The First Tier Tribunal (FTT) has found in favour of a taxpayer who was appealing against a discovery assessment in relation to a failed tax avoidance scheme, on the basis that although HMRC made a discovery of an insufficiency of £475,498 in income tax, this was not brought about deliberately

The government taskforce set up in the wake of the ‘Panama Papers’ data leak has opened civil and criminal investigations into 22 individuals for suspected tax evasion and has a further 43 individuals under review, according to an update provided by Chancellor Philip Hammond to MPs

US businesses will be waiting to see whether newly-elected president Donald Trump goes ahead with the significant changes to the individual and corporate tax codes he outlined when on the campaign trail in the months leading up to the November election, which include slashing the business tax rate to encourage US companies to move profits back onshore

Tax experts from the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) have voiced concerns over HMRC’s ambitious timescale for Making Tax Digital (MTD) reforms and call for them to be postponed to better prepare businesses and test out new software

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has published a progress report and call for evidence on proposals for simplifying corporation tax to ensure computations work for modern companies and is seeking feedback on the options

The VAT notice explaining which advertising services and goods are zero rated when supplied to charities has been scrapped and reinstated by HMRC in its first update since the notice was published in 2002

Despite an extensive, targeted publicity campaign, less than a quarter of those eligible have applied for the marriage allowance, and are missing out on the chance to reduce their tax bill by up to £220 a year, according to HMRC’s own figures

Ahead of the Autumn Statement later this month, research from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggests tax revenues could be £31bn below the Budget forecast by 2019-20 because of lower growth, with Chancellor Philip Hammond needing to borrow an additional £25bn if there are no policy changes

HMRC has published a brief setting out the policy on the deduction of VAT relating to assets used by a business prior to its VAT registration, saying this has not always been treated consistently

A series of measures set to come into force from 2017 will affect the way organisations run company car schemes, possibly costing businesses up to an extra £1,000 per car per year. In the second of a two part series, Matthew Walters, head of consultancy services at LeasePlan, considers the potential clampdown on salary sacrifice benefits for company car schemes 

The Ministry of Justice is trialling an alternative to the application process for tax tribunals to provide a quicker online service for people challenging disputed HMRC decisions, although fees will be introduced for the first time to cover administration costs

As part of the initiative to reduce the complexity of the UK's tortured tax code, the government has appointed Paul Morton as tax director of the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS), replacing John Whiting, who is retiring