David Gauke, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, recently gave a speech to the Lord Mayor’s Taxation Forum. His presentation focussed on international tax competitiveness, and how the UK’s system fares compared to our overseas competitors. Here’s an extract of his comments: Competitiveness “Since 2010 we’ve cut corporation tax from 28% to 21%. And this time next year it will fall again, to...
Businesses in automotive supply chain to benefit from new grants
Skills and Enterprise Minister Matthew Hancock unveiled £25 million of additional support for businesses to take the lead in improving training for new and current employees. Businesses can submit their proposals from 6 May 2014 and the offer will be open for 12 weeks. Speaking at a UK Commission for Employment and Skills Investment Showcase, the Minister pledged to support businesses...
Second incomes under HMRC microscope
In the first week of April 2014 HMRC issued guidance on its latest tax gathering campaign. The target group this time is UK taxpayers who have second incomes and are not presently declaring these income streams on their tax return. The information published by HMRC about the scope of the campaign is reproduced below: About the Second Incomes Campaign Introduction The Second Incomes Campaign...
David Cameron writes to crown dependencies
Our Prime Minister has written a letter to the UK’s overseas territories and crown dependencies promoting the value of a public register that would show the ultimate owners of companies registered in their jurisdiction. This follows the publication of the “Company ownership: transparency and trust discussion paper” last week. It concluded: “... we plan to proceed with the following policies: establish a publicly...
Cars, business use, and tax considerations
There are a number of situations where care should be taken in the way in which claims are made for the business use of a vehicle, usually a car, which is also used for private purposes. We have listed below a number of issues that business owners and private car users should be aware. If you are self-employed and your business assets...
HMRC may be extending access to taxpayers’ data
The Treasury has confirmed it was proceeding with plans to legislate making aggregated and anonymised data more widely available. In a published document HMRC said: "The government has decided to proceed with the proposal to remove the legal restrictions that currently limit HMRC's ability to share anonymised individual level data for the purpose of research and analysis and deliver public benefits...
Pension decision period extended
Last month we touched on the changes that HMRC is introducing to the treatment of defined contributions pensions. HM Treasury has now issued the following update that clarifies the position of people who have recently taken a tax-free lump sum from their defined contribution scheme. “The government has announced today (Wednesday 9 April) that people who have recently taken a tax-free...
VAT Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS)
Currently, the place of taxation for broadcasting, telecommunications and e-services (BTE) supplies is determined by the location of the supplier of the services. However, from 1 January 2015, the place of taxation for private consumers will be determined by the location of the consumer. Business to business supplies are unaffected; this change will only concern suppliers of BTE services to private...
Tax Diary May/June 2014
1 May 2014 - Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 July 2013. 19 May 2014 - PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 May 2014. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 May 2014.) 19 May 2014 - Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 May...
New criminal offence for individuals who hide money offshore
The government is consulting on plans to introduce a new strict liability criminal offence for individuals who hide their money offshore. Under the plans announced by the Chancellor, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) would no longer need to prove that individuals who have undeclared income offshore intended to evade tax, in order for a criminal conviction to be handed down. At...