Autumn Statement 2014

Tuchbands, chartered accountants in North London, have published a report providing an overview of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Autumn Statement, his last before the 2015 General Election. It details George Osborne’s latest announcements and measures that could affect you or your business. One of the main announcements was the complete reform of stamp dut… Continue Reading

VAT for small businesses

What is the definition of VAT?

Value Added Tax is a tax that suppliers of either goods or services charge on top of the cost of the goods or service and is something often handled by a specialist business accountant. There are four different VAT categories depending on the type of goods and services supplied.

Who is exempt from paying VAT?

Education, finance, insurance, doctors and d… Continue Reading

Tax Gap, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion

HMRC define the “tax gap” as the difference between the amount of tax that they should be collecting and the amount they actually collect. In percentage terms this has been falling in recent years with the gap at 8.5% in 2005/06 and at 6.8% for 2012/2013, equating to £34bn for 2012/2013. The tax gap is comprised of amounts estimated to not have been collected because of t… Continue Reading

IR35 Business Tests Not Working

An IR35 Forum was established as a result of an announcement in the 2011 Budget about the government’s commitment to improving the way IR35 was administered. The IR35 Forum looks at how the legislation works in practice and provides advice on improvements to the way it is administered. The forum includes representatives from organisations such as:

• HMRC
• ACCA (Association

… Continue Reading

OECD Plan Bolsters Clampdown on International Tax Avoidance

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. The OECD provides a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to common problems and they have recently made recommendations that will help tax authorities to clampdown on int… Continue Reading

Shadow Chancellor’s Tax Priorities Action Plan Short on Detail

Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, recently gave a speech to the Labour Party Conference in Manchester about how a Labour government would tackle the economy.

As part of his tax priorities, some of the actions he talked about included:

• Establishing a British investment bank

• Cutting business rates

• Dealing with tax avoidance

• Raising the minimum wage

However, Micha… Continue Reading

New Tesco CFO Joins Early

With a financial crisis looming at Tesco following the news that they overstated their half-year profits by £250million the new chief financial officer (CFO), Alan Stewart, has started in his role early to deal with the situation. He had been due to start on 1^st December but his previous employer, Marks & Spencer, allowed him to cut short his notice period with them. There has b… Continue Reading

Alternatives to online VAT filing

As of July 2014 certain circumstances may make individuals exempt from online VAT Return submission and electronic payment of VAT following an amendment of the VAT regulations. Compulsory online VAT filing was introduced in two tranches in 2010 and 2012 and became effective for all businesses in April 2012. The amendment came about following appeals in a test case against the ma… Continue Reading

How the American FATCA Legislation is Affecting Britons.

In 2010 new legislation was passed in the US designed to prevent tax avoidance by American citizens working overseas, particularly in Europe. However, as of July this year the “Foreign Account Tax Compliant Act” (or FATCA) also applies in the United Kingdom and could affect British citizens and British companies. The total cost to British companies and individuals has been esti… Continue Reading

Receiving Rental Income? Get Your Tax Affairs Up to Date

Since the autumn of 2013 HMRC has been running a campaign concerning let property.  This campaign offers individual landlords, and those renting out their own homes, the chance to disclose any taxable income to HMRC that they have not previously disclosed and get their tax affairs up to date. The tax authorities have recognised that some people might have been unaware that their r… Continue Reading