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 [...]
National Audit Office: Concentrix £1bn tax credit outsourcing delivered savings of less than a fifth than was expected January 17, 2017 A catalogue of errors in relation to outsourcing tax credits has been laid bare in a damning report by the public spending watchdog. Highlighting a series of shortcomings, the National Audit Office (NAO) today released its findings into HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) controversial outsourcing arrangement with Concentrix. HMRC estimated £1bn of savings could be [...]
Donald Trump’s business meddling: Crony capitalism to a Tea January 17, 2017 To understand why many large businesses and pro-market US policy wonks are anxious about a Donald Trump presidency, one has to understand the lessons of the Tea Party. No, not the recent grassroots phenomenon caricatured in the UK media. I’m talking about the Boston Tea Party of 1773 – in which American colonists, belonging to [...]
Buy-to-lose? With new restrictions on buy-to-let mortgages and the introduction of other punitive measures in 2017, is there any value left in letting for mortgaged landlords? January 11, 2017 As we enter 2017, the tide has truly turned against Britain’s buy-to-let landlords. First, George Osborne discouraged people from buying a second residential property by imposing extra stamp duty of 3 per cent. Now, the Bank of England is demanding that mortgage lenders “stress test” loans to landlords. Since 1 January, the Bank’s Prudential Regulation [...]
Here are the top 10 excuses for firms to dodge paying staff the minimum wage January 11, 2017 Employers have refused to pay the minimum wage because staff only make tea, aren't good workers or think of themselves as self-employed, the government has revealed. A bizarre list of excuses from employers has been revealed by the government ahead of a £1.7m marketing blitz on the minimum wage. The top ten list also includes one employer [...]
HMRC’s plans to shutter offices will now cost £300m more by 2025 January 10, 2017 The taxman's plans to shutter large numbers of local office will now save less than half the amount originally forecast by 2025. HM Revenue and Customs is closing all of its 170 offices in a migration to 17 sites, as well as a London headquarters. The plan had been expected to generate savings of £499 [...]
Why the taxman’s latest weapon against evasion might not hit its target January 8, 2017 The New Year has brought with it HM Revenue & Custom's (HMRC) latest weapon in the battle against tax evasion: civil penalties for the 'enablers' of offshore tax evasion. Under the new regime, accountants, bankers, lawyers and other advisers who take deliberate action to help others to engage in offshore tax evasion, will face civil [...]
Independent shareholders vote to boot Sports Direct chairman, but Mike Ashley saves his right-hand man January 5, 2017 The independent shareholders of Sports Direct have voted to boot the retailer's chairman Keith Hellawell, but the company's boss Mike Ashley has saved his right-hand man. Fifty-four per cent of independent shareholders voted to get rid of Hellawell, who has presided over several profit warnings at the company. Read more: Shareholder advice group calls for [...]
Tax evasion enablers to be hit with new fines January 1, 2017 Bankers, lawyers, accountants and advisers who assist with tax evasion will be hit with new fines, as the government seeks to crack down on the behaviour. The changes were announced as part of the then Chancellor George Osborne's 2015 Budget, and come into force today. Those at fault will face fines of up to 100 per [...]
Happy New Year: We’re about to spend 9.5m hours filling in self-assessment tax returns December 30, 2016 Mark your calendars: it's just over one month until the deadline to submit your self-assessment tax return on the 31 January, and new research suggests nearly 2m taxpayers will spend the better part of a working day completing their annual submission. It took 45 per cent of sole traders five hours or more to file their tax return, [...]