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Tax cheats who have been hiding investments and assets in the Isle of Man, Guernsey or Jersey to evade tax are being asked to pay the tax they owe before HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) clamps down on them. Ground-breaking agreements will tackle offshore tax evasion using bank accounts and other structures in the Crown Dependencies. The tax evaders have until 30 September 2016 to disclose hidden assets or investments and pay the tax, interest and any penalties due. At the end of this period, ... Continue Reading

Over 70,000 Pay As You Earn (PAYE) returns have been submitted using Real Time Information (RTI) since 6 April.  The new PAYE reporting system, known as Real Time Information (RTI), started on 6 April 2013. Employers report PAYE in real time from their first pay day on or after 6 April each time they pay their employees, rather than yearly, under RTI. Ruth Owen, HMRC’s Director General Personal Tax, said:  “RTI is the biggest change to PAYE in 70 years and it is great ... Continue Reading

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has launched a new raft of free online webinars giving tax help. The live webinars are led by HMRC staff and include time for participants to ask questions online. Some of the webinars are also available as pre-recorded versions that can be watched at any time of day. The latest webinars cover employer annual returns, business record-keeping and tax advice for childminders. Attendees can take part from their own home or office, or on the move using a smartphone ... Continue Reading

Inheritance tax (IHT) is charged on the value (assets less liabilities) of a person’s estate on death. The first £325,000 is exempt (the ‘nil rate band’) and the balance is taxed at 40%.   Inheritance tax planning – any property • Transfers between spouses/civil partners are exempt, therefore if property is left to the surviving spouse there will be no IHT due on the first death but may be on the second death.    • If a gift of a property ... Continue Reading

HMRC has announced a couple of updates as regards Real Time Information reporting: New Starter Process - Employees with More than One Job The previous guidance required Statement C and the Basic Rate Code BR to be applied in all cases - so that the employee might end up paying Basic Rate tax on all employment income sources. The guidance has been amended to allow the P45 to be used and Statement B to be applied, where appropriate. Real Time Information - Starter Declarations from 6 April ... Continue Reading

Mark McLaughlin thinks it's time for HM Revenue & Customs to embrace the Digital Age. The UK's tax system continued to be dragged kicking and screaming into the electronic era on 6 April 2013, with the introduction of PAYE Real Time Information (RTI). For all its forecast teething problems, RTI was really inevitable. The administration of PAYE was in urgent need of modernisation, although it must be said that ultimately the driving force behind the introduction of RTI arose from the ... Continue Reading

Mark McLaughlin CTA (Fellow) ATT TEP outlines some important points about the main residence election. Introduction An individual who is fortunate enough to have more than one residence may well find a main residence election useful in terms of optimising Private Residence Relief. The legislation concerning the election is contained in TCGA 1992 s 222(5). It states: “(5) So far as it is necessary for the purposes of this section to determine which of 2 or more residences is ... Continue Reading

The biggest shake up of the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system in nearly 70 years - Real Time Information - starts from 6 April, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reminded employers today. Employers will be required to move to a new way of reporting PAYE in real time, sometimes called Real Time Information (RTI), where they report to HMRC each time they pay employees, rather than annually. This updates the PAYE system so that it is quicker, easier and more accurate. With the introduction of RTI, ... Continue Reading

In Lord Howard of Henderskelfe (Deceased) v Revenue and Customs [2013] UKUT 129 (TCC) – a CGT case – the Upper Tribunal found that a painting was in fact plant used by a business. As plant, and therefore a wasting asset by virtue of TCGA 1992 s 44(1)(c), it was exempt from CGT. It may seem strange for a valuable painting to be considered a “wasting asset” but it is important to note that s 44(1)(c) deems it to be so for CGT purposes, if it is plant. This case is ... Continue Reading

From 1 April 2013, HM Revenue & Customs has introduced the Managing Serious Defaulters Programme, effectively to increase the scope of the Managing Deliberate Defaulters Programme. The original Programme which was introduced early in 2011, aimed specifically at those taxpayers (including businesses) who had been found deliberately to have understated their tax liability, or had been investigated under Code of Practice 9 (COP9) procedures. The new regime – Managing Serious Defaulters ... Continue Reading