With less than a year to go until the rollout of Making Tax Digital quarterly reporting for unincorporated businesses, there are still a raft of unanswered questions about testing and software provision, not to mention the readiness and ability of HMRC to support such a radical overhaul of the tax system. Sara White and Calum Fuller report

The key HMRC filing deadlines from May to August 2017 including PAYE cheque payments, online CIS returns, PAYE settlement agreement

In our monthly review of tax cases and compliance issues, Sharon Khin reviews tribunal rulings in Higgins over private residence relief, Gulliver over domicile and closure notice in Schechter, while HMRC faces upheaval as business compliance and customer service chiefs quit and partnerships are drawn into country-by-country reporting rules

Jackie Hall ACA CTA, partner at RSM, on PAYE reporting requirements and expenses exemption rule changes and the apprenticeship levy and the risks for connected employers

Graham Elliott, VAT expert at City & Cambridge Consultancy considers the Adecco (UKUT0133) ruling on temp workers which leaves the company with a VAT charge, input tax issues in U-Drive over repair bills and the low cost traders' flat rate scheme

The Criminal Finances Bill has been given Royal Asset, ushering in controversial new ‘strict liability’ corporate criminal offences for companies failing to prevent facilitation of UK and foreign tax evasion, which will come into force later this year

A sharp fall in the use of funding tax breaks offered by schemes like the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Entreprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) has seen a 20% decline in applications from start-ups and SMEs over the last 12 months due to the complexity of the rules

The European Council has adopted legislation, known as the Protection of the Union's Financial Interests (PIF) directive, designed to protect the financial interests of the EU by having common rules for the prosecution and sanctioning of crimes against EU finances, including VAT fraud, making it easier to recover misused EU funds

Newcastle United's managing director, Lee Charnley, has been released without charge following his arrest on 26 April as part of HMRC's investigation into possible tax and national insurance fraud at several football clubs

HMRC has updated the HS288 partnerships and capital gains tax summary notes to reflect 2017/18 tax rates and clarify reporting requirements for carried interest and gains affected by entrepreneurs’ relief

The government ‘remains committed to the digital future of the tax system’ despite the forthcoming general election, financial secretary to the Treasury Jane Ellison claimed in a letter to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee

LibDem MP Greg Mulholland has tabled an early day motion calling for HMRC to review the tax treatment of those using avoidance schemes which have been challenged, although the proposal is highly unlikely to get a hearing before Parliament is dissolved