A former City trader has been hit with a £2m-plus confiscation order for concealing assets from his bankruptcy trustee and thus, his creditors. Tahseen Goni, 41, from Luton, has been ordered to pay a confiscation order of £2,084,897.37 and prosecution costs of £118,352.36, following a hearing at Cambridge Crown Court on 28 July 2016. Mr Goni was convicted of concealing property from...
Claiming back VAT on a vehicle purchase
Generally speaking, the purchase of any vehicle where there is any element of private use means any reclaim of VAT may be restricted. HMRC’s website offers the following guidance: · You may be able to reclaim all the VAT on a new car if you use it only for business. · The car must not be available for private use, and you...
Government to replace EU funding
Thousands of British organisations will receive guarantees over EU funding in a new move by Chancellor Philip Hammond last month. Key projects supporting economic development across the UK will be given the green light, ending uncertainty over their future following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. Assurances set out by the Treasury include: · all structural and investment fund projects, including agri-environment schemes,...
High Income Child Benefit Charge
A reminder, that if either parent’s income exceeds £50,000 this will affect eligibility for Child Benefits. A tax charge, known as the ‘High Income Child Benefit Charge’ (HICBC), is payable if a parent has an individual income over £50,000 and: · either parent claims Child Benefit, or · someone else gets Child Benefit for a child living with a parent and they contribute...
New successes for HMRC in the courts
HMRC seem to be making progress in their attempts to discourage, and recover unpaid tax, from participators in tax avoidance schemes. In a recent high profile case, HMRC have recovered more than £434m in unpaid taxes from users of the tax avoidance scheme promoted by the Ingenious Film Partnership. Their scheme tried to use artificial losses arising from investments in a...
Tax Diary September/October 2016
1 September 2016 - Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 30 November 2015. 19 September 2016 - PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 September 2016. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 September 2016) 19 September 2016 - Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 September...
Offshore tax evaders to face new sanctions
Tax evaders are set to face tough new sanctions under plans detailed by HM Revenue and Customs today. The proposals will mean that those who do not come forward and pay outstanding taxes from offshore investments and accounts, could face even tougher penalties of up to three times the tax they try to evade, and increase their risk of potential criminal...
Child benefit changes
If you’re a parent and receiving Child Benefit, you need to inform HM Revenue and Customs of your child’s educational status before 31 August. If you are receiving Child Benefit and Child Tax Credits and your child is 16 , you need to update HM Revenue and Customs of your child’s educational status before 31 August, otherwise payment will stop. The...
What is Bona Vacantia
Bona Vacantia is a Treasury Solicitor’s department that manages unclaimed estates. This includes not only the estates of individuals who die without any heirs, but also the residual assets of limited companies that are liquidated or otherwise wound up. Many small company directors may not know that if they apply to strike off their company from the Companies House active list,...
Going digital
The government have backed down from their proposal to dump a new raft of compliance activity (red tape) on smaller businesses. In their efforts to digitise each businesses’ records with HMRC it was intended that firms be required to keep their books and records online and update HMRC’s data quarterly. Having consulted with various trade bodies, notably the FSB – Federation...