Suitors circle cash-strapped firm AssetCo June 13, 2011 STRUGGLING fire engine provider AssetCo confirmed it was talking to more than one potential buyer for the company yesterday. The struggling firm said it was discussing its sale with a number of parties and talks were at “a developed stage” but said there was no certainty of an offer being made. City A.M. understands that [...]
Southern Cross fights for rent cut June 12, 2011 SOUTHERN Cross will sit down with landlords this week in a bid to settle its financial position and stave off administration. The care homes provider, which has a market cap of just £9m after months of financial trouble, is expected to try and thrash out a deal to make its sale-and-lease-back burden manageable. Its landlords, [...]
Brits probed over Swiss bank assets June 5, 2011 THOUSANDS of HSBC customers with money in Swiss bank accounts are to be investigated by the taxman. The details of 7,000 British clients have been obtained by HM Revenue & Customs, after a whistleblower leaked the data. The accounts in question hold combined assets of about £13bn and could net HMRC millions of pounds in [...]
Drax bounces after it settles tax issues April 5, 2011 SHARES in Drax Group rose three per cent yesterday after the firm agreed a tax deal to release £180m for the business. Drax, which owns the Drax coal-fired power station in Yorkshire, has settled tax issues linked to its Eurobond financing and other “minor legacy tax issues”, the firm said in a statement. Around £117m [...]
Deutsche set to fight HMRC April 3, 2011 DEUTSCHE Bank has officially confirmed its intention to appeal a tribunal decision which ruled against a scheme it established to avoid taxes on bonuses. The January decision against the bank by Judge David Williams affects a £92m pay pot Deutsche set up in the Cayman Islands before rule changes made the arrangement illegal. A spokesman for [...]
TOP LIB DEMS CALL FOR NEW PROPERTY TAX March 28, 2011 THE two most powerful Lib Dems yesterday called for more tax to be levied on high-value homeowners to offset the scrapping of the 50p rate of tax. Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and business secretary Vince Cable both said those with expensive properties would be targeted when the 50p rate is eventually dropped but ruled [...]
A useful but schizophrenic package March 23, 2011 SOME of the early reaction yesterday was that this was a slightly boring, forgettable Budget. Nonsense. It was far-ranging: radical in parts, brilliant at times, occasionally awful, way too political and often quite surprising. It wasn’t quite the Budget for growth that George Osborne should have delivered: populism all too often got the better of [...]
Osborne targets £4bn from tax avoidance clampdown March 23, 2011 TAX avoiders skipping stamp duty on property purchases and tax on trusts funded by employers were targeted yesterday as the chancellor aims to recover £4bn in lost tax revenue. The chancellor is clamping down on house buyers’ use of sub-sale relief, alternative financing schemes and exchange of land rules to avoid paying stamp duty of [...]
Osborne puts the 50p top rate for high earners under review March 23, 2011 GEORGE Osborne yesterday confirmed that the 50p tax rate on high earners will stay in place for the time being, but reassured that it won’t exist for much longer. The chancellor said that he would consult HMRC to look at whether the high earner income tax was financially viable, or whether scrapping it would tempt [...]
It pays to know HMRC’s stance on trading gains March 20, 2011 ONE of the biggest draws of spread betting over traditional share dealing is the former’s tax status. Although the Treasury is currently searching under each and every rock and stone in the search for revenue, it is highly unlikely that spread betting will lose this position. Spread betting is tax free for the consumer in [...]