Stop patching – start rewriting: modernising tax administration November 25, 2021 An unsuspecting taxpayer might assume that the Taxes Management Act 1970 (TMA) would tell them all they need to know about complying with their tax obligations – and HMRC’s powers to enforce that compliance. However, they would be disappointed. What is wrong with TMA? Since 1970 there have been major upheavals in the rules for [...]
Browne Jacobson and KPMG top workplace social mobility index November 24, 2021 Law firms and consultancies are leading the way in driving social mobility in the workplace, according to the latest national Employer Index by the Social Mobility Foundation (SMF). Law firm Browne Jacobson LLP scored first place in the ranking of the top 75 organisations, followed by consulting giant KPMG and law firm Herbert Smith Freehills [...]
UK property market bottoms out after stamp duty relief end November 23, 2021 The end of a watered down tax relief on home sales has caused the property market to bottom out, according to official figures released today. Research by HMRC found property sales shrank around 52 per cent over the last month, dropping to 76,930 in October, down from 160,220 in September. The looming end of the [...]
HMRC to recoup less than half of the £5.8bn lost from pandemic fraud and mistakes November 21, 2021 HM Revenue & Customs (HRMC) have admitted it will struggle to recoup the the estimated £5.8bn it paid out incorrectly during the pandemic, through fraudulent claims or departmental mistakes.
Millions more Brits in debt as debt pile owed to HMRC balloons to £42bn November 17, 2021 Around 2.4m more taxpayers are in debt to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as tax debt is at more than double its pre-pandemic levels, according to a spending watchdog. In fact, tax debt ballooned by £26bn between January 2020 and September of this year. Staffing levels at HMRC are unlikely to be enough to manage [...]
September house prices show ‘last of stamp duty sizzle’ November 17, 2021 UK house prices leapt in the year to September in the run up to the final stamp duty holiday deadline, government figures show. HMRC’s latest house price index shows that house prices climbed 2.5 per cent in September and 11.8 per cent annually. The average price of a property in the UK was £269,945, hitting [...]
Nearly $500bn ‘lost to tax abuse’ by companies and elites in 2021 November 16, 2021 Countries have lost $483bn to tax abuse by multinationals and ultra-wealthy individuals, with the UK singled out as the world’s greatest enabler of global corporate tax abuse, according to a new report. The State of Tax Justice 2021 report found that the UK was responsible for nearly 40 per cent of the total losses this [...]
HMRC hybrid working made permanent: 40,000 staffers given new devices November 15, 2021 HMRC has invested in nearly 40,000 laptops, tablets and phones in the last 12 months, and a total of 45,704 devices since October 2019, shortly before widespread remote working was introduced. The data revealed that new devices had surged by 366 per cent this year, when compared to the same time period for last year [...]
Jacob Rees-Mogg may have broken parliamentary rules by not declaring £6m in loans November 14, 2021 Jacob Rees-Mogg may have broken parliamentary rules by not disclosing £6m in loans he took out from his Cayman Islands-linked company. The leader of the House of Commons took out £2.94m of “director’s loans” every year between 2018 and 2020 from his UK-based company Saliston Ltd, according to the Mail on Sunday. Rees-Mogg, who led [...]
Who should advise on Research and Development (R&D) tax claims? November 12, 2021 In the Budget on 27 October, the Chancellor outlined his desire for greater investment in innovation and research. To do this, further government funding will be made available by way of the existing R&D tax reliefs. As stated in the ‘red book’, ‘The UK tax system provides very generous support to encourage companies to conduct [...]