‘System out of the dark ages’: HMRC overcharges people taking money from pensions by more than £44m October 29, 2021 Between July and September of this year HMRC refunded £44,659,174 to people who were over-taxed when accessing their pension, according to new figures released today. People accessing lump sums from their pensions will initially be taxed as if they will take the same sum every month for the rest of the tax year., so those taking a [...]
Second home buyers dodge bullet of stamp duty rise for now October 28, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak may have taken a last minute decision not to increase the stamp duty surcharge paid by landlords and second home buyers. The government had planned to hike the three percentage point surcharge on additional property purchases to four percentage points, first reported by the Daily Telegraph. In the economic and fiscal outlook, [...]
Exclusive: HMRC’s capital gains tax receipts hit record £11.5bn while Budget increase looms October 26, 2021 There has been much speculation around whether Chancellor Rishi Sunak will increase capital gains tax rates during tomorrow’s budget, which could result in business owners and individuals paying significantly more when they come to sell assets. The increase looms despite HMRC receipts from CGT having risen by 62 per cent in the last five years, [...]
House sales surged by more than two-thirds in September October 21, 2021 There were 160,950 residential transactions last month, considerably higher than last year, but the market is expected to slow following the stamp duty holiday stimulus. The provisional seasonally adjusted estimate of UK home transactions in September was up 68.4 per cent on September 2020, according to HMRC figures. There was a 67.5 per cent leap [...]
Online estate agencies face class action from former self employed workers October 20, 2021 Former self-employed workers are to launch class action against online estate agencies such as Purplebricks and Yopa. Contractors For Justice (C4J) has said it will commence proceedings on behalf of thousands of formerly self-employed local property experts, local agents and territory owners. Workers have been disadvantaged by companies choosing to hire self-employed workers but directing [...]
HMRC to issue ‘nudge’ letters targeting crypto asset owners across the UK October 20, 2021 HMRC has issued a statement warning individuals that they will soon be issuing “nudge” letters specifically in regards to crypto asset holdings. These “nudge” letters are yet to be circulated, but City A.M. checked in with Zoe Wyatt, partner and crypto asset specialist at Andersen UK. “These nudge letters are likely to have been automated [...]
Exclusive: HMRC plotting crackdown on holiday let tax avoiders after record staycation season October 7, 2021 Owners of UK holiday lets face fresh investigations by HMRC after Britain’s record staycation boom of the last two years, accountants at UHY Hacker Young told City A.M. this morning. HMRC has the power to request information or documents from third parties such as holiday booking sites “for the purpose of checking the taxpayer’s tax [...]
Boris Johnson expected to reveal ‘national living wage’ hike October 6, 2021 Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce plans to raise wages for the country’s lowest paid earners to around £9.42 per hour. The increase will boost the pay of minimum wage workers over the age of 23 by around 5.7 per cent, more than double the previous increase of 2.2 per cent in April [...]
HMRC annual pension stats: ‘The genie is well and truly out of the bottle’ October 4, 2021 HMRC published its annual update to personal and stakeholder pensions statistics at the end of last week. The document included an update on the impact of the lifetime and annual allowance tax charges. Moreover, HMRC also shared the most recent data for flexible pension payments under the pension freedoms rules. Scrutinising the data for City [...]
Thousands of business face insolvency as ban on liquidating firms ends today October 1, 2021 As the Government is phasing out its restrictions on winding-up petitions, lenders and creditors can legally seek to liquidate a company that they believe is unable to pay their debts from today. According to Rebecca Dacre, partner at City-based tax and audit firm Mazars: “With the restrictions on winding-up petitions coming to an end within [...]