A shakeup of the taxation of termination payments, specifically payments in lieu of notice (PILONS), will see the removal of the long-standing £30,000 tax-free amount. Mark Cawthron,  tax writer at Wolters Kluwer, explains the changes for employers and employees

Employers affected by the introduction of the apprenticeship levy will have to register online to manage their schemes, on a new web portal set up by the Department for Education and the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) prior to the launch of the apprenticeship levy on 6 April 2017

In part six of our exclusive series on buy-to-let taxation, Andrew Constable, partner at Kingston Smith, analyses the complicated tax implications of owning property overseas, particularly in light of 3% stamp duty land tax levy on second home purchases

Taxpayers are waiting longer to have tax enquiries closed, with a 24% rise in the time taken last year, which is putting taxpayers under greater stress and forcing them to rack up higher legal fees according to City law firm RPC

HMRC is changing the format of its online forms to make them interactive which means that PDFs cannot be opened without upgrading to the latest version of Adobe Reader, which could interfere with existing software preferences on user PCs

The Court of Appeal has handed down an important ruling relating to the distinction between workers and the self employed, dismissing an appeal by Pimlico Plumbers which resulted from one of its plumbers taking a case to the employment tribunal arguing for treatment as an employee rather than a contractor, reports Pat Sweet

Anyone receiving a penalty from HMRC for late filing of a self assessment form for tax year 2015/16 must complete an SA370 appeal form within 30 days if they dispute the fine, although only the basic £100 fine appeal process is available online

Last week saw an interesting few days. We had the vote on triggering Article 50 in the Commons and a day later the publication of the Brexit White Paper. Getting in just before the filing deadline of 31 January, HMRC’s response to the six consultations on Making Tax Digital landed with a thud. Jonathan Reilly, head of tax at Grant Thornton reacts to the digitisation plans  

As the introduction of the apprenticeship levy approaches on 6 April 2017, Stephen Hemmings, corporate tax partner at Menzies, examines what the levy means for firms and their clients

HMRC is consulting on draft legislation to extend ISA tax advantages to investments held within an account after the death of the account holder to reduce the taxable charge

Representatives from ICAEW and ATT, along with other members of the accountancy profession, will be giving evidence on the impact of the government’s Making Tax Digital proposals, and whether taxpayers are ready for the changes, to a session of the House of Lords economic affairs finance bill sub-committee later today

Scotland is to overhaul the tax tribunal system with the abolition of the existing First-tier Tax Tribunal and creation of a new Tax Chamber