Enter Your E-mail

Matthew Hutton MA, CTA (fellow), AIIT, TEP comments on the recent Special Commissioners' decision in The Peter Clay Discretionary Trust v HMRC.ContextMatthew HuttonHMRC’s guidance on trust management expenses published on 2 February 2006 said at para 9.34 about trustees’ fees: ‘The irresistible conclusion is that the annual fee reflects work on behalf of both income and capital.  Since the work done is for the benefit of the whole estate the fee should be charged to capital ... Continue Reading

Andrew Needham provides a run-down of helpful VAT ideas for Charities.Andrew Needham1. Are you operating as a business?The fundamental question is - does my organisation operate as a business in any way? If it doesn't, you won't be able to recover any VAT on any of your costs. Despite seeming like a simple question there are grey areas that need to be taken into consideration. Examples include providers of funding who require services in return, such as local authority or government bodies. ... Continue Reading

A quick guide to recent additions to the HM Revenue & Customs website.Week ending 25 May  What’s new?Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS) list updated;Employer talk 2008 - details of some planned events;HMRC strategic framework for tackling criminal finances;Intermediaries for tax credits and child benefit;Share Focus – Issue 5 available;Employer Mailings survey 2007 - HMRC will shortly be conducting research to evaluate the range of support services and guidance ... Continue Reading

Bob Fraser, MBE, MBA, MA, FPFS, TEP comments on recent HMRC guidelines on a popular form of inheritance tax planning arrangements. IntroductionHMRC has updated its guidelines on the basis on which the discounts are to be calculated by providers. This will slightly reduce future discounts and therefore increase the size of the gift or transfer. There is a more significant issue with joint settlor cases where the guidelines make a more radical change to the basis of the discounts. This may affect a ... Continue Reading

In the fourth and final part of a series of notes on the inheritance tax (IHT) treatment of trusts after Finance Act 2006, Matthew Hutton MA, CTA (fellow), AIIT, TEP considers important capital gains tax implications of the IHT trust regime, a IHT reservation of benefit issue, some practical implications and possible action points.  Matthew HuttonCapital Gains Tax ConsequentialsPart 4 of Sch 20 amends TCGA as follows.Section 72 Termination of Life Interest on Death of Person EntitledThis is ... Continue Reading

In April 2007, HMRC issued Revenue & Customs Brief 36/07 entitled 'VAT input tax deduction without a valid VAT invoice: Revised statement of practice'.  Andrew Needham looks at the reasons for the revised policy and its likely effect on businesses.Andrew NeedhamThe statement of practice is an update of an earlier July 2003 version, and is very much aimed towards the anti-MTIC fraud effort because of its specific address to supplies of computers, telephones and other related equipment, ... Continue Reading

HMRC have commissioned Ipsos-MORI, an independent research company, to carry out comprehensive research into tax-advantaged Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI).The research will examine the experiences of employers and employees in offering or holding EMI share options, and their perceptions of the effects of EMI on employee behaviour and company performance. The aim of the research is to enable HMRC to assess whether any reported effects suggest that EMI has met its policy objectives, namely:to ... Continue Reading

HMRC have published Brief 40/07, which provides revised guidance on capital allowances on overseas leasing under CA 2001, ss. 109 and 110, in relation to leases entered into before 1 April 2006.The Capital Allowances Act 2001, Part 2, Chapter 11 contains rules in connection with leasing plant or machinery to lessees based outside the UK. Within this chapter, sections 109 and 110 restrict the amount of writing down allowances that may be claimed:where section 109 applies the rate of writing down allowances ... Continue Reading

HMRC have announced that the Commissioners of the Australian, Canadian, UK and US tax administrations have decided to open a second Joint International Tax Shelter Information Centre (JITSIC).The new centre will be opened in London in Autumn 2007.JITSIC was established in 2004 by the tax administrations of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, to supplement the ongoing work of the Australian Taxation Office, the Canada Revenue Agency, HM Revenue & Customs, and the Internal ... Continue Reading

The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) welcomes the removal of the wording ‘HMRC thinks’ from the Finance Bill 2007.  The wording was to be used in relation to penalties.In its response summary document to the Finance Bill 2007, the Institute said that it objected to the phrase ‘HMRC think that’ in clauses 1, 2 and 3 of the draft legislation, and similar phraseology in clauses 8 to 11, believing that it is  too wide-ranging a phrase.In its response document, ... Continue Reading