The government has confirmed that the higher rate stamp duty land tax (SDLT) levy for second home purchases and buy-to-let landlords will be extended to property companies with 15 or more properties

In his Budget speech, Chancellor George Osborne announced a much-trailed rise in the higher rate threshold for 40% rate taxpayers while the basic tax-free allowance will also rise in 2017

In his Budget speech, the Chancellor has announced changes to stamp duty land tax (SDLT) rates on freehold commercial property and leasehold premium transactions, with changes in the way the tax is calculated to introduce a slice-based approach 

Two financial institutions based in the Cayman Islands have pleaded guilty in a US court to helping US taxpayers hide more than $130m (£92m) in offshore accounts in order to evade taxes, and could be forced to reveal the names of account holders, in the first conviction of a non-Swiss financial institution

Apple and Google have denied entering into tax arrangements to avoid paying tax in the EU and seeking to benefit from illegal state aid at a hearing of the European parliament’s special committee on tax rulings which summoned a number of multinationals to discuss corporate taxation

Following an IT problem with coding out for employers setting up the new Scottish S tax code, HMRC has now fixed the problem that stopped Scottish P9s appearing in third party software or the PAYE Desktop Viewer

Plans to tighten up the code of conduct for tax advisers are understood to be at an advanced stage with the professional institutes keen to strengthen the rules on acceptable tax planning to avert the imposition of a regulatory framework for tax advisers by the government

Finance Bill 2016 is set to introduce an option for farmers to average their trading profits over a five-year period and to simplify the existing two-year averaging rules by removing marginal relief. Meg Wilson considers the tax implications 

Low take-up of the marriage allowance means that married couples and civil partners are missing out on £212 of tax for the current tax year, the measure which was launched by the government in March 2015 but has failed to attract much interest from taxpayers 

The imminent rise in stamp duty land tax (SDLT) for buy to let and second home purchasers, due to come into effect from April, is having a marked impact on the UK housing market, driving prices up in the buy-to-let sector ahead of the deadline for the introduction of the new tax, shows the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) figures

Peter Rayney FCA CTA explores how the new dividend regime coming into force in April will affect tax liability with tips and advice for owner managers in light of the introduction of a fixed £5,000 annual dividend allowance this year

Changes to the tax regime for banks mean that the six largest retail banks will continue to pay higher effective rates of tax, estimated at around 20% to 25% of profits in 2016, while new entrants and building societies are likely to pay around 6%, according to analysis by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)