Our tax system is not as bad as we think – but it won’t be our magic bullet for growth May 16, 2023 Our taxes are not attracting nor repelling many businesses; they sit somewhere in the middle. It's not that bad, but we shouldn't rely on our tax system to boost our economy any time soon, writes Tim Sarson
Protect your business should the worst happen May 15, 2023 Since the retreat of the Covid-19 pandemic and the winding down of the government furlough scheme, HMRC has secured funding in order to focus on setting prosecution targets in relation to both on- and off-shore activity. With record numbers of criminal tax investigations, and prosecutions being brought, it is prudent to ensure your business has appropriate access [...]
Calls for a social tariff obscure wider energy issues May 15, 2023 Energy bills will finally fall this summer after nearly 18 months of sustained hikes, softening a painful cost of living squeeze for millions of Brits. This year’s drop in wholesale gas prices on the spot market, thanks to Europe’s successful scramble for supplies last winter and China’s flagging economic growth, will soon be reflected in [...]
Mark Kleinman: Vodafone’s CEO call, audit watchdog delays and a wave of insolvencies May 4, 2023 It's the column that gets the Square Mile talking, from the man who talks to everybody - Sky News' Mark Kleinman
Westminster council boss vows to crack down on illicit American candy stores May 3, 2023 The boss of Westminster City Council has called for “greater transparency” about who operates in the city as it looks to crack down on the business owners behind illicit American Candy stores which litter Oxford Street, with the chief urging for more progress from central government to tackle the issue. Cllr Adam Hug told members [...]
Covid cash lost to fraud down by third because we’re ‘going after everybody’, Sunak claims May 3, 2023 Government cash lost to fraud and error via Covid-19 business and jobs support schemes has been reduced by a third thanks to “hundreds of criminal investigations”, Rishi Sunak has claimed. The prime minister defended the pandemic business loans and job support and vowed his government was “going after everybody” in a bid to reclaim the [...]
HMRC tax-dodging prosecutions drop – and it has no plans to change that May 3, 2023 HMRC is prosecuting far fewer people for tax dodging than before the pandemic, an influential committee of MPs has warned. Over the two pandemic years, the tax authority completed around 1,000 fewer prosecutions for tax-related offences than before the pandemic, a report by the influential Public Accounts Committee found. In 2020–21 and 2021–22, it concluded [...]
Property: Has spring sprung? Mini budget ripple blamed for keeping a lid on monthly sales April 28, 2023 UK residential transactions in March 2023 totalled 89,560 which was 19 per cent lower than the same month a year ago but 1 per cent higher than February 2023, according to HMRC. The seasonally adjusted figures also show the total of non-residential property purchases, including commercial and factory property was 10,640, three per cent higher than [...]
Tech companies may try to dodge digital tax if OECD reforms are delayed, UK spending watchdog warns April 5, 2023 Tech firms may try to dodge a UK government tax levied on digital companies if international tax reforms on the sector are delayed, parliament’s spending watchdog warned. The public accounts committee said this week that it had raised £358m from the digital services tax in its first year, 30 per cent more than expected, but [...]
No firms charged with ‘failure to prevent’ tax evasion in 6 years – here’s why April 3, 2023 The UK taxman has not charged any British firm with the ‘failure to prevent tax evasion’ offence since it was introduced six years ago, HMRC has confirmed. Under the offence, introduced in 2017, a British company can be criminally prosecuted if it was found to have not put adequate checks and systems to prevent its [...]