The Treasury Committee is launching a new inquiry into the student loan system and related financial implications, including the repayment threshold, interest rates, tuition fees, and the impact on university finances

HMRC is planning a research project looking at tax compliance behaviours amongst the very wealthiest individuals, which it concedes are a ‘hard to reach group’, with a view to investigating ways to improve it

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is calling for developed countries to consider introducing higher income tax rates for the wealthiest, arguing the evidence suggests this would help reduce inequality without having an adverse impact on growth, contrary to received thought

As the first HMRC simple assessments are sent out, Meg Wilson CTA explains how they work for affected taxpayers including new pensioners and anyone who has underpaid PAYE and what action they need to take as they are pulled into the first wave of implementation, effectively seeing the abolition of their annual tax return

The European Commission has been granted permission from EU member states to introduce rules to improve tax dispute resolution as well as cover issues relating to double taxation which can be a major obstacle for businesses

MPs have laid an amendment to Finance Bill (No.2) to ensure that the Treasury will not be able to reduce the £30,000 cap on redundancy bonus payments without consultation

Major changes to the tax calculations for termination payments are set to come into effect from April 2018 which will hit high earners and affect tax calculations. Sarah Bradford ACA CTA (Fellow) explains the changes and the affect on redundancy payouts

The country’s tax base is becoming too small and is causing yields to suffer, says RSM senior tax partner George Bull, who is calling for a rethink to help the public purse recover

Out of the 800 tax agents in HMRC’s latest webinar, 504 (63%) admitted to not feeling confident when helping clients understand the aspects of HMRC’s simple assessments, however this number dropped to 3% after experts from the tax authority outlined the new tax returns

Accountancy software provider Xero has said providing free programmes for Making Tax Digital quarterly reporting is not practical and should not be expected as the costs to build the software and provide a good service to taxpayers are too high, reports Amy Austin

HMRC has published an updated factsheet informing individuals on when to contact the tax authority about changes affecting child benefits and outlines the high income benefit charge for individuals with income over £50,000

When it comes to claiming expenses against a business it can be a minefield but there are ways to mitigate a large tax bill within the scope of HMRC’s ‘wholly and exclusively’ expenses parameters. Jonathan Amponsah CTA FCCA of The Tax Guys sheds light on whether items such as holidays, golf lessons, school fees and even care home fees can be claimed against a business