The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has launched its employment status project to examine the dividing line between employment and self-employment amid concerns that the significant tax and NIC differences between the two regimes are driving changes in business behaviour, such as the increasing use of personal service companies.

HMRC workers are set to strike next week over grievances about performance related pay, job cuts and office closures, with 31 July identified as a key action day as it coincides with one of the most important dates in the annual tax calendar for self-employed people and the tax credits deadline.

HMRC is offering around 16,000 individuals who made use of contractor loan schemes the chance to settle and pay a total of £430m in tax owed, as an alternative to carrying on with legal action over what it describes as ‘particularly aggressive’ tax avoidance schemes

More than 10m people are expected to move into the higher rate thresholds for income tax by 2033, twice as many as currently, according to forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) if the current £41,865 threshold rises in line with inflation.

The annual state pension deferral rate will be reduced from 10.4% to 5.8% when the new state pension is introduced in April 2016.

Latest HMRC statistics show a spike in total tax receipts for the year so far, largely driven by increases in the amount of stamp duty land tax (SDLT) and VAT collected, but the longer term view is more mixed

The number of winding up petitions filed by HMRC is once again on the rise indicating an increasingly hardline approach by UK tax authorities to recover unpaid tax from businesses

Port Vale football club is facing a winding up order from HMRC for the second time in the troubled club’s recent history, although its management say this is an ‘an error’ and will not result in closure