BP sues HMRC for mistaken tax payment February 27, 2011 BP has brought a lawsuit against the UK government to try and reclaim taxes it paid “by mistake” in 1999, City A.M. can confirm. The oil giant is claiming almost £300m in refunds, interest and compensation for paying the controversial 1.5 per cent stamp duty reserve tax on its purchase of ARCO in 1999. BP [...]
UK property market stagnant February 23, 2011 The UK property market is still stalled, according to figures from the British Bankers’ Association. The BBA said mortgages approved by its members in January for home buyers were 29 per cent lower than a year ago. They approved just 28,932 loans for house purchase, although this was slightly higher than in December. Meanwhile property [...]
U-turn over bonus taxes February 21, 2011 THE GOVERNMENT has retreated from plans to tax deferred bank bonuses. New rules would have forced bankers to pay tax when a reward package was agreed, rather than when they cashed in on their bonus. Yet HMRC last night confirmed the measure, drawn up for chancellor George Osborne’s budget, will be scrapped. Companies had warned [...]
Coalition losing its way on tax wars February 20, 2011 IT is starting to look as if the British government has completely lost the ability to fight back against its critics, especially when it comes to tax. Instead, it keeps trying to appease them, attempting to move to the left of Labour on the issue and failing to understand that such a strategy is doomed [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS EDITED BY JULIET SAMUEL February 14, 2011 Mazars The law firm has appointed a national head of tax in the UK: Tim Davies (pictured). He has been at the firm for four years, advising on a range of clients. He will now head up a practice of more than 200 professionals in tax. Previously, he worked at advisory firms PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & [...]
The economics of perpetual motion February 8, 2011 WOW. This government has finally cracked it. It has rewritten the laws of economics: there is now such a thing as a free lunch, the elusive El Dorado pursued so assiduously since time immemorial. I’m talking about George Osborne’s special tax on the balance sheets of large banks operating in London, hiked by another £800m [...]
Tax fines to rise sharply January 31, 2011 OFFSHORE tax evaders will see the penalties they face double under new rules announced by HM Revenue & Customs. HMRC’s decision to raise the penalty from 100 to 200 per cent of the amount evaded from 6 April this year is designed to push offshore money into more transparent and cooperative jurisdictions. The penalty for [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 24, 2011 Remuneration Consultants Group The body responsible for developing the voluntary code of conduct for executive remuneration consultants has appointed two new non-executive directors: Philippa Hird (pictured) and William Claxton-Smith. Hird is a leading human resources professional, having been group director of HR at ITV and being a current non-exec at HMRC. Claxton-Smith was head of corporate [...]
What the other papers say this morning January 23, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES AUDITORS SEEK TO EASE FEARS The four biggest auditors have denied that their dominance of the market for large companies had created a systemic risk akin to that posed by the leading banks. Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC have told the European Commission that they are willing to help draw up [...]
Tax officials’ bonuses to be curbed after bumper 2010 January 23, 2011 BONUSES received by tax officials will be curbed in line with the rest of the public sector, following revelations that top HMRC staff received a bumper £13m bonus payment between them last year. The Revenue paid out almost £800,000 more on staff bonuses last year than it did in 2009, despite a blunder in the [...]