Wales is set to introduce its own version of stamp duty land tax (SDLT) on property sales from April 2018 with the introduction of land transaction tax (LTT) but is still reviewing whether to retain the UK wide 3% surcharge for second home purchases

Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at the ACCA, casts his expert eye over the six digital tax consultations and is not convinced about the need for such a wholesale overhaul of tax administration, which will add to volumes of existing tax compliance

HMRC is reviewing the future role of the spreadsheet and whether it will be able to interface with the HMRC Making Tax Digital system, and hence whether it can be used to produce the required filings

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) has announced the launch of a two-week long private sector consultation on the impact of country-by-country reporting (CBCR) in response to the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project and other initiatives designed to improve tax transparency

The Treasury has launched a consultation into the museums and galleries tax relief designed to encourage the creation of more and higher quality exhibitions, as well as to support touring of exhibitions across the country and abroad

The primary motivation for the Welsh move from Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) to a Land Transaction Tax (LTT) is not clear in its policy statements, the CIOT has said

A roundup of current consultations from HMRC, including the Making Tax Digital strategy bundle, treatment of termination payments, tax avoidance sanctions, PAYE settlement agreements, benefits-in-kind for salary sacrifice

HMRC has set up a number of webinars and face-to-face events to provide agents and tax advisers with the opportunity to find out more about the move to digital tax accounts and ask questions on the long awaited Making Tax Digital (MTD) rollout, currently out for consultation

HMRC has announced three consultations on proposals to tackle the hidden economy, which include wider data gathering powers, the requirement for some businesses to register for tax purposes in order to access to licenses or services, and new sanctions for compliance failures

As part of a package of moves to tackle offshore tax evasion, HMRC is consulting on plans to introduce a ‘Requirement to Correct’ (RTC) obligation compelling those with offshore interests who have yet to put their UK tax affairs in order to do so by September 2018, ahead of the widespread adoption of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS)

Changes to the taxation of salary sacrifice schemes favour employer imposition over employee choice although the government has ringfenced pensions so that for the time being they are protected, says Tim Stovold, head of tax at Kingston Smith

The OECD is consulting on the mechanics of dealing with branch mismatch structures under Base Erosion & Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action 2, designed to neutralise the effects of hybrid mismatch arrangements as part of the wider anti-avoidance action plan