Libor-rigging scandal August 8, 2016 Banking giant Barclays is pay out a further $100m (£76.7m) for its role in the Libor-rigging scandal. The settlement covers 44 US states for Barclays Bank PLC and Barclays Capital Inc, it was revealed in a statement from the New York Attorney General's office. Other states included in the settlement include California, Florida and Washington. "There has to [...]
That’s a wrap: Taxman wins big on film tax case August 7, 2016 HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) had reason to celebrate late last week, when it won two tax avoidance scraps worth more than £820m combined in tax owed and interest. HMRC announced on Friday it had successfully argued a scheme by Ingenious Film Partnership had attempted to use artificial losses generated from investments in blockbusters, including Avatar, Life of Pi and [...]