Tax | Budget 2018: business rates for SMEs slashed

The Chancellor is to substantially cut business rates for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as part of a packet of measures designed to stave off criticism from business representatives and reduce the impact of decreasing footfall and rising costs on the high street

29 Oct 2018

Tax

Business Tax

Tax Planning

Budget

Politics

Tax | Budget 2018: an end to PFI contracts

The Chancellor announced that Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and PF2 projects would no longer be used by the Conservative government

29 Oct 2018

Tax

Law and Regulation

Budget

Politics

Tax | Budget 2018: stamp duty land tax relief for first-time buyers extended

As part of the government’s efforts to support first-time buyers, the Chancellor confirmed that the stamp duty land tax (SDLT exemption for first-time buyers will be extended to shared ownership purchases

29 Oct 2018

Tax

Personal Tax

Property Tax

International Tax

Tax Compliance

Tax Planning

Budget

Tax | Budget 2018: corporation tax rates remain unchanged

The Chancellor has confirmed that the corporation tax rate will remain unchanged from the previous Budget, staying at 19% at present - the lowest of the G20 nations - and changing to 17% from 2020

29 Oct 2018

Tax

Business Tax

Tax Planning

Budget

Politics

Tax | Budget 2018: lifetime allowance for pensions rises

Despite widespread rumours in the run-up to the Budget that pensions tax relief for higher rate taxpayers would be cut, the Chancellor only tweaked pensions allowances

29 Oct 2018

Tax

Personal Tax

Tax Compliance

Tax Planning

Politics

Business

Pensions

Tax | Budget 2018: HMRC returns to preferred creditor list

From April 2020, HMRC will have greater priority to recover taxes paid by employees and customers in the event of an insolvency, a move aimed at ensuring ‘that an extra £185m in taxes already paid each year reaches the government’

29 Oct 2018

Tax

HMRC

Tax Compliance

Tax Planning

Law and Regulation

Budget

Tax | Budget 2018: measures tackling £2.1bn of tax avoidance

The Budget included the Chancellor’s announcements of a further clamp down on tax avoidance, evasion and unfair outcomes, which is designed to raise £2.1bn by 2023/24

29 Oct 2018

Tax

Business Tax

Tax Planning

Law and Regulation

Budget

Politics

Tax | Budget 2018: air passenger duty rates on short haul flights frozen

The long haul rates of air passenger duty (APD) for the tax year 2020-21 will increase in line with the retail price index (RPI), Chancellor Philip Hammond confirmed in his budget, but short haul rates will stay the same

29 Oct 2018

Tax

Personal Tax

Tax Compliance

Tax Planning

Budget

Tax | Budget 2018: principal residence relief final period exemption

Budget 2018 announced changes to two of the ancillary reliefs in private residence reliefs, specifically those that provide relief on rented property and on gains made in the final period of ownership, regardless of occupancy

29 Oct 2018

Tax

Personal Tax

Property Tax

Tax Compliance

Tax Planning

Budget

Tax | Budget 2018: tax on plastic packaging to boost recycling

In his Budget, Chancellor Philip Hammond has promised to introduce a plastic tax that will apply to all produced or imported packaging that does not include at least 30% recycled content

29 Oct 2018

Tax

Tax Planning

Budget

Tax | Budget 2018: VAT threshold frozen at £85k until 2022

Chancellor Philip Hammond has confirmed that the VAT threshold will stay at the current level of £85,000 for a further two years until April 2022 after a call for evidence did not provide a clear option for reform

29 Oct 2018

Tax

VAT

Budget

Tax | Budget 2018: digital services tax on large platform companies announced

A tax on large digital companies that operate within the UK or provide services to customers, including social media and online marketplaces, has been announced by the Chancellor, who denied that it would be a ‘digital sales tax’

29 Oct 2018

Tax

Business Tax

Tax Planning

Technology

Budget

Politics

Tax | Budget 2018: apprenticeship levy contributions halved for small businesses

In his Budget Chancellor Philip Hammond announced plans to halve the amount of apprenticeship levy contributions that small businesses pay from 10% to 5% to encourage take up

29 Oct 2018

Tax

Business Tax

Tax Compliance

Tax Planning

Budget

Business | NI SME specialist firm moves into Scotland

Entrepreneurial accountant Ross Boyd, who is currently headquartered in Belfast, has announced an expansion of his firm’s technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) services into Scotland with a new operation based in Glasgow

29 Oct 2018

Business

Companies

Accountancy Firms

Leadership & Management

Finance | ESMA prioritises IFRS 9 and 15 for corporate reporting

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) says European enforcers should focus on the application of two new standards - IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers and IFRS 9 Financial Instruments - when examining 2018 financial statements of listed companies

29 Oct 2018

Finance

Accounting Standards

Financial Reporting

IFRS

Business | EY’s UK revenues up 2.7%

EY achieved UK fee income growth of 2.7% in the financial year ending 30 June 2018, up from £2.35bn to £2.41bn with a five year compound annual growth rate of 7%, the firm has reported

29 Oct 2018

Business

Companies

Accountancy Firms

Careers

Leadership & Management

Finance | C-suite accounting expertise is ‘two-edged sword’

Research shows that companies whose top executives have a background as partners or managers in audit firms are at greater risk of reporting financial misstatements, and external auditors should beware of the potential for those with accounting expertise to subvert as well as enhance reporting

29 Oct 2018

Finance

Financial Reporting

Business

Companies

Careers

Business | Millennials twice as likely to go bust as baby boomers

The last three years have seen the number of insolvencies among millennials soar, while insolvencies have dropped among baby boomers, according to analysis by Moore Stephens, which suggests the statistics highlight a growing ‘wealth gap’

29 Oct 2018

Business

Companies

Accountancy Firms

Restructuring & Insolvency

Tax | Chancellor accused of failing struggling high streets

While there is speculation the Chancellor’s Budget will include tax breaks to help struggling retailers, commentators claim his plans are unlikely to stem the current bloodbath on the UK’s high streets, where major stores are closing and job losses mounting, with a potential 50,000 roles at risk

29 Oct 2018

Tax

Business Tax

Tax Planning

Budget

Politics

Tax | Budget 2018 Insight Report - FREE download

Written by our expert team of tax authors, the Croner-i 2018 Budget Insight Report delivers expert opinion and commentary on the latest major tax changes is now available

29 Oct 2018

Tax

Tax Compliance

Tax Planning

Law and Regulation

Budget

Business | Somerset man jailed for £650K VAT fraud

A man from Somerset who claimed almost £650,000 in fraudulent VAT repayments as the director of a construction company has been jailed after an investigation by HMRC

29 Oct 2018

Business

Called to Account

Business | Economic trends: impact of US-China trade war on UK exports

Martin Beck, senior economist at Oxford Economics, considers how a slowdown in US and Chinese economic growth caused by a trade war would affect the UK, and whether the current trade deficit means the domestic market is insulated from the risks

29 Oct 2018

Business

Companies

Accountancy Firms