The government’s no-deal Brexit preparations suffered a blow as a clause in Finance Bill 2018-19 (FB 2018-19) giving the Treasury broad powers in the event of a no-deal Brexit was narrowly defeated by rebels and opposition members

The House of Lords economic affairs committee is right to call for a new review of HMRC powers as the tax authority over-reaches itself with spurious tribunals and exhaustive investigations, not to mention the introduction of a 12-year time limit set out in Finance Bill 2018-19, says John Cullinane CTA, tax policy director at the Chartered Institute of Taxation

Higher rate taxpayers will face larger tax bills in Scotland from April 2019 as the Scottish Budget confirms plans to freeze the higher rate threshold for another year, reports Sara White

A vote of no confidence in the prime minister tonight is pushing the government closer to collapse as Brexit talks stump MPs. Geoffrey Todd, partner in the private wealth team at Boodle Hatfield, highlight three of the key concerns for high net worth (HNW) taxpayers should a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn come to power

The European Commission has announced new measures, due to come into force in January 2021, which will allow for a smooth transition to an updated VAT structure for dealing with online selling and will make online marketplaces liable for VAT not recovered by tax authorities

The Scottish government should consider introducing a land value tax (LVT) as a way of delivering on its land reform objectives and raising revenue in a more progressive way, an academic report has suggested

The president of CIOT, Ray McCann, has told the Treasury sub-committee that the government’s approach to tackling disguised remuneration was ‘worse than retrospective legislation’ in that it removed the legal protections provided to taxpayers

Meg Wilson CTA, tax writer at Croner-i, looks at why HMRC’s existing policy on voluntary returns is being legislated for, including cases which have concluded that unsolicited tax returns are not valid, and what impact this change will have on UK taxpayers and tax advisors

The EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) has discussed the implementation of a digital services tax, with representatives disagreeing on how such a tax would work in practice and some countries calling for a delay until the OECD reaches a solution

Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley has claimed that the high street is ‘already dead’ due to the impact of the internet on consumers, and that the only way to redress the balance would be to institute a 20% tax on online sales and massive cuts to business rates

Recent powers provided to HMRC undermine the rule of law and hinder taxpayers' access to justice, and the tax authority should be subject to greater oversight and its powers reviewed, as the balanced has been tipped ‘unfairly’ in its favour, according to a House of Lords report

The EU committee on economic and monetary affairs has voted in favour of a proposed amendment to the EU VAT directive, allowing member states struggling with fraud to temporarily change the way it is recovered