Parliament to debate quarterly tax updates after online petition receives more than 100,000 signatures January 13, 2016 People's dislike of filling in tax returns will become the topic of parliamentary debate in less than a fortnight after an online petition received more than 100,000 signatures. The petitions committee, which considers petitions submitted to petition.parliament.uk, yesterday scheduled a debate for a petition called "Scrap plans forcing self employed & small business to do 4 [...]
MPs slam outgoing HMRC boss Lin Homer over excessive phone waiting times and poor customer service January 13, 2016 Top MPs grilled outgoing HM Revenue and Customs chief executive Lin Homer this afternoon over HMRC’s poor customer service for taxpayers. “I have had a mountain of cases where people have spoken to the tax office on the phone thinking that actually someone has taken their case – and they have disappeared into the abyss,” [...]
Proposed national insurance tax rule could be easily dodged, warns Chartered Institute of Taxation January 12, 2016 A representative body for tax professionals today warned that proposed rules designed to tighten up claims for national insurance reductions could be too easy to dodge. The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) cautioned that HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) plans to stop limited companies where the director is the sole employee from claiming Employment Allowance [...]
Don’t leave your tax return until the last minute, warns Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, as deadline date for online filing falls on a Sunday this year January 12, 2016 The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has today urged people not to leave filing their tax return to the last second. The representative body for accountants warned that 31st January – the deadline date for filing a self-assessment tax return online – and 30th January were the busiest days for filing [...]
Lin Homer steps down as HMRC chief executive and the search for her successor is underway January 11, 2016 Lin Homer has announced today that she will be stepping down as chief executive of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in April, after joining just over four years ago. Homer said: "After ten years as a chief executive and permanent secretary in the Civil Service, the start of the next Spending Review period seemed to be [...]
HMRC is “worse than private companies” as it ranks bottom of list of government and private debt collectors January 8, 2016 Think payday lenders are bad? Meet Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC)… HMRC has been ranked bottom of a list of government departments and private companies when it comes to collecting debt, a new report has warned. A report by Citizens Advice found evidence of poor practice by the government, "including a lack of consideration given to whether people [...]
Buy-to-let tax hike: Our guide to the government’s plans to raise stamp duty on second homes – with rules to cover joint owners, landlords, investors and overseas property owners January 6, 2016 Details of the government’s plan to raise stamp duty on purchases by homeowners with more than one property were released over the festive period. Simply, it will be a 3 per cent surcharge on each stamp duty land tax band when an additional residential property is bought by someone who already owns a home. With the [...]
Financially stricken Bolton Wanderers placed under transfer embargo December 24, 2015 Bolton Wanderers have been placed under transfer embargo as the problems caused by the club's dire financial straits continue to mount. The club currently rooted to the bottom of the Championship table will not be able to sign any new players after they failed to submit a Financial Fair Play (FFP) return to the Football [...]
A Christmas competition with a difference – and the chance to win a bottle of champagne December 22, 2015 For the prolonged holiday break, a quiz is appropriate. But one with a difference: not just questions, but comments to go with them. A prize of a bottle of champagne to the best answers – just email them to me. The last couple of years have seen the rise of populist left-wing movements. Syriza [...]
HMRC national task force considering clampdown on eBay and Amazon over VAT fraud by overseas retailers December 22, 2015 The government is considering forcing online retailers such as Amazon and eBay to pay for millions of pounds of unpaid VAT owed by small overseas traders that sell through their sites. Lord Ashton of Hyde, a Treasury spokesperson, told the House of Lords on Monday evening that HM Revenue & Customs had established a national [...]