Family businesses on brink after inheritance tax crackdown November 19, 2025 The damage wrought by the Chancellor’s inheritance tax crackdown on family firms has been laid bare by fresh research that found over a third are on the brink of closure before the end of the parliament. A poll of family business owners found nearly two thirds of the UK’s 4.8m family businesses are worried about [...]
Autumn Budget: BrewDog boss issues £1bn warning to Rachel Reeves November 19, 2025 The hospitality sector needs to sell almost one million extra pints every hour in order to cope with a £1bn cost surge thanks to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ tax hikes, the chief executive of BrewDog has warned. James Taylor, who took on the job earlier this year, said Reeves needs to take ‘meaningful action’ because of [...]
Nigel Farage: VAT threshold should be raised November 10, 2025 Reform UK’s Nigel Farage has hit out at suggestions that the VAT threshold for businesses should be lowered from its £90,000 threshold. Reports have suggested that Chancellor Rachel Reeves could lower the threshold at which businesses must be registered for VAT to £30,000 in a phased approach, a policy backed by several think tank wonks [...]
Top court sides with HMRC as NHS hospitals liable for VAT on parking fees October 29, 2025 HMRC brought a case against a branch of NHS hospitals to the Supreme Court over whether VAT should have been charged on hospital car parking fees, and they’ve succeeded. Today marks the end of a five-year legal battle through each court stage over VAT on parking tickets used by patients, visitors, and hospital staff at [...]
Autumn Budget: Reeves must avoid tax encore for retail, HMV boss warns October 29, 2025 Ahead of the Autumn Budget, City Reporter Samuel Norman sits down with top industry names for a Budget Briefing. This week, chief executive of HMV joins a chorus of warnings to give the retail sector some reprieve. As high street music retailer HMV breezes into the all-important golden quarter, boss Phillip Halliday is eyeing a chart-topper [...]
Sweet relief: Ferrero’s Nutella biscuits remain VAT-free snack October 28, 2025 A Tax Tribunal ruled in favour of Ferrero UK, stating that their ‘Nutella Biscuits’ are zero-rated for VAT, in yet another food battle HMRC has had over the bizarre tax rules around food. The case centred on whether the ‘Nutella Biscuits’ were “biscuits… partly covered with chocolate or some product similar in taste and appearance” [...]
Inflation stays hot as UK’s economic woes deepen October 22, 2025 Inflation in the year to September remained sticky, new figures have shown, in further evidence that the UK’s economic woes have deepened and hit Brits harder than those in other countries. September was the third consecutive month that inflation hit 3.8 per cent, nearly double the Bank of England’s two per cent target. It came [...]
Calls for Reeves to scrap customs ‘loophole’ used by Shein in budget October 21, 2025 Retailers would benefit if the UK scrapped or reduced import relief for low-value goods in the upcoming budget, according to experts. There has been much speculation that the Chancellor will scrap the low-value import VAT relief that lets goods under £135 enter the UK duty-free (parcels above that value can incur customs duties of up [...]
Which taxes will be raised in the Budget? October 16, 2025 The UK Chancellor has now received the first forecast from the OBR. There will be two more“pre-measures” rounds before the crunch moment on 10 November when the OBR deliverto the Treasury the first “post-measure” forecast. That’s the point where Reeves will havehad to make some decisions on what might actually end up in the Budget [...]
Rachel Reeves: Higher taxes on wealthy ‘part of story’ for Budget October 16, 2025 Rachel Reeves has confirmed a tax grab on the UK’s wealthy will be “part of the story” for her forthcoming Autumn Budget as she dismissed critics who fear an exodus from the nation’s richest. The Chancellor has faced rallying calls to launch a cash grab on the wealthy as she looks to strum up funds [...]