Taxman opens investigation into claims Uber owes £1bn in unpaid VAT May 19, 2019 HMRC has opened an investigation into Uber over allegations it owes around £1bn in unpaid VAT. Uber claims it is exempt from paying VAT because its drivers are self-employed and their earnings fall below the £85,000 threshold. However, HMRC is now looking into whether Uber is a transportation company and should therefore be liable to pay [...]
It’s time to challenge Corbyn’s grotesque stereotype of business May 17, 2019 This week, business leader and rich list regular Julian Richer announced that he was handing over 60 per cent of shares in his company to the firm’s 522 employees. You’d be forgiven if you missed this news. Despite Richer Sounds’ 53 stores across the country and annual turnover of £157.5m, the founder is hardly a [...]
Tried-and-failed plan to nationalise energy in the UK is a step backwards May 17, 2019 Last week, I ventured to Athens for this year’s Atlas European Liberty Forum conference, which brings together free market groups, not just from Europe, but from all over the world. It’s always a remarkable experience, which puts into perspective the battles for freedom we face here in the UK. You meet people – particularly young [...]
Morrisons fails to convince despite Ocado deal May 16, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. It talks the talk, and a 6 per cent dividend yield is attractive, but can this £50 billion grocer walk the walk? Morrisons (LSE:MRW) offered more evidence of its "ever-improving shape" after a robust trading update and intriguing deal to re-write its online partnership with Ocado. While the supermarket's shares [...]
Two-thirds of small businesses say government is not on their side, new poll reveals May 16, 2019 Two-thirds of small businesses do not feel the government is on their side, a new survey has revealed in a report calling for a radical shake-up of the tax system. A YouGov poll for the Centre of Policy Studies think-tank shows 62 per cent of small business owners and managers don’t believe those in power [...]
Royal Returns – Interactive Investor on funds and trusts fit for children May 15, 2019 | City Talk By Jemma Jackson from interactive investor. Whilst the latest addition to the Royal family won’t want for much, it’s unlikely that any investments made on his behalf will be left to languish in cash. This contrasts with the majority of the nation’s Junior ISAs, where 70 per cent by number are in cash in the 2017/18 [...]
Business risks ‘Corbygeddon’ if it doesn’t learn to speak up May 15, 2019 The headline in the Sunday Times was stark: “Rich prepare to flee Corbyn’s Britain as Tories desert PM”. The country’s millionaires and billionaires were, according to the compilers of the paper’s annual rich list, preparing for “Corbygeddon” – the prospect of a hard-left Labour government making an irreparable dent in both their own finances and the [...]
DEBATE: Is the Tesco boss right to call for slashed business rates and an online tax to save the high street? May 15, 2019 Is the Tesco boss right to call for slashed business rates and an online tax to save the high street? Robert Palmer, executive director of Tax Justice UK, says YES. Tesco’s Dave Lewis is right: the way we tax high street shops and online firms isn’t working. The tax system benefits companies like Amazon and Google, [...]
Why Domino’s Pizza sell-off was overcooked May 14, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. Hungry bargain hunters gobbled up shares in Domino's, correctly betting than an early slump was unfair. After selling 12 pizzas every second on New Year's Day, the rest of 2019 certainly hasn't panned out in the same emphatic fashion for Domino's Pizzaor its investors. Shares slumped as much as [...]
Could Capita’s move to put workers to boards fix capitalism’s crisis? May 14, 2019 Capitalism is being questioned in Britain more intensely than for decades. Some want to destroy it. Others believe that it is the only economic system which works, but want to reform it. I am in the latter camp. Part of the debate around Brexit has centred on preserving workers’ rights, enshrined in EU law. But rights [...]