HMRC lays out plans to scrap yearly tax return and replace it with continuous online reporting January 31, 2017 The annual tax return will be a thing of the past by 2020, according to HMRC – potentially saving the taxman over £8bn per year. Under the government's proposals – part of its Making Tax Digital project – taxpayers will keep the Revenue updated online on a continuous basis, rather than filing a yearly return. [...]
Can big business relax? HMRC probes struggle as cash yielded from investigations falls January 30, 2017 The taxman is struggling to squeeze Britain's largest businesses as the cash yielded from its investigations fell by a quarter. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) collected an extra £2.6bn from largest businesses in 2016, down from £3.5bn the year before, according to analysis of HMRC’s Large Business Directorat by law firm Pinsent Masons. Read more: "Middle [...]
How to take the headache out of paying your small business tax bill January 30, 2017 The self-assessment tax deadline is tomorrow, and it isn’t just individual taxpayers feeling the heat. Many small businesses, particularly those structured as limited liability partnerships, will also need to file their tax returns and make payments to HMRC. Tax – whether corporation tax, business rates or VAT – can be a tricky issue for SMEs. We [...]
Watch out footballers: MPs want HMRC to get tougher on the super-rich January 27, 2017 We heard earlier this week that HMRC's Affluent Unit had almost doubled in size as it gears up to squeeze revenues from the wealthy middle class. And now the taxman's under pressure from MPs on taxing the super-rich. The Public Accounts Committee has said HMRC needed to crack down on the perception there was "one [...]
Savers are taking more and more small payments from their pensions January 25, 2017 New data from HMRC shows savers are taking more regular, and smaller, lump sums from their pensions. Former chancellor George Osborne introduced the pensions freedom regime in 2015, allowing savers to take up to a quarter of their retirement savings as a lump sum without paying tax. And HMRC says that £9.2bn has been taken [...]
Filing your tax return for 2015-16: The questions you want answered January 25, 2017 If you've put off doing your tax return, I don’t blame you. It is hard to find the motivation to forage around for all those documents, only to part with your hard-earned cash. The bad news is that if you haven’t already got the ball rolling on your self-assessment form for the 2015-16 tax year, [...]
From holiday flights to luxury watches and Armani jeans, HMRC unveils the UK’s most outrageous expenses claims January 25, 2017 International flights, Friday night drinks and betting slips were among the dodgiest expense claims rejected by the taxman last year. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has released a list of the most outlandish items taxpayers submitted as expenses on their annual returns for 2014-15. Taxpayers are allowed to claim deductions for genuine costs, such as work-related [...]
HMRC’s Affluent Unit has almost doubled in size in the last four years as it looks to squeeze revenues from wealthy middle class January 23, 2017 Tax authorities have increased the number of employees set to investigate middle-class earners, as they push to increase revenues. The UK's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has increased the number of employees at its “Affluent Unit” by 20 per cent in the last year, according to accountants Moore Stephens. There are now 395 employees at the [...]
HMRC in £468m small business tax haul January 23, 2017 Local compliance teams investigating small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) brought in substantial extra revenue to the taxman last year. HMRC has shifted its resources away from large businesses and towards SMEs, which they estimate represent 51 per cent of the country’s “tax gap”, the difference between the amount of tax collected and the amount [...]
A gentle nudge over the green rubicon: How to change social norms and make your business greener January 17, 2017 According to a government report, some 71 per cent of UK citizens are “very or fairly concerned” about climate change, while nearly the same percentage believe that it poses a high level of risk to people’s health and wellbeing. In our daily lives, concerns we may have are infrequently matched by our actions – especially [...]