City minister pledges ‘competitive tax rates’ for UK financial services sector ahead of Budget September 20, 2021 John Glen has promised that the UK’s financial services sector will benefit from “competitive tax rates,” ahead of the next Budget on 27 October, according to reports. “To be competitive, we have to have competitive tax rates and that’s what’s on the chancellor’s mind at the moment,” the City minister told the Financial Times, which first reported the [...]
Exclusive: ‘I felt sorry for the people of Belgium,’ says Estonia’s Prime Minister September 14, 2021 An artificial intelligence assistant for every citizen? AI to help unemployed people back into work or to suggest a career change? Bots telling you when to visit your GP? All this may sound a tad futuristic, but not for the government of the tiny Baltic state of Estonia. In fact, the country has grand ambitions [...]
HMRC confirms probe into 153 people suspected of aiding tax evasion September 13, 2021 HMRC has confirmed it is investigating 153 suspected ‘enablers of tax evasion’, including unregulated tax advisers. Cracking down on ‘enablers of tax evasion’ has been a key area of focus for HMRC since it established its Fraud Investigation Service in 2015. HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service has been given additional resources to recruit more staff and, as a result, the number of investigations into [...]
Support for Conservative party lags behind Labour days after NI tax hike September 10, 2021 Support for prime minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative party has slumped to its lowest level since 2019’s election, according to a new YouGov poll. The poll, first shared with the Times, showed that support for the Conservatives has dipped to 33 per cent, while Labour’s support has climbed to 35 per cent. While it is just [...]
Tax hike: National Insurance increase likely to trigger redundancies once furlough ends September 8, 2021 With the furlough scheme being withdrawn at the end of this month, the increase in National Insurance will make the cost of keeping jobs more expensive for employers, tax experts and accountants told Morning Wire today. Yesterday, Brits were told they will be hit with £12bn-a-year tax rises to pay for increases in NHS and [...]
Exclusive: National Insurance hiked by 135 per cent in 20 years, much faster than any other tax September 7, 2021 The government announced a new Health and Social Care Levy earlier today, which will effectively hike National Insurance Contributions for employees and employers by 1.25 per cent from April 2022. So how often are NICs used to pay for government investments and additional public spending? Morning Wire studied the last twenty years. Tax receipts from [...]
Cairn Energy plans £500m shareholder bonanza following Indian tax windfall September 7, 2021 London-listed oil and gas firm Cairn Energy said this morning that a long-running tax dispute with India is nearing its conclusion, paving the way for a £506m handout to shareholders. Bosses said today they expect the country’s government to hand over close to £770m after officials seized a stake in its Indian operations as part [...]
Accounting body urges government to scrap tax reform plans September 1, 2021 The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has today called for the government to drop tax reform plans which, the accounting body says, “will likely to create as many problems as it might solve”. The ICAEW today published a response to the UK government’s consultation on basis period reform. It reiterated the [...]
Tax and accounting bodies call for government to delay reporting reforms August 23, 2021 UK tax and accounting bodies have urged the government to delay reforms to the tax system which would affect how self-employed people and businesses report their profits. In a letter sent to Treasury financial secretary Jesse Norman, representatives from five tax and accounting bodies, including the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales and [...]
Businesses support changing the tax year dates August 17, 2021 A poll has found that 91 per cent of medium sized firms support simplifying the tax system by changing the end of the tax year to December 31. The survey, conducted by international accounting firm BDO, found that businesses overwhelmingly believe that the time is right to align the tax date with the end to [...]