Criminal gangs steal £2bn through furlough fraud October 23, 2020 Criminal gangs have scooped up almost £2bn of government cash intended for furloughed workers, according to official tax estimates. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) said that between 5 and 10 per cent of the £39bn sum handed out by chancellor Rishi Sunak to support workers during the pandemic had been claimed fraudulently. A report published [...]
Covid is an opportunity to scrap business rates altogether October 16, 2020 No business can rightly complain about paying a reasonable amount of tax on profits it earns. Taxes on turnover, such as VAT and stamp duty, are less justifiable, as they are a tax on transactions. In these straitened times such taxes should be cut. But by far the worst kind of tax is property tax, [...]
Amazon to escape UK tech tax as global crackdown falters October 14, 2020 Amazon is facing fresh scrutiny over its tax liabilities after it emerged the tech giant will not be affected by the government’s landmark digital services tax. In April ministers unveiled the new tax — which charges a two per cent levy on the revenue of internet companies — saying it would ensure companies contribute their [...]
Think tanks warn Sunak not to hurt UK’s ‘tax competitiveness’ October 14, 2020 Free-market think tanks have warned the government not to raise taxes on companies and dividends to try to mend the hole in the public finances, arguing that it would be an act of “self-sabotage”. The UK budget deficit is set to hit £350bn this year, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank said yesterday. [...]
UK taxes could rise by more than £40bn, says IFS October 13, 2020 The UK is set for years of higher debt and taxes as it recovers from the dual hit of the pandemic and Brexit, according to a leading think tank. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) published its annual Green Budget in association with investment bank Citi today, and warned that taxes will have to rise [...]
Collapse of global digital tax talks could cost $100bn, OECD warns October 12, 2020 The global economy could shed more than one per cent of output if international talks to rewrite cross-border tax rules break down and trigger trade wards, the OECD warned today. Nearly 140 countries agreed last week to extend talks on the first major rewriting of cross-border tax rules in a generation to mid-2021 after the [...]
EU removes Cayman Islands from ‘tax haven’ blacklist October 6, 2020 EU finance ministers have today removed the Cayman Islands from its ‘tax haven’ blacklist. The list was set up in the aftermath of media reports of complex tax schemes in 2017. The Caymans, a British oversea territory, was added in February this year. Oman was also removed from the list, with Barbados and Anguilla added [...]
Small business would suffer from a capital gains tax hike – not just investors September 28, 2020 Capital gains tax (CGT) increases were reported to be in the chancellor’s sights before the Autumn Budget was cancelled to allow Rishi Sunak to focus on his winter economic plans. However any changes to CGT down the line could discourage small business investment just when it is needed most, says Claire Madden. Has there ever been a [...]
How mid-market businesses can keep on top of their evolving VAT obligations September 24, 2020 | City Talk In this article, I ask my VAT colleague, Mitchell Piper, for his views on how businesses can keep up to date with VAT changes. Value Added Tax (VAT), like all taxes, evolves over time to adapt to changes in society, technology and business practices. Good examples of this are the recent VAT rate reductions in [...]
The digital services tax is targeting the wrong companies September 21, 2020 Cost-pass-through is a well-established economic theory. It describes what happens when a business changes the price of the products or services it sells following a change in the cost of producing them – be that an increase in procurement or production costs, increased demand, or a tax hike. When the government announced its ban on [...]