Smith & Williamson, the financial and professional services firm, has reported a 8.9% hike in tax and business services revenue, as operating income hits £266.7m with profitability up double digits year on year, and continued growth across all business lines for the year ended 30 April 2018, reports Sara White

There has been a 29% hike in the number of malicious websites which HMRC has asked to be removed following a spate of scams involving fake emails and texts

The value of tax that employees have had to pay on their job perks is up by 18% in the last year, up from £2.8bn in 2015/16 to £3.3bn in 2016/17, with company car and van drivers hard hit

Nearly three million couples have taken advantage of HMRC’s marriage allowance since it was set up, although over a quarter of eligible married couples are failing to take advantage of the tax break

Many overseas online traders are still not paying VAT on the goods they sell despite government efforts to force them to do so and the situation may get worse in the wake of Brexit, according to MPs

HMRC’s latest list of major tax defaulters is topped by a consultancy contracting company owing £10.6m on £12.5m unpaid tax, followed closely by a retail mail order house owing £5.2m, with a raft of restaurants and takeaways, as well as an accountant, also featuring

Mark Cawthron LLB CTA, tax writer at Croner-i, examines the fallout from government plans to extend IR35 intermediary rules to the private sector companies, examining the contradictory rulings at tribunal in the cases of Christa Ackroyd, MDCM and Jensal Software

An international airline pressure group has appealed to the New Zealand government to abandon its controversial plans to introduce a NZ$35 ‘tourist tax’ for foreigners entering the country

Stephen Relf CTA ACA examines potential tax pitfalls for owner managed businesses when they use directors’ loans instead of conventional salary structures, from outstanding loans to repayment terms

HMRC is reminding parents that they are able to use the tax-free childcare scheme to pay for holiday clubs after it was revealed that a third of parents (31%) feel stressed trying to arrange childcare for the school holidays

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Timpson were both accredited this week with a Fair Tax Mark as research reveals that the public would rather do business with companies and organisations that demonstrate a commitment to paying their fair share of tax

The use of excluded property trusts by non-doms for tax planning purposes under Inheritance Tax Act 1984, s48(3) (IHTA 1984) is a well-accepted route, but now the old established rules have been overturned with tougher inheritance tax rules introduced in Finance Act (No. 2) 2017. Stephanie Webber CTA, tax writer at Croner-i explains