Business &amp; Accountancy Daily

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Business | An FD’s guide to surviving uncertain times

From budget reviews to cashflow control, extraneous events like Brexit and potential political instability, finance directors can protect their businesses from external factors by putting an effective risk management plan into place, says Phil Scott, managing director at FD Recruit

17 Feb 2017

Accountancy Firms

Leadership & Management

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Business | Internationally mobile workers risk being hit by double tax bill

Internationally mobile employees are being penalised as they often have to pay double tax, while complex tax treaties leave them out of pocket and there is a lack of clarity on pensions and social security payments, according to a study of international tax practitioners around the world, conducted by Blick Rothenberg

17 Feb 2017

Tax | House of Lords committee calls up HMRC chiefs to defend Making Tax Digital

Making Tax Digital will be back in the spotlight on Wednesday as sneior HMRC officials are called up to give evidence at the House of Lords committee reviewing the draft clauses of the Finance Bill

17 Feb 2017

Tax | Interactive fair tax mark map launched

The Fair Tax Mark group, an independent accreditation process assessing corporation tax practices and reporting, has launched an interactive map showing businesses signed up to the scheme

17 Feb 2017

Tax | HMRC teams up with National Trading Standards in estate agent crackdown

HMRC and National Trading Standards, the body which protects consumer rights, have agreed to step up their exchange of information in order to crack down on rogue estate agents

17 Feb 2017

HMRC

Law and Regulation

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Business | People in the news: RSM, Moore Stephens, Duncan & Toplis, The Works

In the latest accountancy jobs moves, RSM bolsters forensics team with director hire, Moore Stephens snaps up private client partner and The Works secures ex PwC corporate finance specialist for board position

17 Feb 2017

Business | PwC challenges ‘myths’ about executive pay

PwC is warning that the current clamour for reform of executive pay will not achieve its aims because of a lack of robust evidence and says more needs to be done to ensure a new approach is based on realistic assessment of pay and performance

17 Feb 2017

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Tax | VAT flat rate rise will not reduce abuse of system

Plans to crackdown on abuse of the VAT Flat Rate Scheme (FRS) may be ineffective and have unwelcome consequences for tax compliant small businesses, claims CIOT

17 Feb 2017

Finance | EFRAG consulting on draft endorsement for IFRS 16

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) is now consulting on its draft endorsement advice on the new lease accounting standard, IFRS 16

17 Feb 2017

16 Feb 2017

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Finance | FRS 102: accounting for groups - tips and advice

In part 19 of this exclusive New UK GAAP series, Helen Lloyd FCA unpicks the accounting rules for reporting entities involved in groups or other entities, as set out in FRS 102 sections 9, 14, 15 and 19

16 Feb 2017

Business | Record number of employers underpaying workers

High street retail chain Debenhams tops the list of more than 350 employers found to have failed to pay either the national minimum wage (NMW) or the national living wage (NLW) to their staff, the biggest number so far.

16 Feb 2017

Law & Guidance

Finance | Two more PLCs pay out dividends breaking Companies Act rules

Two more publicly listed companies – homeware and furniture supplier Dunelm and high street pizza chain Dominos – have admitted paying out dividends in contravention of the Companies Act 2006, following last week’s admission of similar problems at investment group Hargreaves Lansdown

16 Feb 2017

Tax | EU mulls reduction in threshold for country-by-country reporting

EU plans for country-by-country reporting could target a much broader base of multinationals if proposals from the European parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs to slash the current threshold are adopted

16 Feb 2017

Business | Devolved administration finance ministers’ warning on Brexit

The UK government stands accused of failing to provide devolved administrations with necessary information or clarity on how exiting the EU will impact their economies and budgets, the finance ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have said, following a quadrilateral meeting where they raised serious concerns over potential problems

16 Feb 2017

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Tax | EU to ramp up action on harmful global tax practices

The EU has signalled plans to ramp up its work to tackle harmful tax practices internationally, with the Council working group that oversees implementation of the EU's code of conduct on business taxation finalising a list of jurisdictions that are considered non-cooperative in tax matters to be published shortly

16 Feb 2017

Finance | FRC confirms review of UK corporate governance code

A quarter of a century after it was first published, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has announced plans for a fundamental review of the UK corporate governance code, in response to its work on corporate culture and succession planning, and the government’s focus on overhauling corporate governance and business standards

16 Feb 2017

Corporate Governance

Accounting Consultations

15 Feb 2017

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Tax | Redundancy: taxation of termination payments

A shakeup of the taxation of termination payments, specifically payments in lieu of notice (PILONS), will see the removal of the long-standing £30,000 tax-free amount. Mark Cawthron, tax writer at Wolters Kluwer, explains the changes for employers and employees

15 Feb 2017

Tax | Self-employed face Class 2 NICs payment errors

Concerns are mounting that some self-employed workers are at risk of missing out on future pension payments because of a lack of clear communication between HMRC and the National Insurance office (NI office) over payment of Class 2 National Insurance contributions (NICs)

15 Feb 2017

Personal Tax

HMRC

Tax | HMRC slams door on two remuneration schemes used to avoid tax

HMRC has added two disguised remuneration structures which used annuities to avoid income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs) to its list of tax avoidance schemes

15 Feb 2017

Tax | HMRC to develop own online verification service

HMRC is to develop its own identity verification service for some taxpayers, rather than using the Gov.uk Verify online identity assurance service currently being developed by the Government Digital Service (GDS) as the standard ID platform for the public sector

15 Feb 2017

HMRC

Technology

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Business | Maximum ban for bankrupt financial adviser facing £350K tax bill

A financial adviser has been handed the maximum bankruptcy restriction order of 15 years for acting in the management of a company while an undischarged bankrupt and subject to a lengthy director’s ban, after an Insolvency Service investigation which also found he owed HMRC over £350,000

15 Feb 2017

Restructuring & Insolvency

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Business | UK business fraud losses hit £125bn

Annual UK business losses from fraud and error hit a record £125bn as fraudsters increasingly take advantage of technology and corporate inaction

15 Feb 2017

Tax | VAT relief for buying adapted cars ‘blunt instrument’

Restrictions on the VAT relief available for disabled people when buying cars could increase the costs of changing vehicles and make it harder for disabled drivers to swap to a more suitable vehicle when their circumstances alter, warns the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG)

15 Feb 2017

Tax | OTS confirms Whiting to stand down

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has said it will now be publishing its corporation tax computation review later in March, after the spring Budget, and has also confirmed that Paul Morton will formally take over as tax director from John Whiting next month

15 Feb 2017

Budget

Politics

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Business | Death announced of former Maxwell whistleblower

The death has been announced of Basil Brookes, the former finance director at Maxwell Communication Corporation, and one of the whistleblowers to raise concerns over accounting issues within Robert Maxwell’s publishing empire, which included the Mirror newspaper

15 Feb 2017