Rallying retail stocks lift FTSE 250 to fresh record high August 25, 2021 A rally among retail and consumer goods stocks drove the mid-cap FTSE 250 to a fresh record high today. The domestically-focused mid-cap index pulled back slighlty from morning gains that saw it reach a new summit, but it registered its highest closing score ever, up 0.42 per cent today to 23,986.37 points. Over the last [...]
Mecca Bingo owner Rank Group’s shares rise after win in VAT battle with HMRC August 25, 2021 Shares in Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casino owner Rank Group jumped today on the news it’s likely to secure an £80m tax rebate from HMRC. The long-running tax spat looks likely to conclude with the gambling firm nabbing a rebate of up to £80m from a VAT claim after HMRC chaose not to appeal against an [...]
Home sales dropped 63 per cent in July August 24, 2021 Property transactions were 62.8 per cent lower in July compared with the previous month after the stepping down of the temporary stamp duty reduction. The provisional adjusted estimate of UK residential transactions for July was 73,740, up 4.2 per cent on July 2020, the latest data from HMRC has shown. There was a rush to [...]
Extinction Rebellion activists block Westminster roads August 24, 2021 On the second consecutive day of action Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists have occupied roads in Westminster, police have warned. In a tweet, the Met Police said that protestors are blocking roads around Parliament Street, Whitehall and Westminster. Officers are at the scene working to minimise disruption to traffic. At around 11am this morning, green rabble [...]
Tax and accounting bodies call for government to delay reporting reforms August 23, 2021 UK tax and accounting bodies have urged the government to delay reforms to the tax system which would affect how self-employed people and businesses report their profits. In a letter sent to Treasury financial secretary Jesse Norman, representatives from five tax and accounting bodies, including the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales and [...]
Businesses support changing the tax year dates August 17, 2021 A poll has found that 91 per cent of medium sized firms support simplifying the tax system by changing the end of the tax year to December 31. The survey, conducted by international accounting firm BDO, found that businesses overwhelmingly believe that the time is right to align the tax date with the end to [...]
HMRC releases excuses for not paying minimum wage: ‘I only pay them when they are actually serving someone’ August 17, 2021 The taxman has revealed the most absurd excuses it has received from businesses explaining why they are not paying staff the national minimum wage. Some of the excuses included one business owner justifying not paying their staff the national minimum wage due to their workers often being “on standby when there are no customers in [...]
Football clubs, players and agents increasingly on HMRC’s radar August 16, 2021 HMRC tax investigators are targeting football clubs for £45m in tax they have underpaid, City A.M. can reveal today. According to data provided by HMRC to accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young and shared with this newspaper today, HMRC has uncovered £5.8m in tax owed by players and £4.8m owed by agents in the last year. [...]
Taxman intensifies crackdown on footballers and agents August 16, 2021 The taxman is intensifying its crackdown on footballers as it pushes to clawback money from an industry that is swelling with unpaid tax, reveal fresh figures released today. HMRC is targeting football clubs for £45m in underpaid tax, according to national accountancy group UHY Hacker Young. The taxman probed 93 football players over the last [...]
Amazon transfers £8.2bn of UK revenue to Luxembourg, report says August 11, 2021 Amazon has shifted some £8.2bn worth of UK revenues to European tax haven Luxembourg, a new report has claimed, as the ecommerce giant bats off calls for a tax inquiry. The retail heavyweight declared £13.7bn in UK revenues in 2019, however, filings for its UK-based companies said it only reported £5.5bn in sales. The report, [...]