The government must get serious about simplifying Britain’s complex tax laws November 16, 2016 With British business awash with Brexit uncertainty, it has never been more important for the government to simplify our complicated tax system. The UK tax code is now more than 20,000 pages long. It’s made up of over 1,000 tax reliefs and exemptions. At around 10m words, it is 12 times the length of the [...]
Dominic Chappell – the man who bought BHS for £1 – arrested over unpaid tax November 13, 2016 Dominic Chappell, the former owner of BHS, has been arrested as part of the investigation into unpaid taxes on the profits made from the department store chain. He was allegedly arrested for failing to pay more than £500,000 tax on money from the department store, according to the Sunday Times. An HMRC spokesperson said: "We [...]
The government reveals Panama Papers taskforce has yielded criminal investigations and new leads November 8, 2016 A government taskforce launched in the wake of the Panama Papers leak earlier this year has "added greatly" to the understanding of offshore tax evasion structures, the chancellor Philip Hammond said today. The "Panama Papers Taskforce" was launched in April to analyse the information that had been released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The [...]
HMRC is after nearly £2bn in tax from the UK’s richest November 1, 2016 The UK's richest: beware. HMRC is on your tail (well it is if you still have tax to pay). The public spending watchdog said it's chasing almost £2bn that's potentially owed in taxes by the UK's richest people. The National Audit Office (NAO) said HMRC's specialist unit recovered £416m in 2015 from 6,500 "high net worth [...]
A crackdown on VAT fraud could turn business leaders into “pariahs” October 31, 2016 Business leaders could be held personally responsible for employees going behind their back and undertaking fraudulent actions if government proposals are taken forward. An HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) consultation on VAT reform closes for comments next week and experts are staggered that the plans heighten the bar of the level of detail company directors need to know. Businesses and [...]
Brexit is a chance to reboot Britain’s stagnant productivity performance – as long as we also return monetary policy to normal October 31, 2016 Productivity is the key driver of economic prosperity. From 1945 to 1980 Britain performed poorly on productivity growth, particularly in the 1970s when the UK joined the European Community. The 1980s saw a sharp improvement in UK productivity growth, sustained for much of the 1990s and early 2000s. Alas, the UK’s productivity performance has since [...]
Latest filings by British arm of McDonald’s reveals level of royalty payments to Luxembourg entity October 30, 2016 The British operations of burger giant McDonald's paid £123m for franchise rights last year which are part of a structure that is being investigated by European authorities. The company, whose UK operations are captured in a Luxembourg based company, McD Europe Franchising, reported a profit of $541m for the year to December 2015, almost identical to the $540m it [...]
Here’s how to make the most of investing in Apple, Amazon and major overseas players October 27, 2016 In a globalised world, equity investors need to think big if they want to buy the world’s best companies. “There is no UK equivalent to the likes of Amazon or Facebook. The UK’s own social networking pioneer, Friends Reunited, finally closed its web doors in February this year,” says Michelle McGrade, chief investment officer at [...]
Time is money: Are luxury watches a good investment? October 26, 2016 The current wave of smartwatches, like any new technology, will be outdated by the time you’ve finished reading this article. But certain classic watches not only tell the time, they increase in value with it. While the poorest performing of all the other asset classes (barring furniture), the watch sub-category of the Knight Frank Luxury [...]
Property sales start to stumble following Brexit vote October 21, 2016 The number of people buying and selling homes, flats and offices has dipped in the latest sign of uncertainty in the UK property market. According to transaction figures published by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) this morning, sales of both residential and commercial properties are down. There were 93,130 residential transactions rubber-stamped during September, down 4.3 [...]