Institute of Directors calls for tax overhaul to help startups soar October 20, 2016 Complications in the tax system are a blocker for startup firms to take on more staff and pitch bigger contracts, a new report has found. Research from the Institute for Directors (IoD), Prelude Group and Grant Thornton calls for an overhaul of the system to make it simpler, including recommendations to merge income tax and [...]
Supreme Court rules HMRC conversation with The Times was ‘a matter of serious concern’ October 19, 2016 The Supreme Court has today ruled that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) breached confidence when it hosted an off the record discussion with journalists about a scheme a taxpayer was using. David Hartnett, then permanent secretary for tax at HMRC, told two journalists from The Times in 2012 that he was not a fan of film [...]
The EU’s maddening, opaque, confusing and illogical import tariffs must be scrapped October 18, 2016 As you sit down to read City A.M. today over a perfectly smooth coffee from one of London’s ubiquitous coffee shops, you’re probably well aware that we don’t grow coffee in this country, never will and don’t care either. So why does coffee need seven different types of import tariffs set by the EU? Today we [...]
Would the chancellor just damage the incentive to save if he tinkers with pension tax relief at the Autumn Statement? October 12, 2016 Steve Webb, director of policy at Royal London and former pensions minister, says Yes. Some things in life are about more than the short term, and pensions planning is surely one of those things. But how can individuals, employers and the pensions industry plan for the future when the rules are changed on an almost annual [...]
Pensions lifetime allowance: Savings over £1m face a tax charge of up to 55 per cent, but if your employer is paying into a scheme for you, take the hit October 12, 2016 More than 90,000 UK savers have stopped putting money into their pension since 2012 for fear of incurring tax charges, it emerged this weekend, following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by former pensions minister Steve Webb, now director of policy at Royal London. The pensions lifetime allowance (LTA) limits the amount any individual can [...]
The number of millionaires increases by a quarter every three years but the nil-rate inheritance tax band remains static until 2021 October 4, 2016 The number of UK millionaires is growing at such a rate that Britain is on track to have nearly half a million of them by the end of the year. Analysis of HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) UK Personal Wealth Statistics indicates that the number of millionaires is growing by over a quarter every three years and may [...]
Sports Direct was selling Louboutin heels online this weekend – but they’ve been taken off the website October 4, 2016 Budget sports retailer Sports Direct moved into uncharted territory this weekend as it started selling Christian Louboutin heels. Sports Direct is known for its discount tracksuits and, most recently, for not paying its workers the minimum wage. Read more: Sports Direct shares jump as Mike Ashley takes control But now it appears the company wants to [...]
Make Budgets mean Budgets again: We need far better tax policy-making October 3, 2016 At lunchtime today, Philip Hammond will stand up in Birmingham and make his first major speech as chancellor. He will be aiming to reassure audiences that the government will manage the economic consequences of Brexit – and will give the first indications of his approach. The Institute for Government, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and [...]
London swells the taxman’s coffers by paying almost half the country’s levy on home purchases September 30, 2016 The government collected £3.4bn of stamp duty from the London's homebuyers according to statistics released today. The number represented 46 per cent of the total amount of stamp duty paid in the UK over the last year. And together with the rest of the south-east, together the two areas accounted for more than two-thirds of the [...]
Taxman increases number of raids on premises by over a quarter September 26, 2016 More and more businesses could be expecting a rather abrupt visit from the taxman, as figures out today has found the number of raids carried out by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has shot up over the last year. The research found that HMRC searched 761 properties as part of its criminal investigations over the course of the [...]