HMRC tax offices closures could actually cost the taxpayer November 19, 2015 Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ announcement that it plans to save £100m by closing 137 local offices will hit taxpayers hard and make dealing with the Revenue at a personal level almost impossible. HMRC’s failure to get anywhere close to meeting its published customer service standards or make any real impact in tackling non-compliance, avoidance [...]
Chancellor George Osborne agrees budget cuts with a further seven government departments ahead of the spending review November 17, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne has come to an agreement with seven more governmental departments on cutting the amount each spends. A series of cabinet ministers, including Iain Duncan Smith, have made a deal with Osborne, under which day-to-day spending will be cut by an average of 21 per cent by 2019-20, which is on average six per cent [...]
One in six employers feel their staff are still unclear about pension freedoms, more than six months after they came into force November 16, 2015 One in six employers have noticed staff are still scratching their heads over pension freedoms, despite the new rules having been in force since April, according to a study by Close Brothers Asset Management. However, some staff are getting the hang of the rules. In the survey of almost 900 UK employers, 21 per cent said [...]
UK pension freedoms could be costing people £104m, as they fail to shop around for the best annuity deal November 16, 2015 People who have purchased an annuity over the last six months without shopping around for the best deal are set to collectively lose out on £104m over the course of their retirement, according to figures released today by Retirement Advantage. The calculation was based on data collected for the first six months of pensions freedoms, [...]
HMRC plans to shut local tax offices and replace them with 13 new regional hubs November 12, 2015 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has today announced that it is planning to close 137 of its local tax offices, replacing them with 13 new regional tax offices. The regional centres, the first one of which could be launched as early as 2016 with the rest opening between 2017 and 2021, will generally be in [...]
HMRC to hire evening staff, having unveiling new telephone system to tackle customer service concerns November 10, 2015 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has today announced it is taking steps to improve customer service, including hiring staff for outside hours, the BBC has reported. Speaking in front of the Commons Treasury Committee today, Lin Homer, chief executive of HMRC, apologised for the tax authority’s poor track record of dealing with customer phone calls. [...]
Rio Ferdinand and Andy Cole: Top footballers face losing millions of pounds in investment scandal November 8, 2015 Footballers can’t stop losing money at the moment. A number of top footballers face losses of around £100m after piling cash into film schemes recommended by two financial advisers. Former England stars Rio Ferdinand and Andy Cole as well as Match of the Day pundits Danny Murphy, Martin Keown and Robbie Savage are involved, according to [...]
HMRC wins “big tax” case against Rangers November 4, 2015 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has won a judgement ruling that Rangers broke tax rules with its use of Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) between 2001 and 2010. Three judges at the Court of Session in Edinburgh upheld HMRC's second appeal and ruled that under former owner Sir David Murray Rangers used now-outlawed EBTs to pay [...]
Public Accounts Committee: Taxpayers still being let down by HMRC, with low levels of prosecutions for tax evasion November 4, 2015 HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is still failing UK taxpayers, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has argued in a report released this morning. Although PAC’s Sixth Report of 2015-16, which examines how HMRC performed during 2014-15, praises the UK’s tax authority for increasing taxes collected while cutting running costs over the last five years, it [...]
Association of British Insurers: Sales of annuities have picked up despite new pension freedoms November 3, 2015 Annuity sales rose to 22,380, worth £1.17bn, during the third quarter of 2015, the first time quarter-on-quarter sales have risen for three years, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) revealed at its Biennial Conference today. By comparison, annuity sales for the second quarter of 2015 where 18,200, worth £990m. Figures from the ABI also revealed that [...]