MPs are demanding answers from HMRC head Jon Thompson about its monitoring of the tax credit checking work it passed over to Concentrix, after the work and pensions committee heard evidence regarding incorrect decisions to stop payments and ‘appalling’ failures in customer service at the outsourcing company

Plans for an EU financial transaction tax (FTT) have been brought back into focus, after the breakaway group of 10 member states which have committed to introducing the levy indicated they will publish their plans by the end of the year.

There are only six months left until government starts gradually restricting finance cost relief for buy-to-let landlords over a four-year period, with the first 25% cut on costs being introduced on 6 April 2017

The European Council has adopted a series of resolutions on tax transparency, and calls for more effective and efficient cooperation between tax authorities, particularly with regard to beneficial ownership information

Following on from the Budget announcement earlier this week, the Irish Revenue has launched a consultation on PAYE modernisation as part of what it is calling ‘the most significant reform of the administration of the PAYE system in over 50 years’

The US Treasury has watered down regulations designed to address corporate tax inversions, adopting a narrower approach after businesses launch a strong protest against its original plans, but says this will still limit the ability of companies to lower their tax bills through transactions involving debt that do not support new investment in the US

With the trajectory of the Brexit process still at a nascent stage, Mercer & Hole's Michael Armstrong looks at what it could mean for SMEs from foreign exchange fluctuations and access to the single market to VAT harmonisation and the risk of multiple customs declarations

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has sounded a warning about the long term impact of the government’s raft of changes to the tax treatment of private pensions and savings, warning that while these  seem set to provide a short-term gain for the UK economy until 2020-21, after that they could represent a net cost

The government is to go ahead with plans for the introduction of a criminal offence for corporations and partnerships who fail to put in place reasonable procedures to prevent their staff from criminally facilitating tax evasion

The head of business tax at HMRC, Jim Harra, has been promoted to tax assurance commissioner filling the vacant role created by Edward Troup’s move to executive chair

HMRC is set to lose out on £1.2bn in tax after the High Court agreed with PwC, the administrators of Lehman Brothers, that creditors did not have to pay income tax on interest earned while their money was tied up in the collapsed bank, with the judge highly critical of HMRC’s handling of the issue

Social media giant Facebook could have to pay up to $5bn (£4.1bn) in additional taxes as a result of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigation challenging the way in which it accounted for the transfer of assets to its Irish subsidiary, and describing the approach taken by auditors EY to valuing those assets as ‘problematic’