Mid-sized businesses have described how difficulty in finding information and criticisms about the quality of information provided by HMRC adversely affects their relationship with the tax authority

The US Treasury department has fired a warning at the European Commission ahead of its expected ruling on whether Ireland offered Apple a preferential tax arrangement amounting to state aid, suggesting its investigations into the technology giant and other US multinationals are undermining multilateral progress on reducing tax avoidance and are based on a ‘selective’ interpretation of transfer pricing rules

Changes to the taxation of salary sacrifice schemes favour employer imposition over employee choice although the government has ringfenced pensions so that for the time being they are protected, says Tim Stovold, head of tax at Kingston Smith

The UK’s smallest businesses and freelancers are in still in the dark about HMRC’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) plans, with most not aware of the requirements despite the recent launch of a raft of consultations on the process and rollout plans for the new tax reporting system

SNP MP Roger Mullin is leading calls to scrap Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLPs) over fears it facilitates ‘aggressive’ tax avoidance and financial crime

Final details on the plans for quarterly reporting for incorporated businesses, including SMEs and larger businesses, are set to be published in a seventh HMRC Making Tax Digital consultation planned for later this autumn

The total corporation tax for July hit £7.5bn in July, boosted by the first receipts from the new bank surcharge, which totalled £343m, but the budget surplus currently stands at under £1bn, compared to £1.2bn in the same month last year

Air Passenger Duty (APD) rates for tax years 2017-18 are set to increase for long-haul flights, reflecting a continuous increase in the tax level for long haul destinations, including Asia and Australia

The Treasury and HMRC are consulting on the detailed proposals for the new soft drinks industry levy, set to raise £520m a year when it is introduced from April 2018 and designed to reduce the nation’s sugar consumption by taxing highly sweetened fizzy drinks

Plans to release the long-awaited, revised tax advisers’ professional code - the Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation (PCRT) - is likely to go ahead following the announcement of the government’s decision to fine accountants and tax advisers who push ‘aggressive’ tax schemes

HMRC has laid out the progress it expects to make in its major Making Tax Digital project which it hopes will overhaul and modernise the tax system, despite calls from some quarters for delays to certain aspects of the project

The line between giving straightforward advice and marketing tax avoidance must be more clearly defined for the government’s latest anti-avoidance measure to work, says John Cullinane, tax policy director of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT)