HMRC collects just £780m from supposed £3bn Swiss tax deal October 28, 2013 THE TAXMAN has raised just £780m this year from a raid on Swiss bank accounts that was supposed to bring in £3.1bn, it was revealed yesterday. Officials from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) told the public accounts select committee it has collected a quarter of the amount expected to be raised by targeting Britons who avoid tax by hiding their [...]
Research shows huge gulf in UK jobs estimates October 22, 2013 THREE well-established surveys of the UK’s job market suggest that official figures may be overestimating UK employment by over a million jobs, according to research released by Markit last night. The huge divergence between estimates made by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and a number of other sources has opened up since 2010. The gauges [...]
Alliance Boots insists its tax arrangements are within law October 14, 2013 HEALTHCARE giant Alliance Boots today said that an attack on its tax arrangements is “extraordinary and disappointing”, insisting it complies fully and openly with local tax laws. A group of trade unions and anti-poverty charity War on Want have today issued a report claiming that Alliance Boots has avoided at least £1.1bn of tax since [...]
Top 1 per cent of income taxpayers are bailing out the Treasury October 9, 2013 THERE is no better snapshot of modern Britain than the regular updates from HMRC on the taxes we pay and the income we earn. The latest batch doesn’t disappoint. There will be just 29.3m income taxpayers in 2013-14, 2m lower than in 2010-11 as a result of the increase in the personal allowance. There will [...]
British tobacco firms avoid tax by oversupplying EU countries October 9, 2013 BRITISH tobacco companies are avoiding millions of pounds in tax by massively oversupplying some EU countries with hand-rolling tobacco and then turning a blind eye when it is reimported, according to a report released today by MPs. The public accounts select committee said customs officials must do more to combat duty evasion, with the supply [...]
Accountants call for tax amnesty to raise £17bn for state coffers October 8, 2013 CRACKDOWNS on tax evaders are not working and should be replaced with an amnesty, accountancy firm Crowe Clark Whitehill (CCW) argues in a new report out today. The group estimates more than £17bn is lost to the taxman each year, £12.95bn from accidental or careless evasion and £4.89bn through deliberate evasion. It argues an amnesty [...]
Mortgage deals strike a four year high in August September 24, 2013 THE SURGING housing market has pushed mortgage lending to a four-year peak, according to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), while lending to businesses remains anaemic. The BBA said that last month its members approved 38,228 mortgages, an increase of just over 25 per cent from the same month last year, highlighting the recent boost to activity [...]
Partnerships to face a Treasury tax crackdown September 16, 2013 DANNY Alexander will today announce plans to close tax loopholes used by many partnerships, in a move aides said is targeted at Britain’s top accountancy firms. The Treasury secretary will also tell the Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow that he will stop private equity businesses abusing complex tax laws to pay tax at the 20p [...]
Hargreaves Lansdown’s HMRC tax showdown September 9, 2013 FTSE 100 fund platform Hargreaves Lansdown laid down the gauntlet to tax collectors yesterday after launching a legal challenge on the taxation of fund cash back rebates. The Bristol-based firm, currently one of the country’s best performing companies, said it will challenge a discount tax introduced by HMRC on payments made to its customers. [...]
Q and A: HMRC vs Hargreaves Lansdown on tax September 9, 2013 Q Discount tax? What on earth is that? A It’s a tax on the money you get back from the funds you invest in. When you put your savings into a investment fund, it normally pays you back some of your money in a rebate. There’s about 1,000 funds around which pay a rebate. But [...]