Law and Regulation

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Tax | Finance Bill 2016 delayed until September

The Leader of the House has confimred that the Finance Bill will be delayed until after the summer recess and that the remaining stages of the comittee procedure have been provisionally scheduled to take place on Monday 5 September

14 Jul 2016

Tax | European Parliament sets up ‘Panama Papers’ committee

The European Parliament has announced the details of its new committee of inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance, and tax evasion (PANA), set up to investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration of EU law in this area in the wake of the leak of the Panama Papers

14 Jul 2016

Tax | European Commission plans to tackle tax abuse and terrorist financing

The European Commission has announced plans for a number of new steps to tackle tax abuse and boost tax transparency, including exchanging information on the beneficial owners of trusts, tighter oversight of tax advisors and developing a list of tax havens, in response to the issues raised by the Panama Papers investigation

6 Jul 2016

Tax

Tax Compliance

Law and Regulation

Image for hmrc guidance publishing large business tax strategy

Tax | HMRC guidance on publishing large business tax strategy

HMRC has published guidance on new rules requiring large businesses to publish their tax strategy, outlining what information should be included, when it should be published, and the penalties for failing to comply

28 Jun 2016

Tax | Hodge tables amendment to Finance Bill to net UK’s overseas territories

Labour MP Margaret Hodge, former chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), has tabled an amendment to Finance Bill 2016, calling for the government to look at extending the requirement to publish a register of people with significant control to companies incorporated in the Crown dependencies and overseas territories

23 Jun 2016

Tax | European Commission agrees directive on anti-tax avoidance proposals

The European Council has agreed a draft directive aim at addressing tax avoidance practices commonly used by large companies, which it says is designed to tackle situations where multinationals take advantage of disparities between national tax systems in order to reduce their overall tax liability

22 Jun 2016

Tax | FTT boots out NICs on football transfer payments

A First Tier Tribunal (FTT) has ruled that payments made to two Spurs football players, Peter Crouch and Wilson Palacios, on termination of their employment contracts with the club were not subject to national insurance contributions (NICs) as they did not derive ‘from’ that employment

21 Jun 2016

Tax | Common reporting standard (CRS): what it means for charities

The common reporting standard (CRS) will net not only businesses but also charities when it comes into force in 2017 but the decision to include charities is an excessive administrative burden and needs to be reviewed, says Helen Elliott, partner at Sayer Vincent

21 Jun 2016

Tax | Irish finance minister Noonan expects EC conclusion of Apple tax probe

Ireland’s finance minister Michael Noonan has claimed that the European Commission could publish the results of its long running investigation into Irish tax rulings agreed with Apple next month.

20 Jun 2016

Tax | European Commission gets closer to agreeing anti-tax avoidance directive

The European Commission is on the brink of agreeing its far-reaching anti-tax avoidance directive, but is waiting on approval of some elements of the package by the Belgian and Czech governments, before it introduces new rules at midnight on Monday 20 June

20 Jun 2016

Leadership & Management

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Tax | EU campaign groups cast uncertainty over access to ECJ

Both campaign groups involved in the debate over the UK’s position in Europe have cast doubt over access to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) after next week’s referendum

16 Jun 2016

Tax | Tips and pitfalls: UK residential property and tax issues for non-doms

Foreign domiciled individuals are currently able to avoid UK inheritance tax (IHT) on UK assests but this is due to change with the introduction of new legislation in April 2017, says Alison Palmer, director at Mercer & Hole

16 Jun 2016

Tax | Negative publicity impacts aggressive corporate transfer pricing

There has been a 15% reduction in the number of HMRC investigations into high-value big companies suspected of using transfer pricing to avoid tax, according to analysis from UHY Hacker Young which suggests concerns over reputational damage, coupled with cuts in corporation tax, may have played a part

6 Jun 2016

Tax | US tax rules scupper major fertilising merger

US fertiliser manufacturer CF Industries has ditched plans for a $8bn (£5.5bn) merger with smaller Dutch rival OCI, which would have originally seen it set up a new holding company in the UK, following the US Treasury’s announcement of further measures to crackdown on so-called tax inversions

24 May 2016

Tax | Travel expenses guidance for intermediaries clarified to reflect drafting error

HMRC has issued a clarification on the revised guidance about the treatment of travel expenses for workers providing personal services to clients through employment intermediaries, reflecting a technical interpretation problem in the new rules, effective from April 2016

28 Apr 2016

Tax | Annexes and granny flats not subject to 3% SDLT surcharge, Gauke confirms

Government plans to levy a 3% stamp duty land tax (SDLT) surcharge on second home property sales will exclude annexes and so-called granny flats despite initial concerns that the measure would create a dual property transaction

13 Apr 2016