A curse by a witch, being too short to reach the post box and cold fingers were among the more outlandish excuses given to HMRC for not completing a tax return on time, with expenses claims for family holidays and 55-inch TVs also being turned down

HMRC has extended the deadline for responses to its consultation on the taxation of trusts by a month, with feedback now welcomed up to 28 February

The UK has signed a new Israel tax agreement to update the double taxation convention (DTC) with the country, offering reduced dividend tax rates for inward investors

With less than 80 days to the rollout of Making Tax Digital for VAT, a number of professional institutes, inlcuding AAT, ACCA, ATT, CIOT and STEP, have released initial engagement letters defining client relationships under the new digital reporting framework

A case of disputed late filing penalties saw the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) uphold an appeal by an employee who claimed that HMRC should have known his address as they had previously been in correspondence with him

HMRC has lost a case involving the VAT status of a ‘raw chocolate brownie’ containing no egg, dairy or gluten but which a First Tier Tribunal (FTT) has ruled is a cake and not a chocolate bar, and should therefore be zero-rated, opening the way for manufacturer Pulsin’ to reclaim £300,000 in tax

HMRC has updated its guidance on the use of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service, providing taxpayers with improved information over when and in what circumstances the service can be used

When HMRC over-reaches its powers, the courts do take action as happened in the recent long-running BPP [2018] TC 06632 case subject to an unless order barring the tax authority from tribunal proceedings. Stan Dencher, specialist tax writer at Croner-i, examines the case

The number of taxpayers missing the deadline for self assessment returns has fallen dramatically over the last three years reducing penalties issued by HMRC to £75m in 2018 as 10.7 million taxpayers submitted their return by 31 January deadline

HMRC has issued guidance only two weeks before the self assessment deadline to help taxpayers work out when the pensions money purchase annual allowance (MPAA) applies and whether tax is payable on pension savings

In our regular VAT Q&A series, Croner Taxwise VAT specialist Hilary Budd explains the ins and outs of the payments on account (POA) regime for a business straddling the POA threshold and how to leave the scheme

HMRC has amended its guidance on self assessment tax returns to clarify that company directors with income taxed at source under PAYE and with no other tax obligations do not need to complete a tax return

VAT receipts represent an increasing percentage of HMRC’s total tax take, suggesting the tax burden is increasingly being shifted to consumers, and increasing the risks to the tax base post-Brexit, according to research by UHY Hacker Young

Compliance with the inheritance tax nil rate band (NRB) is a complex area but beneficial from a tax perspective as it allows a £1m IHT exemption. Lisa Macpherson ATT TEP, head of tax technical at PKF Francis Clark, examines transferable bands and residence issues

The First Tier Tribunal (FTT) has determined that it has no jurisdiction on whether HMRC accepts or rejects self assessment tax returns in the case of a shop owner who failed to file his returns for 16 years running and was then subject to a bankruptcy petition