How does a Pokemon card fetch £12m? Inside the lucrative world of rare trading cards Investing The Pokemon and Matchattax cards you had when you were a kid could fetch big bucks now. From multi-million price tags to Premier League brand deals, Matt Kenyon digs into this unlikely new asset class. At a glance, it looked a bit like Comic Con. But in reality, Fort Knox would have been a better [...]
Small business tax rule changes will not boost Exchequer coffers, top accounting firm argues Tax A leading accountancy and advisory firm has sounded the alarm over a consultation by HMRC into tax rules for small businesses, arguing it will not close the tax gap and would leave firms tangled in even more red tape. Blick Rothenberg argued that the current HMRC consultation into so-called close companies, which have fewer than [...]
Number of top rate taxpayers surges as frozen thresholds squeeze Brits Tax The number of higher and additional rate taxpayers in the UK has soared since the start of the decade as frozen thresholds have dragged nearly two million into paying higher rates of tax despite not being classified as traditional high-paid professionals. According to the latest personal income statistics from HMRC covering the 2023/24 tax year, [...]
Tax raids trigger worst start to year on record for businesses April 25, 2026 Tax rises under Labour coupled with the war in Iran have triggered the worst start to the year for businesses on record. Fewer businesses were set up in the first three months of 2026 than in the same period of any year on record, according to figures from the Office of National Statistics. Just 78,655 [...]
‘Concerned but not surprised’: Three-quarters of UK landlords and sole traders miss digital tax launch April 18, 2026 Only a quarter of sole traders and landlord who need to sign up for the UK’s new digital tax system have done so, despite the scheme already having come into effect this month. From 6 April, anyone who earned more than £50,000 in the 2024/25 tax year from property or self-employment income was required to [...]
‘Vicious and damaging’: Council tax overhaul set to end decades of financial ruin fears April 16, 2026 Brits will be granted more time to settle outstanding council tax bills under fresh reforms, ending decades of “vicious” collections which have left many on the brink of financial ruin. The shake up to the administration of bills sparks the first changes since 1993, after the lack of updating to fit modern needs and shifting [...]
Flagstone boss: Labour tax changes the biggest driver of savers choosing cash over stocks and shares April 16, 2026 Britain’s unpredictable tax landscape means households are choosing to build up war chests of cash over other assets like stocks and bonds, the boss of Britain’s largest savings platform has said in a blow to government efforts to boost retail investing. Flagstone chief executive Arman Tahmassebi said his clients were adding to their cash savings [...]
Thousands of taxpayers to miss out on rebate as HMRC still sending cheques April 13, 2026 Thousands of Brits are missing out on collecting their tax rebates after failing to cash in cheques sent to them by HMRC. According to an FOI from the i paper, the department issued 1,746,720 cheques last year, but 178,180 were never cashed. The cheques had a combined value of £144m, meaning taxpayers who failed to [...]
Taxpayers brace for a financial hit after personal allowance rule change April 9, 2026 British taxpayers are bracing for a fresh financial hit as changes to the personal allowance creeps closer. While the personal allowance itself is not changing, remaining frozen at £12,570 until 2031, a subtle change will take effect from the next tax year, as the government places a new lock onto how it is applied, affecting [...]
OpenAI calls for ‘tax on automated labour’ as it sounds alarm on economic risks April 7, 2026 OpenAI has called for a tax on automated labour as the firm laid bare the scale of the structural risks to the global economy that could be wrought by the rise in artificial intelligence. In a wide-ranging set of proposals in a paper described as “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age”, the ChatGPT maker called [...]