VAT expert Graham Elliott analyses the implications of the decision in the Sam Smith T/A Heliops case concerning pre-registration input tax

HMRC chiefs were under pressure to justify their handling of the HSBC tax avoidance debacle at a fiery hearing before the influential Treasury Select Committee where HMRC's Lin Homer was questioned on the tax authority’s handling of the leaked information, prosecutions, abuse of non-dom status and the relationship with French tax authorities, reports Sara White

Using a Panamanian offshore structure to hide his earnings was totally above board, according to HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver, and was recommended by the banking giant’s private banking arm in Switzerland, who was defending his convoluted tax arrangements at a hearing before the Treasury Select Committee today

It pays to structure corporate demergers under the relaxed capital reduction rules to take advantage of tax reliefs, says expert Peter Rayney, who unpacks the intricacies of the current tax rules

The HSBC private banking scandal has highlighted the abuse and lack of fairness in the application of the UK tax rules and penalties, where a wealthy private investor can settle amicably with HMRC but a recalcitrant plumber faces jail for tax evasion and HMRC inspectors raid SMEs for minor incursions of the tax code, says Sara White