Debenhams outed for not paying nearly 12,000 workers the national minimum wage February 15, 2017 Department store Debenhams has been outed for not paying its workers the national minimum and living wage. According to the department for business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS), Debenhams underpaid 11,858 workers by £134,895 in total. Read more: Why the UK is falling out of love with fashion Debenhams said a payroll error has caused the problem and [...]
Pimlico Plumbers boss Charlie Mullins wants to help out with the government’s review of modern employment February 15, 2017 Pimlico Plumbers boss Charlie Mullins wants to get involved with the government's review of modern employment – after losing an appeal against a former worker last week. The plumbing boss has requested an "urgent" meeting with Matthew Taylor, Tony Blair's former adviser and head of the government review, in the wake of the Appeals Court ruling [...]
This trendy breed’s about to overtake Labradors as Britain’s most popular dog February 12, 2017 Bye-bye Andrex puppy, hello bat-eared Frenchie. The Labrador, long the country's favourite doggo, is about to be overtaken by a breed a little more on-trend and probably familiar to many a Londoner. The French bulldog has increased in popularity in recent years which many put down to the numerous celebrity owners of the pups (others might say [...]
This is our best chance to scrap the toxic American tax law that makes pariahs out of US citizens February 9, 2017 We have President Trump in our sights. Having this week officially launched the Washington DC-based Campaign to Repeal FATCA, we’re lobbying to have America’s toxic, imperialistic global tax law swept into the dustbin of history. I’ve been an outspoken critic of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) since it was rushed through Congress by [...]
Treasury Select Committee chair slams dodgy maths on costs of scrapping the yearly tax return February 9, 2017 The chair of the influential Treasury Select Committee today questioned the figures which have been produced so far for the cost to businesses of HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) Making Tax Digital project. The taxman's landmark initiative, which will see people update HMRC on their financial details throughout the year rather than filling out a [...]
Punish HMRC for arbitrarily bullying the victims of our complex tax code February 8, 2017 A good rule of thumb for a system or process: if you sat down and designed it from scratch, would it look like it does now? Ask that question of the tax system and the answer, of course, is a resounding “no”. It is a hideously complicated mess that punishes families and businesses, while destroying [...]
More than 90 per cent of European goods could clear customs within seconds after Brexit February 7, 2017 Customs clearance for European goods in the aftermath of Brexit could still take just seconds if the UK secures tariff-free trade with the continent, one of the UK's most senior customs officials has said. Addressing parliament's Treasury committee earlier today, an HMRC official said that while tariff-free trade with the EU would require customs declarations, the manner and [...]
HMRC brings in £5bn in revenue through fraud investigation February 6, 2017 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is cashing in on its new tax fraud unit, collecting in an additional £5bn in revenue through the service last year. The UK tax authority set up the Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) in 2015 to deal with serious tax probes. The team brought in £2.2bn from criminal investigations in 2016, and [...]
Replace 250,000 public sector jobs with robots, urges think tank Reform in radical workforce overhaul driven by technology February 5, 2017 Automating admin jobs could reduce the public sector workforce by more than a quarter of a million people saving the economy billions of pounds, a leading think tank has suggested. And adopting technology such as artificial intelligence, chatbots and drones, could radically overhaul the public sector and streamline Whitehall even further, according to a new report [...]
HMRC lays out plans to scrap yearly tax return and replace it with continuous online reporting January 31, 2017 The annual tax return will be a thing of the past by 2020, according to HMRC – potentially saving the taxman over £8bn per year. Under the government's proposals – part of its Making Tax Digital project – taxpayers will keep the Revenue updated online on a continuous basis, rather than filing a yearly return. [...]