Sharp increases in auto enrolment pension payments, new Scottish income tax rates and bands and increasing complexity over higher rate taxpayer child benefit payments are some of the changes coming into force today, at the start of the 2018/19 tax year

HMRC has won a case at judicial review concerning the use of confidential information freely disclosed by an informant, who got in contact to provide details of a tax avoidance scheme called Goldfinger, with the judge deciding that there had been no inducement by HMRC to create a breach of confidence

A £380m scheme designed to broaden SME employee ownership risks going into limbo, as EU state aid approval for the enterprise management incentive (EMI) share option scheme expires today, and HMRC has admitted it is not currently known when and on what terms the EU will renew its approval

While VAT is now at the forefront of HMRC plans for the rollout of Making Tax Digital (MTD), digital reporting will apply to all the main taxes in future and will impact all UK taxpayers. Ian Carpenter and John Forth, VAT partners at RSM, explain potential pitfalls and considerations for businesses and accountants

Croner Taxwise tax consultant Angela Robson examines the impact of the tapered annual allowance on pension savings and offers various options to deal with tax liabilities

The Scottish Help to Buy scheme for first-time buyers and existing home owners is being extended for two years to 2021 with a further £100m investment, helping more people purchase a new-build home without raising a large deposit

In February 2018, taxpayers were victorious in nine out of 13 late filing cases brought by HMRC. Meg Wilson, expert tax writer at Croner-I, outlines the various issues raised

Jackie Hall ACA CTA, partner at RSM on the complications employers face when classifying employees as either salaried time-workers or unmeasured workers, trust registration penalties in force for employers

HMRC has signed a 25-year lease for its Manchester regional hub with the tax authority planning to move employees into the building by 2022, with the building becoming the eleventh lease that HMRC has signed out of the 13 regional centres

The government is introducing legislation to help up to a thousand businesses which were affected by the ‘staircase tax’ introduced following a legal ruling on the way in which business rates in adjoining properties are calculated

Bill Dodwell, partner and head of tax policy at Deloitte, considers other countries methods of ensuring that online platforms and their users pay the correct amount of tax, after the Chancellor’s Spring Statement explored ways that these online platforms can encourage tax compliance

The Treasury select committee is launching a VAT inquiry, which will examine the burden on businesses, the pressures of Brexit, issues around dispute resolutions and how to improve the process of making VAT policy