Treasury Select Committee chair slams dodgy maths on costs of scrapping the yearly tax return February 9, 2017 The chair of the influential Treasury Select Committee today questioned the figures which have been produced so far for the cost to businesses of HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) Making Tax Digital project. The taxman's landmark initiative, which will see people update HMRC on their financial details throughout the year rather than filling out a [...]
Punish HMRC for arbitrarily bullying the victims of our complex tax code February 8, 2017 A good rule of thumb for a system or process: if you sat down and designed it from scratch, would it look like it does now? Ask that question of the tax system and the answer, of course, is a resounding “no”. It is a hideously complicated mess that punishes families and businesses, while destroying [...]
More than 90 per cent of European goods could clear customs within seconds after Brexit February 7, 2017 Customs clearance for European goods in the aftermath of Brexit could still take just seconds if the UK secures tariff-free trade with the continent, one of the UK's most senior customs officials has said. Addressing parliament's Treasury committee earlier today, an HMRC official said that while tariff-free trade with the EU would require customs declarations, the manner and [...]
HMRC brings in £5bn in revenue through fraud investigation February 6, 2017 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is cashing in on its new tax fraud unit, collecting in an additional £5bn in revenue through the service last year. The UK tax authority set up the Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) in 2015 to deal with serious tax probes. The team brought in £2.2bn from criminal investigations in 2016, and [...]
Replace 250,000 public sector jobs with robots, urges think tank Reform in radical workforce overhaul driven by technology February 5, 2017 Automating admin jobs could reduce the public sector workforce by more than a quarter of a million people saving the economy billions of pounds, a leading think tank has suggested. And adopting technology such as artificial intelligence, chatbots and drones, could radically overhaul the public sector and streamline Whitehall even further, according to a new report [...]
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 [...]