Pimlico Plumbers boss Charlie Mullins takes home £4.9m in dividends March 3, 2019 Plumbing millionaire Charlie Mullins bagged £4.9m in dividends from his Pimlico Plumbers business last year, according to new accounts. The figure includes £1.6m in post year end dividends. In addition to dividends, Mullins and his son Scott, took home a combined £711,512 in pay for their work as directors of the company, taking their income [...]
Claims against banks in Disney tax avoidance case could pass £1bn March 3, 2019 The total damages for banks being sued in relation to a tax scheme that purported to invest in Disney blockbusters could top £1bn, according to a lawyer acting for the claimants. HSBC and Bank of Ireland are being sued by a group of more than 700 investors in the Eclipse film financing scheme after the courts [...]
The future of news: could tax breaks make online news sustainable? March 3, 2019 Sarah Cartwright’s news kiosk is as much a fixture in Sloane Square as the high-end boutiques that have surrounded it since her grandfather began selling newspapers from a wooden box there in 1892. But the kiosk may do well to survive another decade, let alone a century. “Print is dead,” she says. The Cairncross Review [...]
Rise in scammers using landline phone calls to impersonate HMRC March 2, 2019 There has been an increase in the number of scammers using landline phone calls after a crackdown on con emails and mobile phone texts. HM Revenue and Customs received 60,000 reports of phone scams between July 2018 and January 2019, which is more than three times the amount received in the first-half of last year. Read more: Why [...]
Advertising outlook clouds picture at ITV March 1, 2019 | City Talk There's excitement over plans for BritBox, but advertising trends at ITV still make uneasy viewing. ITV (LSE:ITV) has a strategy which is delivering the required results, even though in the very near term the company's own outlook is more guarded. The inevitable culprit is Brexit, as advertisers become less willing to commit to an expensive, [...]
Business rate appeals dip as industry warns of ‘complicated’ process February 28, 2019 Frustrations over business rates were underlined this morning, with industry experts warning that new figures show the current process for appealing against property taxes is too complicated. Government data released today shows that there were roughly 65,000 appeals to dispute business rates between 1 April 2017, when a new system was introduced, and 31 December 2018, slumping [...]
With myths circulating around the impact of a no-deal Brexit, let’s look at the facts February 28, 2019 Brexit was sold to the country as a way of “taking back control”. But now that we are faced with the prospect of no deal, many businesses are fighting to stay in control. In fact, with a month to go until Brexit day, companies are so in despair over the government’s handling of the negotiations [...]
Tarsus exhibits promising signs as shares jump February 27, 2019 Exhibition and conferences operator Tarsus saw its share price jump more than 10 per cent this afternoon, as investors welcomed an expected rise in bookings over the year ahead. The London-listed group led the market risers today, as it struck a confident tone over the group’s bookings business for larger events such as the Dubai [...]
The EIS has cost the government £3bn in tax relief, so why has it become more generous? February 27, 2019 The enterprise investment scheme (EIS) celebrates its silver jubilee this year. Announced by the then chancellor Ken Clarke in the Autumn Budget in 1993, the scheme was launched at the beginning of 1994. The benefits of the EIS have remained generous – in fact, they’ve become more generous. Until April 2011, the up-front tax relief [...]
If you’re stuck on which tax-efficient investment scheme to go for, let’s weigh up your options February 27, 2019 At first glance, venture capital trusts (VCTs) and enterprise investment scheme (EIS) funds seem like peas in a pod. They are both government-backed tax wrappers, and they both let you invest in risky young companies. They also come with the same 30 per cent income tax perk, meaning that if you invested £10,000, you would [...]