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Following its loss on Appeal of the InsuranceWide and Trader Media VAT cases, the UK tax authorities have declared last week that they will not appeal against the judgement.  This means insurance introductory and comparison websites will be treated as a VAT exempt service, opening up the opportunity to reclaim overpaid VAT.  However, it may lead to an unexpected VAT bill for insurers with service agreements with such websites.UK taxman in conflict with EuropeUK VAT rules are governed by Directives ... Continue Reading

HM Revenue & Customs has announced that it has had to redeploy some of its staff at the Central Agent Authorisation Team in Longbenton, so that the turnaround time for paper Forms 64-8 and Self Assessment Registrations will significantly increase. This has proved necessary in light of other, 'higher priority' work and is expected to last until 31 October 2010.The original publicised target turnaround time for clients already in Self Assessment was just one working day from receipt.Paper 64-8s for ... Continue Reading

Steve Allen of VAT Advisers Ltd offers some useful tips for director shareholders who are considering transferring their company's trading property into a pension fund.IntroductionIt is common practice for trading companies to transfer their commercial property into a pension fund for the shareholder directors. In most cases, the property is rented back to the trading company to generate income for the pension fund. However, the VAT implications of the transfer, and the potential savings and pitfalls ... Continue Reading

Julie Butler comments on a recent 'spotlight' on arrangements considered by HMRC to be unacceptable tax planning subject to possible challenge, and their application to farming businesses. IntroductionHMRC have published “Spotlight 8”, which concerns investments made by taxpayers to obtain trade loss reliefs. This tax relief is also known as “sideways Income Tax loss relief". Typically, the arrangements/schemes coming under scrutiny involve a large tax loss being generated, either in partnership ... Continue Reading

For the 3rd year running, TaxationWeb.co.uk, the UK's leading independent tax website, was ranked as one of the Top 10 UK accountancy websites, by Experian Hitwise.Twice a year, Hitwise awards the 10 most popular websites across over 160 categories. From January - June, 2010, www.taxationweb.co.uk was ranked #7 in the Hitwise United Kingdom 'Business and Finance - Accountancy' industry based on monthly average market share.The Hitwise UK Top 10 Awards Programme celebrates the most successful UK websites ... Continue Reading

Working from home is increasingly popular, but could it affect your Capital Gains Tax (CGT) Private Residence Relief when you come to sell?IntroductionPrivate Residence Relief is perhaps one of the best well-known tax reliefs, allowing a person to sell his or her (main) home without triggering a liability to CGT. As with most reliefs, its availability is contingent on certain conditions being met.Main ResidenceThe relief applies to the disposal of a person’s 'principal' (main) residence. As the ... Continue Reading

Mark McLaughlin comments on a recent tax case where the early filing of a tax return caused problems for the taxpayer, when carrying back charitable payments under Gift Aid. IntroductionThe reduction in personal allowances for those with income exceeding £100,000 was introduced from 6 April 2010 for 2010-11 and later years. The effect of legislation introduced in Finance Act 2009 is that personal allowances above that level are tapered away, and at current levels are reduced to nil if adjusted net ... Continue Reading

Julie Butler looks at various tax issues concerning wind farms.  IntroductionWith the increased number of “wind farms” and the increased income arising from wind turbines the question is being asked what are the Income Tax, Inheritance Tax (IHT) and Capital Gains Tax (CGT) positions relating to the asset and the income? For IHT purposes the answer has to be that the wind turbines are placed with large distances between each turbine and a lot of business/farming activity can take place around ... Continue Reading

Steven Allen of VAT Advisers Ltd provides an update on VAT grouping issues. BackgroundBack in November 2009, the European Commission announced that it was taking infringement proceedings against the UK and seven other Member States for breaches of the EU VAT grouping rules. Under this procedure, the offending states have two months to change their legislation, after which, the Commission can refer the matter to the ECJ. To date, only Spain has complied, so the remaining seven States, including the ... Continue Reading

Mark McLaughlin highlights the demise of Extra Statutory Concessions (ESCs)IntroductionExtra Statutory Concessions (ESCs) have been with us for decades, but are now slowly disappearing. This follows the House of Lords' decision in R v HM Commissioners of Inland Revenue ex p Wilkinson [2006] STC 270, which raised issues about the validity of ESCs and the extent of HMRC’s discretion to make and apply them under its care and management (now ‘collection and management’) powers in TMA 1970 s 1(1).The ... Continue Reading