Tax

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Tax | Tax filing deadlines: July-October 2015

The key HMRC filing deadlines including PAYE cheque payments, IHT due on lifetime transfers and outstanding CGT for personal tax returns

1 Jul 2015

Tax

HMRC

Tax Compliance

Tax | Tax policy disadvantages lowest earners, says CPS

The tax burden is increasingly falling on the poorest fifth, with an imbalance between tax on earnings and benefits paid, as the lowest earners are being taxed and pay NICs at source, while the government is then paying benefits to top up their incomes

30 Jun 2015

Tax

Personal Tax

Tax Compliance

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Tax | OTS should be independent with more powers to simplify tax system

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) should be strengthened and made an independent body with its own budget and a wider remit, so it can do more to support government efforts to create a stable, coherent tax system and reduce complexity around tax, according to Andrew Tyrie MP, newly re-elected chair of the Treasury select committee

30 Jun 2015

Tax

Tax Compliance

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Tax | Editor’s comment: second time lucky for Chancellor at emergency Budget

With the second Budget of the year slated for 8 July, the Conservatives will have the first stab at their own fiscal programme for nearly 20 years, their last solo Budget being Ken Clarke’s in 1997, so the Chancellor needs to make some ambitious decisions to ensure tax policy is progressive, says Sara White

30 Jun 2015

Tax | HMRC refreshes VAT MOSS guidance on online returns

HMRC has updated the online information in the VAT Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS) to provide more details on submitting returns online

29 Jun 2015

Tax

Tax Compliance

VAT

Image for zoo beats hmrc vat reclaim case over animal care costs

Tax | Zoo beats HMRC in VAT reclaim case over animal care costs

Chester Zoo has won its appeal at the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) over HMRC’s demand that it should repay £1.3m in VAT input tax it had claimed for the costs of keeping animals and building new habitats in its grounds

29 Jun 2015

Tax

VAT

Case Reports

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Tax | ‘Deal or no deal’ on Scottish tax powers

Today sees the second day of the Committee stage of the Scotland Bill debated in the floor of the House of Commons, with the focus on the new tax arrangements and the government warning it is a make or break moment for SNP MPs who support Full Fiscal Autonomy (FFA) rather than the current plan to devolve some tax raising powers

29 Jun 2015

Tax | Taxman pilots webinar services for deaf people

HMRC is piloting new services for deaf taxpayers, designed to offer improved access to tax information and advice, which are being delivered in partnership with the Royal Association for Deaf People (RAD)

29 Jun 2015

Tax

HMRC

Tax Compliance

Tax | HMRC winds up more firms due to unpaid tax

HMRC applied to shut down 3,000 businesses to meet unpaid tax bills last year and succeeded in over half of cases, according to research by Funding Options, warning that as the July 31 deadline for self assessment tax payments is near small businesses need to ensure they make payments on time

29 Jun 2015

Tax | HMRC invests £45m to reduce caller frustration as one in four fail to connect

HMRC is to spend £45m to improve customer service as a result of inconsistent call handling across call centres over the last 12 months with some months where over a third of calls only reach an engaged line and are not even added to the call queuing system

26 Jun 2015

Tax | Dodwell: taxation of savings interest fraught with pitfalls

The reforms to pension savings are welcome but Bill Dodwell, head of tax policy at Deloitte warns that there isn’t much time for HMRC to link interest income for 24.8m individuals with the rest of their tax liabilities

26 Jun 2015

Tax | Nunn: making a claim for bad debt relief shouldn't be so painful

Yvette Nunn, director of Berkeley Associates, considers the process for making claims for bad debt relief and recommends the best approach for reducing some of the current difficulties dealing with HMRC in light of the problematic Michiels case

26 Jun 2015

Tax | Mauritius signs tax transparency agreement with OECD

Mauritius is the latest country to sign up to the OECD’s Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters is Mauritius, becoming only one of seven African countries who are supporting the treaty agreement to curb global tax avoidance by multinational corporations

24 Jun 2015

Tax

International Tax

Tax Compliance

Tax | HMRC improves guidance on PAYE tools to reduce calls to contact centres

HMRC has updated the Basic PAYE Tool User Guide relating to the annual reporting of PAYE in Real Time Information (RTI) and more explanations of how to use the tools to reduce the level of errors

24 Jun 2015

Tax | HMRC IT failure knocks out PAYE real time reporting system

An IT outage at HMRC is causing delays to submissions for PAYE which means that the system is running slowly and there are delays to confirmation receipts for payments

23 Jun 2015

Tax | Scottish rate of income tax: how it will affect UK businesses

As Scotland mulls the idea of setting its own income tax rates, HMRC has issued draft guidance on how the Scottish Rate of Income Tax (SRIT) will work. Chas Roy-Chowdhury casts his eye over the proposals and highlights some of the potential problem areas for employers and PAYE payrolls

23 Jun 2015