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 [...]
HMRC issues record £28.3m fine for money laundering breaches January 7, 2021 HMRC has issued a record £28.3m fine to Luton-based business MT Global, a money transfer company. The fine is the largest ever issued by HMRC and relates to “significant” breaches of money laundering regulations between 2017 and 2019. The company was penalised for failures in carrying out risk assessments, its policies, controls and procedures, due [...]
Offices share half-a-billion business rates write-off December 22, 2020 The Valuation Office Agency has agreed to write off almost £500m-worth of offices’ business rates after weeks of negotiations. Business rates discounts were announced for firms directly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, including pubs and restaurants. Read more: UK borrowing in November the third-highest on record Offices that lay empty however [...]
Publish which firms get furlough cash, government told December 20, 2020 The government should publish a list of companies that have received furlough money to increase transparency around the scheme, amid fears of waste and fraud, parliament’s spending watchdog has said. The cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) also said that chancellor Rishi Sunak’s repeated extensions to the scheme at short notice caused uncertainty that could have [...]
Tide to introduce new business payroll service in 2021 December 17, 2020 Business fintech firm Tide has announced that is it to release its first payroll service via its banking app in early 2021. Tide Payroll will be HMRC compliant and will allow SMEs to conduct their payroll from within their Tide account with an all-in-one payroll service that will allow users to run payroll and pay [...]
Shock as government policy works! Why we need to keep the stamp duty holiday December 17, 2020 The stamp duty holiday is working — actually really, really well. So, of course, the government plans to reverse it shortly. Governments tax things either to raise money to spend, or to discourage you from doing them. Income tax and national insurance raise more than 40 per cent of all the annual £825bn tax revenue. [...]
RSM pays back £4.4m furlough cash December 16, 2020 Audit challenger firm RSM has repaid £4.4m to the government, having decided to do so in a board meeting earlier this month, City A.M can reveal. RSM’s board made the decision to repay the the money in full on 8 December. CEO Rob Donaldson said the firm did not see the decision as an opportunity [...]
FTSE100 company disputes could cost £13.8bn December 14, 2020 Tax disputes with tax authorities globally could cost FTSE100 companies £13.8bn, research by Thomson Reuters shows. This figure Includes £11.7bn in extra tax related to disputes that the companies believe they will ultimately win, however, the FTSE100 set aside £2.1bn to cover the costs of these disputes last year. In total FTSE100 companies were involved [...]
Accountants BDO to pay back millions in furlough cash after payout outcry December 13, 2020 Accountants BDO will return £4.1m in furlough cash after being subject to a barrage of criticism for paying out hefty profits to its partners. The Sunday Times reported that the company, which is one of the UK’s biggest accounting firms, would give back the money after paying its partners an average of £500,000. Managing partner [...]