High street warns of 'punishing tax burden', thinktank argues private jets are 'heavily subsidised' by taxpayers, and Croner Intelligence launches Workflows AI tool to draft letters

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Business & Accountancy Daily

Latest news

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Finance | KPMG suspends Carillion audit partner

KPMG has suspended Peter Meehan, the audit partner for failed outsourcing company Carillion, and three other members of staff after discovering issues with documentation provided to the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC’s) audit quality review (AQR) of the company in 2017

21 Jan 2019

Auditing

Corporate Governance

Audit Regulations

Image for inheritance tax residence and transferable nil rate bands part 3

Tax | Inheritance tax: residence and transferable nil rate bands – part 3

Lisa Macpherson ATT TEP, head of tax technical at PKF Francis Clark, unpicks the complexity of the inheritance tax residence nil rate band (RNRB), transferable nil rate band and compliance issues, with case studies of typical scenarios

21 Jan 2019

Tax | MTD: examples from around the world

There are just over 70 days until Making Tax Digital (MTD) goes live in the UK. James Bunney looks at several other countries where digital reporting has been introduced in recent years

21 Jan 2019

Finance | Last day for CMA audit market consultation response

Today marks the final deadline for responses to the consultation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on changes to legislation to improve the audit sector, which include separating audit from consulting services; greater accountability for audit committee chairs and introducing a ‘joint audit’ regime

21 Jan 2019

Auditing

Corporate Governance

Accounting Consultations

Image for insolvency service warning pension scams

Finance | Insolvency Service warning on pension scams

The Insolvency Service has issued a warning to people to guard their pension savings from investment scammers and negligent trustees, having identified over £200m of losses after closing down 24 companies for pension misuse

21 Jan 2019

Business

Pensions

Law & Guidance

Image for rsm warning over vat guidance claims handling

Tax | RSM warning over VAT guidance on claims handling

HMRC has issued guidance on delegated authority claims handling by lawyers, which may create additional VAT costs for law firms and lead to disputes with their insurance clients, RSM has warned

21 Jan 2019

Business | Accountants’ economic confidence at all-time low

Global economic confidence fell for the third consecutive quarter in Q4 2018, ending the year at an all-time low according to a quarterly survey of global economic conditions (GECS) from ACCA and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA)

21 Jan 2019

Business

Companies

Accountancy Firms

Image for worlds richest 26 people wealthier poorest 50

Tax | World’s richest 26 people wealthier than poorest 50%

Just 26 people now own the same wealth as the 3.8bn people who make up the poorest half of the world, down from 43 in 2017, according to analysis by Oxfam which says the gap between rich and poor is widening and wants governments to do more to even out the distribution via changes in taxation

21 Jan 2019

Tax

Personal Tax

Tax Planning

Image for 80000 individuals sign help save scheme

Tax | 80,000 individuals sign up to Help to Save scheme

Over 80,000 people on lower incomes have signed up to the government’s new saving account, Help to Save, depositing over £10m

21 Jan 2019

18 Jan 2019

Image for cup trust charity trustee accused mismanagement and misconduct

Tax | Cup Trust charity trustee accused of 'mismanagement and misconduct'

The Charity Commission has concluded a five-year investigation into The Cup Trust, a charity involved in a complex tax avoidance scheme worth £46m, having found ‘clear mismanagement and misconduct’ on the part of sole trustee Mountstar

18 Jan 2019

Business | Difficulty of juggling instant wins and long-term strategies for CFOs

Today more than ever, CFOs need to provide business strategy both in the long and short term. Angela Mazza Teufer, senior vice president at Oracle looks at how they can achieve just that without letting go of the day-to-day financial oversight

18 Jan 2019

Leadership & Management

Image for carpenter knocked back over bonkers tv expense

Tax | Carpenter knocked back over bonkers TV expense

A curse by a witch, being too short to reach the post box and cold fingers were among the more outlandish excuses given to HMRC for not completing a tax return on time, with expenses claims for family holidays and 55-inch TVs also being turned down

18 Jan 2019

Tax

HMRC

Tax Compliance

Image for nao flags concerns over health nhs finances

Finance | NAO flags concerns over health of NHS finances

The National Audit Office (NAO) warns that the current funding model for the NHS is not sustainable, despite the government’s pledge of an additional £20.5bn cash boost, because of the existence of substantial deficits in some parts of the system and the continued failure to hit performance targets

18 Jan 2019

Tax | Making Tax Digital engagement letters released by tax institutes

With less than 80 days to the rollout of Making Tax Digital for VAT, a number of professional institutes, inlcuding AAT, ACCA, ATT, CIOT and STEP, have released initial engagement letters defining client relationships under the new digital reporting framework

18 Jan 2019

Tax | HMRC extends deadline for taxation of trust consultation

HMRC has extended the deadline for responses to its consultation on the taxation of trusts by a month, with feedback now welcomed up to 28 February

18 Jan 2019

Tax | UK agreement with Israel cuts dividend tax

The UK has signed a new Israel tax agreement to update the double taxation convention (DTC) with the country, offering reduced dividend tax rates for inward investors

18 Jan 2019

Business | KPMG expands Asia Pacific legal services

KPMG has launched a law firm in Hong Kong and is to open another in Shanghai later in the year as part of moves to expand its legal capabilities in Asia Pacific

18 Jan 2019

HR | People in the news: UHY Hacker Young, PKF Littlejohn, Deloitte Legal

Career news this week includes a head of global mobility services at UHY Hacker Young, PKF Littlejohn appoints a co-head of its forensic and fraud team and Deloitte Legal in the UK gets its first managing partner

18 Jan 2019

Business

Careers

Image for sec brings charges over 4m data hack

Business | SEC brings charges over $4m data hack

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is charging nine defendants who hacked into the regulator’s electronic data gathering, analysis, and retrieval (EDGAR) system and extracted non-public information to use for $4m (£3.09m) of illegal trading

18 Jan 2019

Business | EY administrators to plant hire group

Sam Woodward, Alex Williams and Hunter Kelly of EY’s restructuring team have been appointed joint administrators of plant hire company, Hawk Plant (UK) Ltd and subsidiaries, which has collapsed, putting over 400 jobs at risk

18 Jan 2019

Business

Companies

Accountancy Firms

Restructuring & Insolvency

Image for hmrc loses ps300k chocolate brownie vat case

Tax | HMRC loses £300k chocolate brownie VAT case

HMRC has lost a case involving the VAT status of a ‘raw chocolate brownie’ containing no egg, dairy or gluten but which a First Tier Tribunal (FTT) has ruled is a cake and not a chocolate bar, and should therefore be zero-rated, opening the way for manufacturer Pulsin’ to reclaim £300,000 in tax

18 Jan 2019

Tax | Appeal upheld over missing HMRC letters

A case of disputed late filing penalties saw the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) uphold an appeal by an employee who claimed that HMRC should have known his address as they had previously been in correspondence with him

18 Jan 2019

17 Jan 2019

Image for making tax digital where are we now

Tax | Making Tax Digital: where are we now?

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT, which goes live in April 2019, has left accountants confused and businesses struggling to keep up. James Bunney examines the current situation and what MTD means for the future of business tax

17 Jan 2019

Finance | KPMG advises Patisserie Valerie on ‘devastating’ fraud

Troubled high street café chain Patisserie Valerie has called in KPMG to help the company consider its options, after investigations found the accounting misstatements identified in October are much larger than originally estimated, with evidence of ‘devastating’ fraud and deliberate manipulation

17 Jan 2019

Restructuring & Insolvency

Image for corporates boost compliance teams and technology

Business | Corporates boost compliance teams and technology

Over half (55%) of corporates have increased the size of their compliance teams in response to the mounting regulatory pressures that have emerged over the last five years, according to a study from Intertrust

17 Jan 2019

Business

Companies

AI & Technology

Image for lords committee calls single inflation measure

Tax | Lords committee calls for single inflation measure

The government should stop ‘index shopping’ when it calculates inflation, address known errors in the retail prices index (RPI) calculation, and move to a single general measure of inflation in the next five years in order to eliminate unfairness, a House of Lords select committee has advised

17 Jan 2019

Tax | HMRC issues updated ADR guidance

HMRC has updated its guidance on the use of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service, providing taxpayers with improved information over when and in what circumstances the service can be used

17 Jan 2019

Finance | Charity commission seeks applicants for interim managers

From 1 February to 31 March the Charity Commission is inviting practitioners to apply to have the chance of becoming an interim manager and is looking for individuals with a proven track record of implementing safeguarding policies and procedures, preferably within the broader charity sector

17 Jan 2019

Business

Charities

Careers

Image for takeaway boss picks second director ban

Business | Takeaway boss picks up second director ban

The boss of Asian-style takeaway in Cardiff has picked up a second disqualification after being caught running the business when he had already been banned for failing to pay significant amounts of tax

17 Jan 2019

Business

Companies

Called to Account

Image for efrag consults ifrs 3 amendments

Finance | EFRAG consults on IFRS 3 amendments

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has issued a draft endorsement advice letter relating to the endorsement for use in the EU of Definition of a Business (Amendments to IFRS 3 Business Combinations).

17 Jan 2019

Business | Football clubs drive profits with brand focus

Top European football clubs are growing their operating revenues primarily by expanding their commercial activities, despite higher staff costs, according to analysis from KPMG which suggests clubs are positioning themselves as entertainment brands as much as sporting teams

17 Jan 2019

Business

Companies

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Tax Services

Latest news

Finance | KPMG suspends Carillion audit partner

Tax | Inheritance tax: residence and transferable nil rate bands – part 3

Tax | MTD: examples from around the world

Finance | Last day for CMA audit market consultation response

Finance | Insolvency Service warning on pension scams

Tax | RSM warning over VAT guidance on claims handling

Business | Accountants’ economic confidence at all-time low

Tax | World’s richest 26 people wealthier than poorest 50%

Tax | 80,000 individuals sign up to Help to Save scheme

Tax | Cup Trust charity trustee accused of 'mismanagement and misconduct'

Business | Difficulty of juggling instant wins and long-term strategies for CFOs

Tax | Carpenter knocked back over bonkers TV expense

Finance | NAO flags concerns over health of NHS finances

Tax | Making Tax Digital engagement letters released by tax institutes

Tax | HMRC extends deadline for taxation of trust consultation

Tax | UK agreement with Israel cuts dividend tax

Business | KPMG expands Asia Pacific legal services

HR | People in the news: UHY Hacker Young, PKF Littlejohn, Deloitte Legal

Business | SEC brings charges over $4m data hack

Business | EY administrators to plant hire group

Tax | HMRC loses £300k chocolate brownie VAT case

Tax | Appeal upheld over missing HMRC letters

Tax | Making Tax Digital: where are we now?

Finance | KPMG advises Patisserie Valerie on ‘devastating’ fraud

Business | Corporates boost compliance teams and technology

Tax | Lords committee calls for single inflation measure

Tax | HMRC issues updated ADR guidance

Finance | Charity commission seeks applicants for interim managers

Business | Takeaway boss picks up second director ban

Finance | EFRAG consults on IFRS 3 amendments

Business | Football clubs drive profits with brand focus