Stamp duty holiday costs government more than £500m in lost taxes February 3, 2021 The government lost out on more than half a billion pounds in taxes due to the stamp duty holiday, according to the latest figures. Data from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) showed that overall stamp duty land tax receipts fell 16 per cent to £2.76bn in the fourth quarter of last year, compared to £3.29bn [...]
Sir Philip Green’s family set to make £50m from Topshop sale January 30, 2021 Sir Philip Green’s family is reportedly set to receive £50m from the sale of Topshop. The troubled retail group collapsed at the end of last year and its flagship brands Topshop and Topman reportedly failed with gross liabilities of more than £550m. The groups’ demise launched 13,000 jobs into uncertainty and became the biggest casualty [...]
Lookers shares boom as stock finally readmitted to trading January 29, 2021 Shares in long-troubled car dealership Lookers rose 90 per cent today as the firm’s stock was finally readmitted to trading. The FCA suspended shares in the auto firm back in July after failing to publish its full year results for 2019. The discovery of a £19m hole in its figures threw the firm into disarray [...]
Taxing time for Ed Sheeran as singer pays £28m to HMRC January 29, 2021 Singer Ed Sheeran paid a whopping £28m in taxes this year, making him one of the UK’s biggest taxpayers. Ed Sheeran was named along with 49 others as part of the Sunday Times Tax List, which lists the taxes paid by the wealthiest in the country. Sheeran was by far the most high-profile new entry [...]
Major London law firms still making use of government’s furlough scheme January 27, 2021 Major law firms, some of which are based in the City of London, are still making use of the government’s furlough scheme. City firms Trowers & Hamlins, BLM and and TLT were among those still making use of the coronavirus jobs retention scheme last month, according to HMRC data published by The Lawyer. A spokesperson [...]
Amazon halts alcohol sales in Northern Ireland following new Brexit customs rules January 27, 2021 Online retail giant Amazon has halted sales of wines, beers and spirits in Northern Ireland as it prepares to de-list more products under new Brexit customs rules. The company is concerned that excise duty will now have to be paid twice on alcohol shipments sent from British mainland across the Irish Sea. Amazon suspended orders [...]
Self-employed given extra month to file tax return fine-free January 25, 2021 HMRC will not levy a late fine on those who file their tax return by 28 February 2021. The deadline to submit a self-assessment tax return is usually 31 January, and late penalties are usually applied to all returns filed after the deadline. HMRC chief executive Jim Harra said scrapping late fees until the end [...]
Tax penalties double in six months following lockdown lull January 20, 2021 The value of penalties imposed by HMRC has doubled in the last six months, with November up nearly 100 per cent on May. Some £41m was collected from penalties in November 2020, up a whopping 97 per cent from the £21m that was collected in May, according to HMRC’s receipts and expenditure data. Penalties could [...]
PwC to examine possible fraud in govt coronavirus loan programme January 12, 2021 The government-owned British Business Bank (BBB) has brought on PwC to examine cases of possible fraud in its Covid-19 business loans programme. The loan programme was established to help smaller businesses impacted by coronavirus. According to website Consultancy.co.uk, BBB tapped PwC to look into possible fraud, having previously worked with the Big Four firm and [...]
Taxman snoops on 18,000 phone records and web histories January 11, 2021 HMRC made 18,464 requests to access communications data like phone records and web histories to aid its criminal investigations in 2019, according to city law firm RPC. The total number of communication requests was up slightly on 2018’s 18,263 requests. The latest available data was from 2019. The taxman can request data held by telecoms [...]