Tax

HMRC

Tax | Offshore tax evasion offence will criminalise careless errors

Government plans to go ahead with a criminal offence of failing to declare offshore taxable income or gains is likely to criminalise careless mistakes by taxpayers rather than create a robust deterrent to offshore tax evaders, warns CIOT

14 Oct 2015

Personal Tax

Tax | HMRC to consult on technical aspects of flexible ISA saving rules

HMRC has issued a technical consultation on the new ISA rules which allow taxpayers to withdraw and top up savings within a defined limit in a single tax year

13 Oct 2015

Personal Tax

Tax Planning

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Tax | Direct recovery of debts rule amended in draft Finance Bill 2015-16

Following strong criticism from across the profession, the government has toned down the rules in the latest Finance Bill on direct recovery of debts (DRD) which allow HMRC to access bank accounts to recover tax debts, as well as making a number of amendments on changes to inheritance tax on inherited spousal properties and tax liability on loan derivatives

13 Oct 2015

Personal Tax

Image for hmrc opens registration real time bik payrolling

Tax | HMRC opens registration for real time BIK payrolling

Despite criticism from the professional bodies that government plans to tax employees’ benefits and expenses through payroll in real time would be disruptive and software developers would not have enough time to update their systems, HMRC is going ahead with the system from April 2016

12 Oct 2015

Employment Tax

Tax | BEPS 2015: timetable for multilateral instrument for single tax treaty

The OECD has set up a working group with over 90 countries to facilitate negotiations over the creation of a new multilateral instrument – tax agreement - to speed up adoption of treaty-based BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) issues and counter aggressive tax avoidance

8 Oct 2015

Tax | Revenue Scotland ends amnesty on stamp duty tax reporting

Revenue Scotland has advised that it will start enforcing the rules on registration and payments for newly devolved taxes from this month, ending a six-month amnesty period

8 Oct 2015

Tax | How changes to tax credits will affect employees from April 2016

Plans to reduce the overall welfare bill have resulted in radical reforms to working tax credits which will have a wide impact on employees. Victoria Todd, technical tax expert at The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) has produced guidance and a quick reference table to help claimants and any advisers to see how the changes to working tax credits (WTC) in 2016 will affect individual taxpayers

8 Oct 2015

Employment Tax

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Tax | Cash or company car: understanding tax liabilities

Sarah Bradford ACA CTA assesses the pros and cons of company cars versus cash payments in terms of tax liability for employers and how to ensure your emissions levels are most effective

8 Oct 2015

Tax | EU chiefs sign off plan for tax rulings disclosure by 2017

The EU’s top governing body, the European Council, has reached a political agreement on a directive aimed at improving transparency and setting requirements for member states to exchange information about how companies’ taxes are calculated and specific tax rulings

7 Oct 2015

Image for dodwell beps 2015 plan secured record time implementation risks

Tax | Dodwell: BEPS 2015 plan secured in record time but implementation risks

The impressive speed at which the OECD has produced the latest tranche of papers to combat Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), counter aggressive tax planning and improve corporate tax transparency, and the level of global commitment, should not overshadow the risks of potential double taxation when the rules are put into national legislation, warns Bill Dodwell, head of tax policy at Deloitte

7 Oct 2015

Tax | BEPS 2015: OECD overhaul of permanent establishment (PE) rules

The use of permanent establishments (PE) to profit shift and reduce tax liability is set to be overhauled under the final recommendations from the OECD Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) to prevent the use of certain common tax avoidance strategies that are used to circumvent the existing PE definition, particularly through the use of commissionaire arrangements and the tax status of storage facilities, reports Sara White

6 Oct 2015

Tax | Osborne to devolve £26bn in business rates to local areas

The Chancellor has set out plans to devolve new powers from Whitehall to local areas, in a move which will see local government retain local taxes as part of plans to promote growth and prosperity

6 Oct 2015

Tax | Shared parental leave extended to working grandparents

The government is to extend shared parental leave and pay to working grandparents to increase flexibility and choice in parental leave arrangements and support working parents with the costs of childcare during the first year of a child’s life

6 Oct 2015

Tax | BEPS 2015: hybrid mismatches face clampdown in OECD BEPS plan

The OECD BEPS package of anti-avoidance tax measures includes final guidance and a robust framework to counter abuse of hybrid mismatches, highlighted in action 2, in an attempt to deal with distortion of competition created by a tax environment which offers multinational companies significant cross-border tax advantages

6 Oct 2015

Image for hmrc collect C2 A3200m following avoidance scheme defeat

Tax | HMRC to collect £200m following avoidance scheme defeat

The First Tier Tribunal has found in favour of HMRC in a case concerning a complex tax avoidance scheme developed by Montpelier Tax Consultants and used mainly by property developers and IT contractors which sought to exploit the UK’s double-taxation agreement (DTA) with the Isle of Man, opening the way for the collection of up to £200m in unpaid tax.

6 Oct 2015