Over a thousand celebrities and senior business figures are facing a £520m tax bill as HMRC starts to demand immediate upfront payment of disputed tax demands relating to investments in alleged tax avoidance schemes.

The government is consulting on plans to give HMRC sweeping powers to recover debts directly from individuals' and businesses' bank accounts, but are the moves too draconian? Meg Wilson, tax expert at CCH, analyses the proposals and outlines potential pitfalls to a policy shift which has been met with strident opposition from MPs to professional institutes

With the UK adoption of US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) rules, UK trusts and trustees must reconsider their status and ensure they are totally compliant with the new US regime of tax disclosure, says George Hodgson, deputy chief executive of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP)

Yvette Nunn says the recent Loring case over nil-rate inheritance tax banding raises questions over the clarity of existing IHT rules