17/02/2007, by Patrick C Soares, Tax article - General
Patrick C Soares, Barrister, considers what a general anti-avoidance rule might look like based on the 'Ramsay' approach.Introduction The Ramsay approach to statutory interpretation, which has evolved over the last 20 years, is not easy to tie down. If it were to be in statutory form at present it may look like the section set out below. Perhaps an important feature of the approach is that it has to stay nebulous. It was given some of the attributes of a statute by Lord Brightman in ... Continue Reading
17/02/2007, by Andrew Needham, Tax article - VAT & Excise Duties
Andrew Needham, Director of VAT Solutions (UK) Ltd, highlights recent VAT decisions.ECJ says supplies of dental prostheses to other EU Member States is taxableThe ECJ recently delivered its judgment in a case concerning the treatment of intra-EU supplies of dental prostheses. The Appellant is a Luxembourg company that makes and repairs dental prostheses for customers in Germany. Under Luxembourg law, these goods and services are exempt from VAT in accordance with Article 13A(1)(e) of the Sixth ... Continue Reading
16/02/2007, by Sarah Laing, Tax news - HMRC Administration, Practice and Methods
A quick guide to recent additions to the HM Revenue & Customs website.Week ending 16 February What’s new? Charities receiving bank or building society interest - key information customer guide updated;HMRC Brief 17/07: Clarifies that Statement of Practice SP 13/91 (Ex gratia payments made on termination of an office or employment due to retirement or death) was withdrawn with effect from 6 April 2006;HMRC Brief 14/07: VAT : Changes to the rules on bad debt relief for goods supplied on credit ... Continue Reading
15/02/2007, by Sarah Laing, Tax news - Business Tax
HMRC have published a new Tactical and Information Package (TIP) covering Confectioners, Tobacconists and Newsagents.TIPS are trade and profession-based notes for internal use by HMRC officers. These notes combine sector/trade information together with tactical information and risk reviews with the primary purpose of supporting compliance activity throughout the department. The notes are also designed to improve commercial awareness by providing trade- based information on particular business sectors ... Continue Reading
14/02/2007, by Sarah Laing, Tax news - Business Tax
HMRC have published Brief 15/07: PAYE update, which reminds employers of their online reporting obligations from April 2007.From 6 April 2008, employers with 50 or more employees will have to send their employee starting and leaving details and some pension information to HMRC electronically. From 2010, electronic filing with be mandatory for all employers.Although early online filing is, of course, to be encouraged, employers and agents should note that they are currently not obliged to send forms ... Continue Reading
12/02/2007, by Sarah Laing, Tax news - Professionals in Practice & Industry
The High Court has upheld the decision of the Special Commissioners in D'Arcy v HMRC. According to the case report, the taxpayer had entered into a REPO transaction for the sole purpose of reducing her income tax liability. This transaction had created a manufactured interest deduction under the REPO legislation.HMRC contended, at first, that the Ramsay principle applied to the transaction as a whole to deny a deduction for the manufactured interest. However, they later abandoned ... Continue Reading
10/02/2007, by Ian Fleming FIIT, Tax article - General
Ian Fleming, FIIT, author of The Environmental Taxes Handbook, provides an overview of carbon credits, and outlines the tax treatment of carbon trading. OverviewThe majority of the international scientific community now accept that global warming is a fact that we have to face. There is predicted to be no snow on Mt Kilimanjaro by 2020 and no ice at the North Pole by 2080, and many scientists attribute the increase in extremes of weather, from hurricanes to droughts, to global warming.The ... Continue Reading
10/02/2007, by Andrew Needham, Tax article - VAT & Excise Duties
Andrew Needham, Director of VAT Solutions (UK) Ltd, reports on the future mandatory online filing of VAT returns, and HMRC changes in registering new businesses for VAT. Get Carter!Lord Carter has undertaken a review of the Governments online services – “so what?” you may well ask! Well, he has recommended that all filing should be done online, including VAT returns, and so a mandatory filing and paying of VAT returns will now be phased in from 2008. The schedule for introduction ... Continue Reading
10/02/2007, by Matthew Hutton MA, CTA (fellow), AIIT, TEP, Tax article - Inheritance Tax, IHT, Trusts & Estates, Capital Taxes
Matthew Hutton MA, CTA (fellow), AIIT, TEP highlights a potential Inheritance Tax problem involving bare trusts.ContextIt appears that HMRC are not going to produce guidance specifically dedicated to Schedule 20, Finance Act 2006, but rather are going to feed additional material into the existing IHT Manual. This is a pity.Bare trusts for minors: HMRC’s answer to Question 33HMRC’s response to Question 33 remains of concern. In a letter to STEP/CIOT on 8 December 2006, HMRC ... Continue Reading
09/02/2007, by Sarah Laing, Tax news - HMRC Administration, Practice and Methods
A quick guide to recent additions to the HM Revenue & Customs website.Week ending 9 February What’s new? CIS factsheets CIS342 to CIS344 are now available online in 12 foreign languages;Trusts:draft amending legislation for two minor omissions identified in the 2006 Trust Modernisation legislation;To tax or not to tax? – A guide to trading online;New guidelines to promote fair treatment of work experience placements in the television industry;Share schemes: Information ... Continue Reading
