Tax / HMRC Connect and tax investigations: what you need to know

HMRC Connect is a vast analytical tool creating links and patterns across millions of megabytes of data to identify recalcitrant taxpayers and close the tax gap. Rob Munro delves into the detail
26 Apr 2018

Accounting / Marshall: too much disclosure in financial statements

Investors should not have to sift through excessive disclosures and poorly presented information to find the real value in financial statements, says Andrew Marshall, senior technical partner at KPMG
26 Apr 2018

Tax / Increased tax bill on termination payments hits employers and employees

The tax and national insurance contribution (NIC) treatment of termination payments has always been an area which employers have struggled to deal with correctly, and over recent years HMRC has looked to simplify the rules, but the latest changes have made the process even more complicated, says Lee Knight is employer solutions director at RSM
26 Apr 2018

Accounting / Volkswagen profits dip 3.6% after adopting IFRS 9

Automotive giant Volkswagen is the latest company to report a dip in profits in the first quarter of the year as a result of switching to a new IFRS 9 Leases to report derivatives
26 Apr 2018

Insight / Charity Commission calls for counter-fraud culture

The Charity Commission is urging charities to ensure staff maintain tight financial controls and challenge any concerning behaviour, after a study found lack of internal oversight, and placing excessive trust or responsibility in individuals, contributed to 70% of insider frauds
26 Apr 2018

Insight / VAT fraud ends in jail for party boss

A North East businesswoman who forged invoices as part of a £87,000 VAT fraud involving her party businesses, has been jailed for failing to comply with an order to repay the money
26 Apr 2018

Insight / Third more businesses in financial distress since Brexit triggered

There has been a 33% hike in UK businesses reporting ‘significant’ financial distress since Article 50 was triggered a little over a year ago, with increased levels of financial distress being seen across all sectors and regions of the UK, according to research by Begbies Traynor
26 Apr 2018

Tax / Online marketplaces to sign agreement tackling VAT fraud

HMRC wants all online marketplaces operating in the UK to sign an agreement to ensure their sellers understand the tax rules and to help tackle online VAT fraud and errors taking place on their platforms, with estimates suggesting a tax loss of between £1bn and £1.5bn in 2016 to 2017
26 Apr 2018

Tax / Tax data: CGT data, HMRC rates of interest - May 2018

Download the HMRC CGT indexation allowance for December 2017 onwards, RPI Index for March 2018 and HMRC rates of interest, and the current stamp duty land tax (SDLT) and land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT) rates, and more
26 Apr 2018

Tax / Committee questions HMRC’s willingness to investigate companies

The Treasury committee has addressed claims that HMRC refused to investigate Lycamobile as part of a French tax investigation which suspected the company of money laundering and tax fraud, with the committee questioning the tax authority’s willingness to investigate economic crime
26 Apr 2018

Technical Alerts

25 Apr 2018

Insight / Economic trends: inflation and the disappearing Phillips Curve

The lack of inflationary pressure is something of a puzzle for economists as conventional patterns based on the accepted theory of the Phillips Curve are not playing out as expected, explains George Buckley, chief UK economist at Nomura
25 Apr 2018

Insight / Pensions regulator to take pub chain to court

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has announced it is to prosecute the pub chain Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster) and company chairman Humphrey Smith for failing to provide information and documents required for an ongoing TPR investigation
25 Apr 2018

Insight / Yahoo fined $35m for failing to disclose cybersecurity breach

Web services provider Yahoo has been fined $35m (£16.5m) by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle charges that it misled investors by failing to disclose one of the world’s largest data breaches in which hackers stole personal data relating to hundreds of millions of user accounts
25 Apr 2018

Tax / Nunn: extending tax relief on training costs

Yvette Nunn, director of Berkeley Associates, discusses the current HMRC consultation on whether tax relief on work-related training costs should be extended to the self-employed as the same service is being offered
25 Apr 2018

Insight / One month to go until GDPR comes into force

Today marks the start of the final month before the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force, with the Association on Accounting technicians (AAT) providing five tips on what businesses should do if they have not taken any action to date
25 Apr 2018

Insight / 38% of global business execs say corruption prevalent

Increased enforcement activity and the introduction of new corporate criminal liability laws have failed to dent the scale of bribery and corruption globally, which has shown no improvement since 2012, according to research by EY
25 Apr 2018

Insight / KPMG expands alliance with AI specialist

KPMG is to expand its global alliance with software development platform provider Appian in a push to create artificial intelligence (AI) services which improve business decision-making and compliance
25 Apr 2018

Insight / IT director given jail sentence for £190K VAT fraud

An IT company director who made more than £190,000 of fraudulent VAT claims has been jailed for three years following an HMRC investigation
25 Apr 2018

Audit / Global securities regulator consults on audit committee good practice

The board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the global standard setter for securities regulation, is seeking feedback on its proposed good practices to assist audit committees in supporting audit quality
25 Apr 2018

Tax / OECD addresses excessive interest rate deduction by mining multinationals

The OECD is inviting feedback on a draft practice note designed to help tax authorities in developing countries address profit shifting from their mining sectors via excessive interest deductions by multinationals
25 Apr 2018

Technical Alerts

24 Apr 2018

Tax / Annual tax on enveloped dwellings: what you need to know

The revaluation of the annual tax on enveloped dwellings (ATED) could potentially bring more properties within scope due to the continuing growth of property prices. Lindsey Wicks, tax writer at Croner-i, outlines the implications of the tax for high value residential properties
24 Apr 2018

Tax / Apple to pay €13bn of back taxes to Ireland from May

The Irish government has reached a deal with tech giant Apple to collect the €13bn (£11.4bn) of disputed back taxes from next month, after the European Commission previously found that Ireland granted the company illegal tax benefits
24 Apr 2018

Insight / EU plans to strengthen whistleblower protection

In the wake of scandals such as the Panama Papers, the European Commission is proposing a new law to strengthen whistleblower protection to ensure safe channels for reporting concerns over unlawful activities, financial irregularities and governance failures both within an organisation and to public authorities
24 Apr 2018

Tax / Tax resisters remembered in 100-year commemoration of women’s suffrage

Today sees the official unveiling of a statue of women’s rights campaigner Millicent Fawcett, 100 years after women were granted the vote, which will include the names of several members of the Women’s Tax Resistance League whose role in the fight for female suffrage is being highlighted by the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT)
24 Apr 2018

Tax / Dodwell: Brexit transition will not be straightforward

Bill Dodwell, partner and head of tax policy at Deloitte considers the tax risks of the provisional agreement on Brexit transition and the various tax directives which will need to be adopted by the UK during this period
24 Apr 2018

Insight / Businessmen jailed for £145k VAT fraud and money laundering

Two businessmen have been jailed for a total of eight years and seven months after stealing £145,000 in VAT and laundering money for individuals who are in prison for a £2.6m tax fraud
24 Apr 2018

Insight / Catax extends R&D tax services to Scotland

Specialist R&D tax relief firm Catax is to open a Scottish office in Edinburgh as part of plans to increase focus north of the border and treble the company’s size by 2021
24 Apr 2018

Tax / HMRC warning on sugar tax registration deadline

HMRC is reminding soft drinks businesses that they have only a few days left to meet the 30 April 2018 registration deadline for the soft drinks industry levy (SDIL) or ‘sugar tax’
24 Apr 2018

Insight / Business rates appeals system criticised by 88% of users

The government’s new business rates appeals regime has failed to win support during its first year of operation, with the majority of users highly critical of the operation of the ‘check challenge appeal’ (CCA) system, according to research from Colliers International
24 Apr 2018

Insight / Tax fears boost management buyout activity levels

UK management buyout (MBO) activity jumped sharply last year, as worries about potential tax rises meant business owners are increasingly looking to crystallise the value they have built up in their companies via an exit, according to analysis by Moore Stephens
24 Apr 2018

Insight / UK Finance call to collaborate to cut cyber crime

With warnings of a major online attack imminent, UK Finance, which represents around 300 firms in the finance and banking industry, is calling for greater collaboration to tackle growing cyber threats
24 Apr 2018

Technical Alerts

Subscribe