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

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

HMRC is flagging up changes to the EU mandatory disclosure rules which mean there are new requirements starting this month with intermediaries having to report certain cross border, tax-planning arrangements to tax authorities, in a bid to tackle aggressive tax avoidance

The European Commission has issued the detailed technical amendments to overhaul the EU rules on VAT to cut down on fraud across the 28 member states, effective from 2021, which will affect business to business VAT compliance

The EU has breathed new life into a £380m scheme designed to broaden SME employee ownership in the UK by renewing EU state aid approval for the enterprise management incentive (EMI) scheme, which lapsed last month

HMRC has updated the rules on disposals of assets from historic houses within the scope of VAT, with guidance which cancels and replaces the previous notice from January 2002

The number of national minimum wage (NMW) underpayments has hit a record 200,000 workers in the past year, more than double the previous year’s total

HMRC is raking up its biggest successes and highest yields from investigations into tax compliance by large businesses, which produced £77 for every £1 spent last year, with an estimated £24.8bn recovered

The number of accelerated payment notices (APNs) that HMRC admits it has issued in error has now risen to 6,000, according to analysis by RPC

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is being pressed to adopt new online systems after the US House of Representatives passed legislation intended to introduce digital services and require the tax authority to appoint a chief information officer (CIO), in the wake of technical problems which saw the tax payments system crash on deadline day

HMRC has issued factsheet CC/FS9 on the individual rights of taxpayers who are facing penalties for non-compliance with tax rules, focusing on article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights

As the final quarter before the 6 July deadline for reporting expenses and benefits in kind for the tax year ending 5 April 2018 starts, HMRC has issued bulletin 71 setting out the key compliance requirements for employers in a bid to force all users to move online