Our tax code needs a total overhaul July 19, 2010 LET us hope the coalition is serious about tax simplification. Britain’s taxes are not only far too high; they are also extraordinarily complicated. I was recently talking to a very senior tax lawyer who admitted to me that no single person understands more than a small proportion of our tax code. His views were all [...]
The new Office for Tax Simplification won’t turn the UK into a low-tax state July 19, 2010 ANOTHER week, another independent body that could prove a headache for the chancellor. Hot on the heels of the creation of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which has had a less than illustrious start, George Osborne will today launch an Office for Tax Simplification. It has been charged with lighting a bonfire under Britain’s [...]
HMRC scuppers Pompey bid to exit administration July 15, 2010 PORTSMOUTH face more months of uncertainty after the taxman blocked their attempt to come out of administration. HM Revenue and Customs yesterday lodged an appeal at the High Court against Pompey’s proposed Company Voluntary Arrangement. A hearing is not expected to be held before October, leaving the club hampered by a transfer embargo as they [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 14, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES FRANCIS MAUDE TACKLES CIVIL SERVICE PAY-OFFS Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, attempted to force the hand of civil service unions yesterday as he laid emergency legislation to slash their redundancy terms while offering negotiations on a new severance deal. With up to 100,000 civil service jobs likely to go during the next [...]
Budd insists that OBR is independent July 13, 2010 THE head of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was yesterday forced to deny there was a conspiracy to revise down how many jobs would be lost through George Osborne’s budget. Sir Alan Budd received a grilling from the Treasury select committee yesterday over accusations his Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) came under government pressure [...]
HMRC gets City’s vote of confidence but change needed July 6, 2010 HM REVENUE and Customs (HMRC), despite winning a vote of confidence from the City still needs to make improvements, an influential survey published yesterday found. After speaking to 22 of the UK’s largest companies, information gathered by law firm Norton Rose found that their relationship with the HMRC was broadly on the right track but [...]
Rank puts cost on tax rises June 23, 2010 Leisure group Rank yesterday became the first major public company to put a total on how much extra the emergency Budget would cost it. The Mecca bingo and Grosvenor casinos operator said the rise in the standard rate of VAT and changes to the National Insurance regime would result in a net cost increase of [...]
Controversial IR35 tax rules set to be scrapped in a boost to small business June 22, 2010 SMALL businesses were given a boost by the chancellor yesterday with the news that controversial IR35 tax rules for entrepreneurs using personal service companies could be abolished. Other fillips included a reduction in the small profits tax rate and a national insurance contribution holiday for small start-ups in certain regions. Francesca Lagerberg, head of tax [...]
Vantis shares suspended as crisis deepens June 14, 2010 VANTIS, the troubled accountancy outfit, is preparing a fire sale of its assets unless it can find an investor with a “wad of cash” to help pay down its £54m debt pile. The Aim-listed firm tumbled deeper into crisis yesterday when its shares were suspended due to doubts over its ability to continue operating. In [...]
When going public does not work out June 14, 2010 THE high-profile problems suffered by Vantis as a listed entity could deter other professional service companies from joining the public market, experts warned yesterday. Vantis’ share price has been hammered in the past year as doubts over its largest project liquidating Sir Allen Stanford’s assets, reputational issues to do with an HMRC probe into two [...]