Since 2010, the government has introduced over 100 new measures to tackle tax non -compliance, which have raised some £200 billion in additional revenue.
Self Assessment tax returns not submitted by the 31 January deadline, incur an automatic £100 late filing penalty. HMRC do not normally “dilly-dally” when issuing penalty notices, however this year is a bit different. The reason? Brexit.
HM Revenue & Customs (‘HMRC’) recently announced the launch of the Profit Diversion Compliance Facility (‘PDCF’), a new disclosure facility for HMRC. This disclosure facility is aimed at helping multinationals disclose any Diverted Profits Tax (‘DPT’) or Transfer Pricing (‘TP’) liabilities which may have arisen as a result of cross-border arrangements.
Fundraising for start-ups or early stage companies has always been a challenging task as anyone who has seen the plucky contestants enter the Dragons’ Den on the hit television programme can agree. However, with a high number of innovative and technology focused companies emerging each year, particularly in the North East, the competition to secure investment is becoming even more challenging.
With Brexit just around the corner and still shrouded in uncertainty, we are all understandably wary of the political road ahead. This may be even more true for those non-UK nationals who are resident here in the UK. Whilst the immediate focus will most likely be on the everyday impact, we should not lose sight of the longer term consequences for the EU national’s assets and exposure to UK Inheritance Tax (“IHT”) on death.
“May you live in interesting times” is allegedly a Chinese proverb (or maybe it’s just a quote from 90s film “Disclosure”!) but there is little doubt that we do indeed live in interesting times. To name but a few issues - at the time of writing, the actual outcome of Brexit remains unclear, potential calls for a second Scottish Independence referendum depending on how Brexit does work out remain, and retailers on our country’s High Streets (and their suppliers/stakeholders), which struggled badly throughout 2018, can’t be looking forward to any real respite in 2019.
HMRC launched the long-awaited consultation into the “Off-payroll working rules from April 2020” for the private sector last week and is open for comment until 28th May 2019. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/off-payroll-working-rules-from-april-2020
It was very welcome to see increased activity in the Oil & Gas sector throughout 2018, with a number of high profile transactions in the upstream exploration & production (E&P) space as well as a strong uptake in Oil & Gas services deals in the final quarter of 2018. We fully expect that this trend will continue throughout 2019.
As a practice owner, you will have to consider the sale of your practice at some point in the future. I have outlined some of the key things to consider in advance of a sale that will assist in maximising the value of your practice and make the process as smooth as possible.
There is no one who can provide certainty of what will happen as Brexit approaches, and entire EU Expat communities are among those who wait with baited breath as we head towards 29th March.
HMRC has recently sent tens of thousands of letters to UK taxpayers, stating that they have information regarding their offshore income or gains. This is a result of recent information exchange agreements with more than 100 countries over the past 2 years, and includes data sourced from financial institutions in countries once regarded as tax havens. The letters originate from the Risk and Intelligence Service Offshore department, who ask individuals to disclose to them any additional liabilities, or to state whether there are none.
Why not “A Common Understanding”? Well, because when it comes to cost sharing, a common understanding is all too rare.
We are now coming to the end of the 3rd full tax year of operating the Payrolling Benefits scheme since its introduction by HMRC back in April 2016. This scheme brought flexibility to employers in reporting employee benefits by providing an option to process them through payroll on a real time basis rather than submitting P11D forms in July after the end of the tax year.
The continued ambiguity surrounding Brexit is an issue that is affecting many different businesses in a variety of different ways, and the international tax implications of Brexit should also be considered.
