In this month’s VAT Q&As, Julie Green, VAT consultant at CCH Consultancy considers time limits for submitting DIY Housebuilders Scheme claims and compliance questions around any requirement to pay VAT on commission for overseas house sales in Spain

Government plans first announced in the Budget in March,  for a new rate of tax relief for the British film industry have been approved by the EU, meaning that film productions will now receive a tax credit of 25% on all qualifying expenditure in-line with TV tax relief, costing the taxpayer an estimated £200m over the next five years

HMRC has issued a warning of its intention to crack down on the use of schemes to avoid Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) following a recent legal ruling that its retrospective use of legislation did not infringe human rights law, reports Pat Sweet

Digesting the latest Budget numbers illustrates the declining tax base as increasingly the government focuses on taxes on income, not consumption, says Bill Dodwell, senior partner and head of tax policy at Deloitte

HMRC could potentially face payouts of up to an estimated £42.8bn if it loses ongoing legal cases with large companies over disputed tax payments, according to its own recent estimates, with the long-running Littlewoods VAT case causing concern

Newspaper publishing group Trinity Mirror is facing a £70,900 VAT late payment surcharge, after the Upper Tribunal (UT) reversed an earlier First Tier Tribunal (FTT) decision that that the penalty was disproportionate given that the payment was only one day late

An increasingly aggressive stance by HMRC is pushing taxpayers into a corner and making advisers primarily interpreters of law and legislative nuances, warns Yvette Nunn CTA and principal of Berkeley Associates

Following changes to dividend tax announced in the Summer Budget, which capped the annual dividend allowance at £5,000, HMRC has produced a factsheet on the new tax-free dividend allowance, which will hit the majority of owner managers who currently use a low salary/high dividend approach