HMRC suspects big firms are underpaying £1.4bn due to workers’ false ‘self-employed’ classification August 1, 2022 The taxman suspects big firms are underpaying tax to the tune of £1.4bn, by classifying workers as ‘self-employed’ when they’re actually full staff. Leading law firm Pinsent Masons claims HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs) suspects companies are classifying staff as self-employed to avoid making Employers’ National Insurance contributions. HMRC has been clamping down on the [...]
Fashion factories: Government must do more to tackle workers’ fears towards reporting illegal wages July 25, 2022 The government should do more to tackle Leicester garment workers’ fears around reporting illegal wages, a report has urged. Findings from the Low Pay Commission (LPC) echo earlier studies in concluding there is still a long way to go in improving the treatment of textile factory workers in the city. Some factories have operated at [...]
UK’s Insolvency Service uses new powers to crack down on Covid loan fraud July 25, 2022 The UK’s Insolvency Service has begun using new powers, given to it last December, to crack down on company directors that dissolve their firms to avoid making repayments on government backed loans. The Insolvency Service used its “tough new powers” to ban three individuals from acting as company directors, for dissolving their companies to avoid [...]
HMRC in crackdown on tax return mistakes as taxman hands out 80 per cent more penalties July 20, 2022 HMRC handed out 80 per cent more penalties for careless errors made by taxpayers in their tax returns last year, with 89,317 penalties issued in 2021/22, up from 49,701 the previous year. Some of the penalties issued for ‘careless errors’ are likely to be for mistakes made in returns filed during the pandemic. While the [...]
HMRC takes tougher stance towards tax evasion following Covid and war in Ukraine July 19, 2022 The UK government is taking an increasingly tough stance towards tax evaders, according to new analysis from Pinsent Mason, in a sign HMRC is taking an increasingly tough stance towards tax evaders in its efforts to balance the UK’s books, lawyers have said. The number of individual taxpayers charged with tax evasion jumped 11 per [...]
Unpaid crypto tax surged by 432 per cent from last year, HMRC says July 18, 2022 The amount of unpaid tax that rich crypto investors owed on their investments soared by 432 per cent from last year, according to HMRC. Data by law firm Pinsent Masons today said that HMRC identified £2.28m in suspected underpaid tax concerning crypto assets in 2021-2022, a substantial increase from £428,000 the previous year. Steven Porter, [...]
MOD awards £55m contract to Titanic shipyard Harland & Wolff July 14, 2022 The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has awarded a £55m contract to a shipyard in Devon operated by Harland & Wolff, the Belfast group famous for building the Titanic. The company said this was a “watershed moment,” the Telegraph first reported. As part of the contract, the shipyard will refurbish an old Royal Navy mine hunter, [...]
Letters: Time for a crackdown July 13, 2022 [Re: Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone charged with fraud by the CPS over failure to declare £400m assets, June 11] It is noteworthy that HMRC is pursuing a criminal prosecution against Bernie Ecclestone in relation to his alleged tax evasion. HMRC prosecutes in only a minority of tax fraud cases, even though increasing international co-operation [...]
Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone charged with fraud by the CPS over failure to declare £400m assets July 11, 2022 Former F1 racing boss Bernie Ecclestone has been charged with fraud by the Crown Prosecution service over £400m of assets he failed to declare. The 91-year-old businessman was accused of the crime by false representation, with the CPS saying it authorised the charge after reviewing evidence from HMRC. It was made “in respect of his [...]
£134bn: Biggest rise in tax receipts since 2000 gives chancellor room to make cuts July 11, 2022 The new chancellor of the exchequer may have leeway for tax cuts, after a £134bn spike in so-called ‘stealth ‘ taxes. There was the biggest increase in receipts since the turn of the century over the last 12 months, up to £718bn, representing a 23 per cent increase on the previous year. The rise from [...]