The Government has confirmed that the 2008 Pre-Budget Report will be presented by Chancellor Alastair Darling at 3.30pm on Monday 24 November 2008. Continue Reading
The long-awaited Pre-Budget Report could be expected next week. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to fuel further talk of possible tax cuts by saying they could help to support consumer spending. Speaking in London today, the PM said he was looking "at everything" that could help the economy and would announce details within days.According to the BBC's Nick Robinson, Mr Brown has been dropping hints that he would be prepared to borrow more to fund tax cuts but that nothing was certain until the ... Continue Reading
HMRC have issued a statement on what must be contained in a NIC election before approval can be granted.Back in July 2001, a facility was introduced to allow employees to meet the employer’s secondary Class 1 National Insurance contributions (NICs) liability arising on share option gains. Broadly, this can be achieved either by agreement or joint election between an employer and an employee. However, unlike an agreement, a joint election constitutes the legal transfer of liability for payment from ... Continue Reading
John Andrews of the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group points out that the drive towards online filing by HM Revenue & Customs may come at a cost for certain taxpayers. Online filing 'push'Many partnerships who do not have agents to represent them could get caught out by the new filing deadlines, and suffer a penalty charge.HMRC have been driving the online filing push with Moira Stuart reminding people to file paper returns by 31 October. Really HMRC want you to file online, but they forget to ... Continue Reading
Julie Butler, FCA, of Butler & Co. offers some practical advice for IHT purposes regarding gifts and loans. IntroductionHM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) guidance which applies from 31 March 2008 states that there will be greater scrutiny of lifetime transfers. In its first “IHT and Trusts Newsletter”, HMRC included a note that it intended to pay close attention to such transfers. The HMRC theme for the documentation of all estates above and below the £Nil Rate Band is similar to the requirements ... Continue Reading
Matthew Hutton MA, CTA (fellow), AIIT, TEP comments on HMRC's draft revisions to the section of its Inheritance Tax Manual concerning Agricultural Property Relief. ContextHMRC released on 19 August 2008, for comment by 30 September 2008, draft revisions to the APR section of the Manual. The main changes are in Section 3 (Agricultural Property), Section 5 (Occupation) and Section 11 (Value and Valuation).Farmhouses (i) Draft guidanceWithin Section 3 of the draft amendments, HMRC state the following:"A ... Continue Reading
International businessman Robert Gaines-Cooper has failed to persuade the Court of Appeal that he has changed his UK domicile.The globe-trotting entrepreneur is now facing a multimillion-pound tax bill after failing to persuade senior judges that he has non-UK domiciled status because his home for more than 30 years has been a Seychelles villa. Despite living in the Seychelles for this length of time, and wishing to have his ashes scattered there when he dies, his ties with the UK still remain strong. ... Continue Reading
Mark McLaughlin CTA (Fellow) ATT TEP highlights a potential pitfall regarding the 'loans to participators' tax rules. Inter-company loans It is not an uncommon ‘exit’ strategy for retiring shareholders to sell their shares to a newly-formed holding company. This can happen in management buyout (MBO) situations, or possibly for tax or commercial reasons of the purchaser. For example, ‘Holdco’ may offer shares or cash to all shareholders of ‘Tradeco’, with the exiting shareholder(s) ... Continue Reading
Matthew Hutton MA, CTA (Fellow), AIIT, TEP, Presenter of Monthly Tax Review, highlights an interesting analysis of the clawback provisions affecting Business Property Relief (BPR) and Agricultural Property Relief (APR) for Inheritance Tax purposes. ContextThere is an interesting distinction in the operation of the clawback between the case where there is an initial PET on the one hand and an immediately chargeable transfer on the other (IHTA 1984, s 113A(1) and (2) for BPR and s 124A(1) and (2) ... Continue Reading
Welcome to version 3 of the TaxationWeb website. This is the third major site upgrade since we launched the website back in 2000.Over the years we have been adding and removing bits and pieces to the website, and we have changed the design a few times, but this is the third time we have substantially changed the look and feel of the site.For those of you who have been with us since TaxationWeb was founded, you may remember how we have grown from a small accountants' website to UK’s largest independent ... Continue Reading
