Wellbeing amongst finance professionals and the small businesses they advise has taken a dive since lockdown restrictions were enforced in March, according to separate surveys by recruiting experts Hays and ACCA released during Mental Health Awareness Week

In this month’s VAT updates, Graham Elliott considers costs of staging productions and taxable supplies of catering in the Royal Opera House case, historical VAT claim at NHS Lothian and refurbishing an empty dwelling

HMRC has won a landmark case at an Upper Tax Tribunal, which has ruled that tax relief cannot be claimed on ‘in-specie’ or non-cash contributions to personal pensions, potentially opening the way for the tax authority to reclaim millions

HMRC’s suspension of its inheritance tax investigations during the coronavirus crisis gives taxpayers an opportunity to get their affairs in order, said Pinsent Masons

The government is temporarily relaxing the eligibility criteria for tax-free childcare and 30 hours free childcare to support working parents during the coronavirus pandemic

In this edition of VAT updates, Graham Elliott considers HMRC’s VAT easements, a suppression of sales case and the challenging concept of fiscal neutrality

Accountants and financial planners must work together for their clients to fulfil their retirement dreams, writes Emma Watson, head of financial planning at Rathbone Investment Management

HMRC has confirmed that anyone unable to work their normal hours because of coronavirus will continue to receive tax credits as usual

Multimillionaire Sir Richard Branson has been told that the government is not prepared to hand out a £500m bailout loan for Virgin Atlantic, the airline in which he owns a minority 20% stake, with majority shares held by EU and US owned carriers

Thousands of better-off parents who opted out of receiving child benefit because they had to pay the high income child benefit charge (HICBC) could now be eligible to claim, if they experience a drop in income due to the coronavirus emergency

HMRC has updated its guidance for employers who offer salary sacrifice schemes in light of the current coronavirus pandemic, declaring Covid-19 (C19) to be a ‘life event’ and so a reason to make a change in previous arrangements

Parents of new-borns are still able to claim child benefit, the universal payment for all children, although they are unable to register their baby’s birth due to the coronavirus pandemic, but remember to factor in the high income child benefit tax charge 

April 6 heralds the start of the new tax year, which sees the personal allowance for income tax unchanged, but a hike in the threshold for national insurance contributions (NICs) and a delay to promised reforms to the IR35 off payroll employment rules, reports Pat Sweet

Zero hours workers are entitled to be furloughed under the 80% rules set out in the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme based on an average calculation of monthly earnings, reports Sara White

HMRC is to introduce special arrangements for taxpayers affected by the loan charge rules relating to disguised remuneration tax avoidance schemes, paving the way for some of them to make claims under the government’s coronavirus support scheme for the self-employed, reports Pat Sweet