The government is consulting on plans to close a business rates ‘loophole’ which could be costing English councils millions in lost council tax because of second-home owners claiming small business rate relief on holiday lets which are not, in fact, let out under commercial arrangements

HMRC plans to extend the market value rule to tackle contrived arrangements when selling shares, announced at Budget 2018

The Treasury is going ahead with plans for a 2% tax on large online multinationals from 2020, including social media and search engine companies, to raise over £600m by 2022

HMRC and the Treasury have released detailed proposals for the partial reinstatement of relief for goodwill acquired in businesses with eligible intellectual property (IP) which will be included in Finance Bill 2018-19, alongside changes to the de-grouping charge rules which will be effective from 7 November 2018

Commercial and residential property owners need to be aware the government is reducing the amount of time allowed to pay stamp duty land tax from 2019

The government is to press ahead with legislation in 2019/20 to allow HMRC to make directors and other persons involved in company tax avoidance, evasion or phoenixism jointly and severally liable for tax liabilities that arise from those activities where the company becomes insolvent, following a consultation on the issues

HMRC and the Treasury are to set up a formal industry working group to examine how to create a split payment model for VAT, in order to cut down on tax losses from cross-border e-commerce, after a consultation found the potential options under consideration were too complex and costly to implement

The independent general anti-abuse rule (GAAR) advisory panel has issued two rulings setting out its views on abuse of employee and contractor loan agreements which are used to reduce tax liability

Following a consultation on addressing tax compliance for those who use online platforms for selling, HMRC is to enhance its guidance and is working with international agencies to improve data collection from platforms hosted overseas

The government is planning to review the complicated process for amending tax returns to make it more transparent and easier for taxpayers to use, with a possible move to a single digital tax amendment service

The government has published draft legislation detailing a new VAT domestic reverse charge for certain building and construction services, which will take effect from 1 October 2019 and is designed to clamp down on missing trader fraud

CIOT has expressed concerns about the way that last week’s Budget was delivered, noting the lack of prior consultation and the number of measures announced as completed with little opportunity to explore their scope and operation