How much does tax really affect your decision making? January 22, 2025 From VAT on school fees to business taxes, we’re living through a live experiment with the effects of tax on people’s choices. Evidence suggests the results could be far from clear-cut, says Tim Sarson Last week, I was lucky enough to be on the panel for the Women in Tax network’s annual debate. The question [...]
Bleak midwinter for the economy? It could be worse… December 19, 2024 The political and economy outlook for the UK may seem gloomy, but spare a thought for our European counterparts, says Tim Sarson It’s the last working week of 2024 for many of us. I’ll be switching off the laptop on Friday afternoon and packing up for what I hope is a restful Christmas break, give [...]
What Trump 2.0 means for the tax bills of UK businesses November 20, 2024 Tariffs, investment and deglobalisation: KPMG tax expert Tim Sarson takes us through what Trump's second presidency means for UK businesses.
Halloween Budget could still give businesses a fright in the night October 31, 2024 The Budget was not as shocking as some were expecting, but a few things could still go bump in the night, says Tim Sarson Today saw the delivery of one of the most hotly anticipated Budgets in living memory. After 14 years in opposition and an election manifesto with relatively muted tax rises, it must [...]
Can the government tax its way to a building boom? October 26, 2024 Labour have big plans for house building and infrastructure so what can we expect on property taxes in the Budget? Tim Sarson has the answers Cut through the post-election chatter about black holes and freebies and there is one theme that keeps coming up as a top political priority. Building things. I can’t remember a [...]
This Budget looks set to be more car park than roadmap October 23, 2024 You have probably read at least two dozen columns speculating on where those tax rises of doom are going to land in next week’s budget, so I’m not sure there is much more to say on the big topics of contention. We’ll find out soon enough whether employers’ National insurance (NI) really will go up, [...]
Take it from a tax expert, we are all too obsessed with Reeves’s Budget September 25, 2024 Reeves' Budget has become the talk of the town, but even KPMG tax expert Tim Sarson thinks we should calm down about it
Make tax boring again! June 18, 2024 There’s a smooth inverse correlation between how likely a party is to become the next government and the radicalism of its manifesto tax plans, says Tim Sarson “I suppose I ought to write something about tax in the manifestos,” I thought to myself. It would be odd not to in the week directly after the [...]
Tax rises are coming and these are the ones to look out for May 21, 2024 Unless the next government rips up the fiscal rules it’s going to have to raise taxes, so it pays to think about where the extra money might actually come from, says Tim Sarson Last September I wrote about how our Government and its peers around the world are running out of money as they face [...]
How to close the tax gap April 16, 2024 Politicians love to talk about the tax gap as a pain-free revenue-raiser, but there is a genuine difference between tax owed and what’s collected, mostly because the system is far too complicated, says Tim Sarson Last week the Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves summoned up an old favourite of British fiscal administration: the tax gap. Labour [...]
