Supreme Court blocks Scottish Power’s £28m tax write-off Tax The Supreme Court has ruled that the energy giant, Scottish Power, cannot deduct £28m in regulatory settlement payments from its taxable corporate profits after a lengthy legal battle with HMRC. The legal case stems from a probe by the energy regulator Ofgem into Scottish Power between 2013 and 2016 regarding mis-selling, poor complaints handling, and [...]
Inheritance tax receipts reach fresh record high as Autumn Budget approaches Personal Finance Inheritance tax receipts rocketed to a new record high in the three months to September 2026, as rising asset values and frozen thresholds expanded the tax to hit more ordinary households. Receipts hit £4.7bn over the period, according to the latest figures from HMRC, a seven per cent increase from the prior year where receipts [...]
Why Healey will miss a £25bn bonus from better productivity Economics The UK economy’s productivity picture has radically changed in the last year. Maurício Alencar considers what this could mean for John Healey. For weeks leading up to last year’s Budget, reports dripping from so-called Treasury sources insisted it was not Rachel Reeves’ fault that tax hikes worth billions of pounds were on the horizon. The [...]
‘Disaster’: Advisers raise the alarm on family business tax raid October 19, 2026 John Healey’s potential tax raid on family businesses could make handing down companies to the next generation a “disaster” and damage the economy, advisers have warned. The Chancellor is reportedly considering proposals to levy income tax when business owners hand down to their children, potentially almost doubling the bill. Under current rules, transfers can be [...]
Omaze in court over tax dispute on luxury house prize draws October 16, 2026 Luxury house prize draw platform Omaze has appealed against HMRC over whether paid entries in its prize draws are subject to standard-rate VAT. An Omaze spokesperson told City AM the platform “has been paying VAT in the UK since 2021.” Omaze lists itself on its website as “not a charity raffle, house or cash raffle [...]
HMRC investigations into football net extra £110m October 16, 2026 HMRC investigations into the UK’s football industry netted the organisation an extra £110m last season, new data has claimed. A total of 68 tax investigations were opened in the year to April across players, clubs and agents – down on 118 from the previous accounting period – and netted an extra £110m for HMRC coffers, [...]
‘Absurd’: Pension savers refunded £188m after HMRC overtaxes withdrawals October 16, 2026 Tens of thousands of taxpayers were handed money back from HMRC last year after savers had too much tax deducted from their pension withdrawals, City AM can reveal. HMRC processed 54,166 pension withdrawal repayments in the 2025/26 financial year, worth around £188m, according to figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request. During the financial [...]
Benefits and pensions for foreign nationals ‘cost £23bn’ October 14, 2026 Spending on benefits and pensions for foreign nationals totalled about £23bn in 2025, according to a leading think tank, amid calls for a rethink on the impcat of immigration and the welfare system. The Centre for Social Justice estimated that the UK government spent about £23bn on benefits, pensions and child-related support for non-British nationals [...]
Healey plans £1bn e-commerce crackdown to fund retail tax breaks October 14, 2026 John Healey is preparing to announce a £1bn tax crackdown on online marketplaces like Amazon and Temu to fund tax cuts for high street shops. At the Budget later this month, the Chancellor is expected to make e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Ebay and Temu responsible for collecting tax owed by the sellers using their site, [...]
Dan Neidle: too many of our taxes make no sense October 14, 2026 We spend a lot of time talking about tax as a revenue raiser and far less time asking whether the taxes themselves make any economic sense. We rarely think seriously about how the design of the tax system itself can encourage or inhibit growth, says Dan Neidle Britain’s demographics are brutal. Spending on health and [...]