Business Tax

Latest news

Image for budget 2018 digital services tax large platform companies announced

Tax | Budget 2018: digital services tax on large platform companies announced

A tax on large digital companies that operate within the UK or provide services to customers, including social media and online marketplaces, has been announced by the Chancellor, who denied that it would be a ‘digital sales tax’

29 Oct 2018

Tax | Budget 2018: apprenticeship levy contributions halved for small businesses

In his Budget Chancellor Philip Hammond announced plans to halve the amount of apprenticeship levy contributions that small businesses pay from 10% to 5% to encourage take up

29 Oct 2018

Tax | Chancellor accused of failing struggling high streets

While there is speculation the Chancellor’s Budget will include tax breaks to help struggling retailers, commentators claim his plans are unlikely to stem the current bloodbath on the UK’s high streets, where major stores are closing and job losses mounting, with a potential 50,000 roles at risk

29 Oct 2018

Tax | Scottish government to cut business rates

Holyrood has announced its Economic Action Plan, which sets out a number of priorities for economic development and includes tax cuts and investment aimed at generating growth and creating ‘prosperity for all’

25 Oct 2018

Tax | Editor’s comment: only the beginning for Making Tax Digital

As HMRC launches the full trial for Making Tax Digital for VAT, nearly a million businesses can now test out the VAT quarterly reporting system which will be mandatory from April 2019. Sara White considers the longer term HMRC approach to digital tax reporting

25 Oct 2018

Tax | HMRC wins £79m tax avoidance case

The Court of Appeal has found in favour of HMRC in a long running £79m tax avoidance case involving Teesside Power Ltd (TPL) which sought to use a scheme devised by EY to avoid corporation tax liabilities

24 Oct 2018

Tax | Croner-i launches interactive Navigate Tax tool

Croner-i has launched Navigate Tax, a brand new interactive online system packed with practical modules for busy tax practitioners

24 Oct 2018

Tax | HMRC policy on loan charge for disguised remuneration schemes published

HMRC has published information on the loan charge which will apply to disguised remuneration loans that are outstanding on 5 April 2019, and which is expected to protect £3.2bn in tax by tackling avoidance schemes

24 Oct 2018

Tax | Dodwell: bilateral agreements curb use of treaty shopping

Bill Dodwell, senior policy adviser at the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) unpicks one of the rules in the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project which limits the use of treaty shopping through the use of bilateral agreements

24 Oct 2018

Tax | MTD ‘heading for a giant car crash’ warns Lords committee

HMRC has only fully tested 23 software products compatible with Making Tax Digital (MTD) due to delays in rolling out the full trial and there is still widespread lack of awareness of the programme, Lords warn

23 Oct 2018

Tax | Conversation about tax devolution ‘cannot be held in a vacuum’

The 13th CIOT/IFS debate saw experts discuss the merits and pitfalls of the devolution of tax to local authorities in the UK, looking at both the evidence collected from existing examples and public perception of the issues at stake

23 Oct 2018

Tax | HMRC builds up football image rights probe

HMRC has brought more footballers and their agents into the net of its enquiries into allegations about potential tax abuses related to players’ image rights as part of investigations into possible tax avoidance

22 Oct 2018

Tax | IT head sets out digital tax priorities for HMRC

HMRC is focusing IT efforts on developing the Customs Declaration Service, Brexit transition and replacing the obsolete Government Gateway over the next two years, while the API development programme is at the heart of the rollout of Making Tax Digital. Sara White reports on HMRC's IT vision

22 Oct 2018

Tax | Budget scheduled for 3:30pm on 29 October

Although traditionally announced in the early afternoon after PMQs, the Treasury has confirmed that the Chancellor will deliver his Budget at 3:30pm on Monday 29 October

19 Oct 2018

Tax | Oury: stock availability and imports in the event of no-deal Brexit

Andrew Oury, partner at Oury Clark, takes a wry look at the potential impact of a no deal Brexit on imports and stock availability in a just-in-time supply chain

18 Oct 2018

Tax | 'Careless' behaviour costs large businesses £59m HMRC fine

HMRC fined the UK’s largest businesses £59m in 2017 for ‘careless’ behaviour in their tax affairs, according to figures obtained by Pinsent Masons, which notes an increasingly aggressive approach to reducing the tax gap

17 Oct 2018