John McDonnell is wrong – we need tax simplification, not a Hippocratic Oath for accountants January 30, 2018 In a world where public finances are under intense pressure, it is often tempting for politicians to shy away from the hard choices when it comes to making policy. So it was interesting to read shadow chancellor John McDonnell’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, especially the part where he proposed new initiatives [...]
Government admits the UK could rejoin the EU’s customs union after Brexit January 9, 2018 A government minister has admitted the UK could rejoin the EU’s customs union after Brexit. Speaking last night, as part of the debate over the Cross Border Trade Bill, financial secretary to the Treasury Mel Stride told MPs they would be able to vote on entering a customs union after leaving the EU, but insisted [...]
Taxman “rubbing its hands with glee” over bitcoin December 13, 2017 Interest in bitcoin has continued to boom despite concerns that the bubble could burst at any moment, and regulators are struggling to keep up. Today, news emerged that South Korea was considering taxing capital gains from cryptocurrency trading, prompting questions of how bitcoin could be taxed in the UK. “Any moves to introduce CGT [capital [...]
The DIY pension: Tips for selecting your Sipp December 6, 2017 Freedom has been the buzzword in the pensions world for years now, after the government decided to shake up the industry back in 2015. For many savers wanting to embrace their newfound freedom, a self-invested personal pension – or Sipp – is the perfect answer. Rather than relying on an insurance company to make investment [...]
From Xero to Hero: Gary Turner has his head in the cloud December 4, 2017 It is the dream of every startup to overtake the incumbent, dominant player in its field. Facebook swallowed Myspace; Uber is usurping taxis; Spotifykilled the CD. London’s fintechs are chipping away at just about every area of financial services. We are witnessing an era of great technological change. Some of the present disruption is quite [...]
Put passports on the blockchain, think tank Reform urges UK government, to create digital identity for public services November 27, 2017 Passports should be put on the blockchain, along with other official forms of identification, to create one single online identity for citizens, a think tank has urged. Blockchain’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) can be used to create a single source of authenticated information and using it to underpin public services could speed up payment of [...]
Autumn Budget 2017: Pressure piles on chancellor Philip Hammond to boost the Tories, save his own job and keep Theresa May in place November 22, 2017 Philip Hammond is facing one of the most challenging days since he became chancellor: unveil a radical, game-changing, vote-winning Budget with enough gimmes to appeal to the youth, while not spending money he doesn’t have or putting up taxes and alienating the party’s core voter. He must tread a tightrope today – one misstep either [...]
Fund customs contigency plans or face “catastrophic” Brexit, Public Affairs Committee warns November 14, 2017 Failure to fully deploy a new customs system by the point the UK leaves the European Union would be “catastrophic”, a report by the influential Public Affairs Committe (Pac) has claimed. If HMRC’s new customs system, the Customs Declaration Service, is not ready by March 2019 it could cause huge disruption for businesses, massive queues [...]
A digital Brexit will spur us to rethink the nature of the state November 2, 2017 As Brexit negotiations continue, with the EU playing for time and the UK insisting that talks move onto the future relationship, the uncertainty can be unsettling for even the most experienced of commentators. However, this uncertainty should not stop us thinking about how we can transform the UK to meet future challenges after we leave [...]
More than a third of self-assessment taxpayers are under-reporting how much they owe the government | City A.M. October 26, 2017 More than a third (36 per cent) of self-assessment taxpayers under-report their taxes, according to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) out today. Most underpayments are less than £1,000. However, a small proportion of people owe more than £10,000 and represent close to half of the tax revenue that is unpaid. The average [...]