Inheritance tax take beats all records as property price hikes boost HMRC’s coffers by whopping £6.4bn March 21, 2023 The amount of inheritance tax (IHT) paid in February totalled £531m, bringing the total for the 2022/23 tax year to a record £6.4bn. With just one month to go the amount already surpassed the £6.1bn received by the Treasury throughout the entire 2021-22 financial year. The record-breaking inheritance tax take follows last week’s revision by [...]
Pension pain: Savers who bought lifetime allowance ‘protection’ warned they may still find their tax-free lump sum capped March 17, 2023 Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s decision to scrap the pension lifetime allowance (LTA) in Wednesday’s Spring Budget, was heralded as an incentive for wealthier employees over 50 to stay in the workforce. But some pensions experts say for those who took out a form of LTA protection may still have to watch they do not go over [...]
HMRC delays are hindering UK growth, accounting body warns February 8, 2023 Major hold ups at HMRC are “acting as a drag on the UK’s economic growth,” the head of one of Britain’s top accounting bodies has said. The “unacceptable” delays, caused by backlogs at the UK’s tax authority, “need to be addressed promptly,” ICAEW chief executive Michael Izza said, as he called for the launch of [...]
EY says it does not owe ‘duty of care’ to taxman in fight over property magnate’s tax affairs February 6, 2023 EY has said it is under no obligation to help HMRC collect more taxes in defending itself against a High Court lawsuit over a British property magnate’s tax affairs. The Big Four accounting firm said it owed no “duty of care” to HMRC to have given it information that could have helped it collect more [...]
‘No penalties for innocent tax errors’: Head of HMRC piles more pressure on Zahawi January 26, 2023 The boss of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has told MPs there are “no penalties for innocent errors”, as he was quizzed on the tax furore surrounding Nadhim Zahawi. HMRC chief executive Jim Harra, appearing before the Public Accounts Committee where he was due to discuss tax compliance and the pandemic, was pressed on some [...]
UK’s ‘science superpower’ dreams at risk due to HMRC crackdown on R&D tax relief fraud January 24, 2023 The UK’s goal to become a ‘science superpower’ is at risk as an increasing number of British firms move their R&D activity abroad, due in part to HMRC’s crackdown on fraudulent tax relief claims, a new report says. More than two-thirds (69 per cent) of UK businesses moved R&D activity abroad last year, figures from [...]
Inheritance tax: London property nets HMRC £820,000 in death duties on average, double other regions’ intake January 9, 2023 Property makes up half the wealth of estates in London paying inheritance tax (IHT) – around twice as much as most other regions, according to a retirement specialist. An HMRC Freedom of Information (FOI) request from retirement specialist Just Group revealed that in 2019-20, the latest financial year of available data, property accounted for 50 per cent [...]
Government to spend tens of millions more to crack down hard on tax fraud December 9, 2022 The Autumn Statement revealed that the government will spend an additional £79m to fight tax fraud in the next five years, as HMRC is promised greater resources to tackle the tax gap. This marks a 27 per cent increase on the £292m investment announced at last year’s Budget. Through the extra £79m, HMRC expects to raise an [...]
Fraud crackdown saves £400m for public purse, enough for 130k people’s healthcare December 6, 2022 The government’s fraud-fighting efforts have saved more than £400m, enough to cover 130,000 people’s healthcare. New figures released by the cabinet office show the cash was kept in the coffers thanks to new state-of-the-art data matching technology. The fraud clampdown comes after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in the Autumn statement, the UK would set aside [...]
Tax Tribunal backlog soars following HMRC crackdown on fraudulent umbrella companies December 4, 2022 The backlog of cases waiting to be heard in the UK’s tax tribunal has surged following an HMRC crackdown on fraudulent “umbrella companies”. The number of cases waiting to be heard in the First-Tier Tax Tribunal has increased 84 per cent over the previous year to heights of 46,000, according to UK government figures. The [...]