Enter Your E-mail

Peter Vaines looks at some important cases for property owners hoping to claim Business Property Relief, HMRC's use of its powers under FA 2008 Sch 36 to request information from taxpayers, and how long HMRC can take to decide it has discovered a taxpayer has paid insufficient tax.   IHT Business Property Relief It is well known that HMRC are reluctant to allow business property relief for inheritance tax where the business is that of letting property. They have consistently taken the view ... Continue Reading

RSM UK's Andrew Hubbard and Brad Ashton warn that some businesses will have to register NOW if they want to trade in the EU after Brexit.   Trading With the EU In the current febrile political atmosphere, it sometimes feels as if we need a daily, if not hourly, weekly tax brief to keep you up-to-date with all that is happening with Brexit. Indeed, it would not be surprising to find that in the time that you take to read this piece everything will have changed again. But one thing is certain: ... Continue Reading

RSM's Shirley McIntosh considers the likely impact of the Scottish Budget, and points out that some taxpayers can use the regime to be taxed at more favourable Westminster rates. Scotland’s finance secretary has already alluded to the possibility of further rate increases for higher taxpayers in Scotland – but at what level of divergence is tolerable for Scottish taxpayers? Due to tax reform changes in last year’s Budget, Scottish taxpayers earning more than £33,000 already ... Continue Reading

When working out the profits or losses of your business, you can deduct any allowable expenses that you incur in running your business to arrive at the profit (or loss) figure before tax. There is a lot of confusion as to what can and cannot be deducted.  To ensure that you claim the maximum permissible deductions for business expenses, it is important that you: understand the rules as to what can be deducted; appreciate what expenses are not allowable, and why;   understand when ... Continue Reading

Peter Vaines reflects on the 2018 Budget and considers a foreign tax case with possible implications for our own HMRC...   Non-Resident CGT Returns and Other Disposals of UK Dwellings There has been no end of criticism about the penalties for the failure to submit Non-Resident CGT returns and the excessively onerous obligations. HMRC have no sympathy; taxpayers ought to know the rules because they are all quite clear – except that not even the judges can agree what those obligations ... Continue Reading

Book Review - Taxation of Companies and Company Reconstructions (Ninth Edition) Authors: Alun James, John Lindsay and Michael Collins Published by Sweet & Maxwell Introduction ‘Taxation of Companies and Company Reconstructions’ is now in its ninth edition. The first edition was way back in 1973. It has been ever-present throughout my career as a Chartered Tax Adviser (although I hasten to add that I was still at junior school in 1973!). Over the years, it has become an established ... Continue Reading

Lee Sharpe rounds up the headline 2018 Budget News, for TaxationWeb readers All tax-related documents are here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/budget-2018 Few will have failed to spot that the Chancellor’s declaration that “austerity is coming to an end” was not quite as definite as his boss’ earlier assurance that “austerity is over”. Even so, the 2018 Red Book forecasts that, overall, the measures announced will result in some huge variances against ... Continue Reading

--2018 Budget Commentary provided by Grant Thornton-- Or, in other words, a budget designed to prepare for a post-Brexit world and to honour the prime minister’s pledge to end the era of austerity. So how did that translate into tax policy decisions? Well, it translated into a net £5 billion tax giveaway over the period to 2023-2024. Many tax-related announcements feed into that net £5 billion. Here are some of the key tax announcements. Addressing the Challenges Posed by the ... Continue Reading

Peter Vaines looks at a recent case that demonstrates how duality of purpose has moved on since Mallalieu v Drummond and considers alternate reality of NRCGT penalties. Again.   Duality of Purpose  The wholly and exclusively rule and the concept of duality of purpose has dogged tax advisers and their clients for generations.   Businessmen find it completely incomprehensible (they have another word for it) that expenditure which is obviously incurred entirely for business purposes ... Continue Reading

David Whiscombe comments for BrassTax on a change of legislation for penalties for carelessness in avoidance arrangements. Introduction If HMRC find that your tax return understates your tax liability, you can expect them to raise the question of penalties,  but only if the inaccuracy was either deliberate or due to your carelessness.  To put it another way, if you take “reasonable care” to get your tax right, you cannot become liable to pay a penalty even if, despite your ... Continue Reading