Publish which firms get furlough cash, government told December 20, 2020 The government should publish a list of companies that have received furlough money to increase transparency around the scheme, amid fears of waste and fraud, parliament’s spending watchdog has said. The cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) also said that chancellor Rishi Sunak’s repeated extensions to the scheme at short notice caused uncertainty that could have [...]
Tide to introduce new business payroll service in 2021 December 17, 2020 Business fintech firm Tide has announced that is it to release its first payroll service via its banking app in early 2021. Tide Payroll will be HMRC compliant and will allow SMEs to conduct their payroll from within their Tide account with an all-in-one payroll service that will allow users to run payroll and pay [...]
Shock as government policy works! Why we need to keep the stamp duty holiday December 17, 2020 The stamp duty holiday is working — actually really, really well. So, of course, the government plans to reverse it shortly. Governments tax things either to raise money to spend, or to discourage you from doing them. Income tax and national insurance raise more than 40 per cent of all the annual £825bn tax revenue. [...]
RSM pays back £4.4m furlough cash December 16, 2020 Audit challenger firm RSM has repaid £4.4m to the government, having decided to do so in a board meeting earlier this month, City A.M can reveal. RSM’s board made the decision to repay the the money in full on 8 December. CEO Rob Donaldson said the firm did not see the decision as an opportunity [...]
FTSE100 company disputes could cost £13.8bn December 14, 2020 Tax disputes with tax authorities globally could cost FTSE100 companies £13.8bn, research by Thomson Reuters shows. This figure Includes £11.7bn in extra tax related to disputes that the companies believe they will ultimately win, however, the FTSE100 set aside £2.1bn to cover the costs of these disputes last year. In total FTSE100 companies were involved [...]
Accountants BDO to pay back millions in furlough cash after payout outcry December 13, 2020 Accountants BDO will return £4.1m in furlough cash after being subject to a barrage of criticism for paying out hefty profits to its partners. The Sunday Times reported that the company, which is one of the UK’s biggest accounting firms, would give back the money after paying its partners an average of £500,000. Managing partner [...]
Reed chair’s fear of ‘tsunami of job losses’ turns to a bullish call rejecting a UK double-dip recession December 9, 2020 The founder and chairman of recruitment company and jobs giant Reed, James Reed has done a screeching U-turn on his outlook for the UK economy and jobs market.
Exclusive: Government offshoring customs jobs to prep UK firms for Brexit December 3, 2020 A government grant programme is paying for overseas workers to help British logistics firms prepare for Brexit. A loophole in the HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) £50m grant programme means taxpayer funds can be given to train overseas workers as long as their company has a UK base. The Customs Grants Scheme, which is being [...]
Nicola Sturgeon is no Mother Christmas December 3, 2020 If there is one political certainty I would bet my house on, it’s that when politicians are in serious trouble they will suddenly make a major announcement to push the damaging story off the news agenda. There is no better exponent of this trait than the media operation of Nicola Sturgeon and her Scottish government, [...]
Tokenisation of shares in a company; what is it really? December 1, 2020 We hear about tokenisation of shares regularly. But what does it actually mean? To answer the question we must confront the fact that English company law did not anticipate developments in technology. Considering tokenisation in practice requires an analysis of how the characteristics of ‘tokenised’ shares relate to the particular requirements of English company law. [...]