A lengthy investigation by the European Commission has concluded that Luxembourg did not offer illegal state aid to McDonald’s with favourable tax treatments, and the reason for the double non-taxation was down to a mismatch between Luxemburg and US tax rules

With soaring property prices, helping your children on to the property ladder might seem like a good idea but can be fraught with tax and other financial consequences. Liz Cuthbertson, partner at Mercer & Hole, examines the options

The Irish government has confirmed receipt of €14.3bn (£12.7bn) from Apple, marking full recovery of the disputed state aid offered to the tech giant, which the EU ruled was an illegal ‘sweetheart’ tax deal more than two years ago

The OECD’s inclusive framework on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) has released additional interpretive guidance to give certainty to tax administrations and multinationals on the implementation of country-by-country reporting (CBCR), which is action 13 in its plan to tackle tax avoidance

Over 40% of businesses about to be affected by Making Tax Digital for VAT are not yet aware of it, despite the April 2019 deadline for its introduction, and 20% have made no preparations, according to research by ICAEW

When a taxpayer owns more than one property it can make sense to apply for principal private residence (PPR) with HMRC if the ownership falls within the two-year time limit. Angela Robson, tax consultant at Croner Taxwise considers the timing issues

Rising house prices and increases in other assets have seen HMRC launch more investigations to ensure individuals are paying the correct amount of inheritance tax (IHT), with the number of tax probes up by 5% this year, according to analysis from UHY Hacker Young

Entrepreneurs’ relief (ER) can easily be lost due to the dilutive effect of a subsequent share issue – but help is at hand, explains Peter Rayney FCA, CTA (Fellow), TEP

The House of Lords has issued a two-week call for evidence into the extension of HMRC powers as part of government plans for Making Tax Digital set out in the draft Finance Bill 2018

A pressure group for people on low incomes has warned that the government’s Help to Save scheme may penalise those who are forced to withdraw funds to pay for unexpected expenses

The first year since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy has seen the number of apprenticeship starters drop by 137,000, although Chancellor Philip Hammond said this decline was expected with more businesses choosing to use their funds for higher-level training programmes

The Treasury has officially launched the government’s new ‘help to save’ savings account, intended to encourage rainy day savings for people with low incomes, which was due to be introduced in April 2018 but has been delayed

Salary sacrifice schemes, under which employees agree to a reduction in salary in exchange for certain benefits, may have VAT implications for the employer. Sarah Kay, tax writer at Croner-i, looks at whether VAT was owed on salary sacrifice schemes in the recent Pertemps case

HMRC’s elite fraud team, the fraud investigation service (FIS), collected £5.47bn in extra tax last year, an increase of £300m (6%) from the previous year, according to analysis by Pinsent Masons which suggests tax authorities are taking advantage of wider powers to launch civil investigations

Tony Chamberlain, VAT adviser at Croner Taxwise explains the differences between recharges and disbursements when reclaiming expenses for consulting work via a VAT-registered business