HMRC helplines put callers seeking tax advice on hold for up to 41 minutes December 14, 2014 The government yesterday pledged to improve services for people seeking tax advice, after a survey found almost 30 per cent of calls to two helplines were cut off. The consumer watchdog Which? found 29 out of 100 callers seeking advice before a tax return deadline received instead an automated message. Callers were put on hold [...]
Google Tax to prompt tech giants to kill Irish tax deals as government cracks down on avoidance tactics December 10, 2014 Rules, detailed by the government yesterday, aimed at clamping down on tax avoidance by tech giants including Google and Apple, could force US multinationals to start winding down “artificial arrangements” used to divert profits abroad. “What they’re trying to do is say ‘if you have a UK presence and if you are making UK sales, [...]
Britain needs Multinational Monday – not yet more arbitrary tax hikes December 8, 2014 BRITAIN has just celebrated “Small Business Saturday”. Perhaps yesterday should have been declared “Multinational Monday”. Multinationals are often the engine of poverty reduction in under-developed countries; and they promote technology transfer and transform lives all around the world. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine what life would be like without them. Of course, multinationals deserve [...]
Tory veteran David Davis attacks government tax avoidance crackdown as threat to the rule of law December 4, 2014 The government has become the biggest threat to the rule of law, according to veteran Tory backbencher and former minister David Davis. Speaking at a briefing organised by the Taxpayers' Alliance and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) he slammed the government's attempts to limit tax avoidance through laws such as the General Anti Avoidance [...]
Stamp duty calculator: Don’t try it if you just bought a house- you don’t want to know how much you missed out on saving December 4, 2014 If you have just bought a house and are patting yourself on the back for getting in at the right time in an ever pricier market, the new stamp duty just rained on your parade. Do you enjoy seeing your hard earned cash disappear before your very eyes? No? Then don’t try out HMRC’s Stamp [...]
Cost of complexity: Britain’s tax relief chaos is even overwhelming HMRC November 27, 2014 HOW CAN HMRC be expected to administer Britain’s chaotic tax system if politicians keep passing so much legislation? Despite George Osborne frequently stating his preference for simpler taxes, last year’s Finance Bill was the second longest ever at 646 pages. There have only been five Finance Acts longer than 600 pages, and the coalition is [...]
The UK could be the world capital of the sharing economy if we take these steps November 25, 2014 EVERYONE seems to be talking about the “sharing economy”, and while this may not be a model that will work for every industry, it is a trend that requires attention. So much so that, in September 2014, the UK government raised the need for an independent report to examine the social and economic potential of [...]
MPs tell HRMC to speed up tax avoidance investigations after Liberty scheme failures November 18, 2014 MPs have criticised HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for being “unacceptably slow” at taking action against tax avoidance in the UK. The public accounts committee said the government department for tax collection had failed to look into the taxes of many of those involved in the "Liberty" scheme within the given time period of [...]
“HMRC must do more, faster”: Slow action on tax avoidance is losing UK money, report claims November 17, 2014 The government department tasked with chasing tax avoidance schemes and recovering the cash is too slow, resulting in millions being lost, a report out today claims. The Public Accounts Committee looked into the process HM Revenue and Customs follows to recover tax lost through avoidance schemes and found that up to £10m from one particular [...]
Britain must do more to scale up tech firms says LoveFilm and Zoopla investor Sherry Coutu November 16, 2014 Britain is great when it comes to helping tech startups, but we lag behind many countries when it comes to scaling-up these companies to reach their full potential, a report will reveal. The Scale-Up report is to be launched today at an event at Bloomberg’s London offices by its author, the investor and entrepreneur [...]