Amid sometimes chaotic scenes, the US Senate has passed a major tax reform bill which will slash the US corporate tax rate to 20%, in what is being heralded as President Donald Trump’s first big legislative victory in his push to create a ‘once in a generation’ change to the US tax code

HMRC has updated VAT guidance on when building construction may be zero-rated if sites were previously occupied by other premises, following legal challenges to the existing rules

The Upper Tribunal allowed an appeal against a First Tier Tribunal (FTT) decision after finding that HMRC does not have free-standing powers to tax chargeable gains, following the expiry of a declaration of intention to roll over the gains

The requirement to notify HMRC if a client is engaged in offshore tax structures carries a reputational risk and could have implications for entirely legitimate structures, a summary of consultation responses reveals

HMRC is holding a technical consultation about updating the VAT legislation for vouchers to bring it up to date with the revised EU VAT directive

A consultation has been launched by HMRC on corporate interest restrictions in order to take account of the accounting changes brought about by IFRS 16 Leases

As part of its Making Tax Digital initiative, HMRC is consulting on ways to simplify the range of penalties, sanctions and rates of interest across the main taxes, income tax self assessment, corporation tax and VAT

HMRC has revised down sharply its estimate of the transitional cost to business of implementing its flagship Making Tax Digital programme to £109 rather than £280 as originally forecast, following the decision to limit the number of businesses required to switch to digital updates and confining the first implementation to VAT reporting only

Major multinationals who operate in the digital arena and are non-resident for tax purposes are likely to be caught by new rules whereby royalties realised in the UK will be subject to tax, under draft plans set out in a Treasury consultation

Due to changes to international accounting standards on lease accounting under the forthcoming IFRS 16 Leases, HMRC has issued a consultation on proposed changes to the tax code to ensure the tax treatment of leases reflects lease accounting rules post 2019

A consultation is being conducted to over legislation which will allow venture capital trusts to exchange shares and securities without relying on HMRC to decide if transactions are permissible ad hoc

The Finance Bill 2017-18 will contain a number of specific reforms to the taxation of employee expenses, but will stop short of a major overhaul of the current rules, after responses to a consultation earlier this year indicated that they are generally fit for purpose