Filed under: HMRC
Do you have a gold card or executive membership for any clubs and services? Most clients will have experienced the slightly superior service they will be offered as a ‘high net worth’ customer. Almost every organisation is tailoring its services to suit the perceived value of the individual customer; it’s often wrapped up within the phrase ‘one-to-one’ marketing.
Keen not to miss the boat, HMRC also adopted a similar strategy to segmenting its ‘customers’ and the ‘service grade’ it provides when it originally launched the Affluent Compliance Team. This was set up in 2010 to carefully scrutinise the financial affairs of the wealthiest taxpayers in the UK and has recently been expanded as we will discuss.
(more…)
June 17, 2013
Anyone who runs a limited company and works as a freelance consultant or contractor will be aware of IR35 and how it can affect their tax liability. The IR35 legislation was originally introduced in the 1990s to expose taxpayers who were effectively employees but were being paid for their services through a limited company and therefore able to reduce their tax and national insurance liabilities. (more…)
May 23, 2013
Earlier this month it was confirmed by HMRC that all UK overseas territories – The Cayman Islands, Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands – now have in place automatic tax disclosure deals with the Government. This means they are automatically exchanging financial information with the UK and France, Germany, Italy and Spain to identify taxpayers who are under-declaring their income.
(more…)
May 23, 2013
Over the past few months we have blogged about the issue of corporate entities and the benefits of a business considering different structures, which may include an LLP or a limited company. Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are a popular choice for those providing professional services because although they may not be as tax efficient as a limited company, they offer greater flexibility.
It is common for LLPs to have a ‘secondary’ band of partners, usually known as salaried partners. These partners will typically receive a salary and may perhaps be allocated a small share of business profits, they are usually treated as self employed and HMRC have not generally challenged this status. Now however, in line with HMRC’s strategy to close as many ‘loopholes’ of (what it regards as) tax avoidance as possible, there are some important changes to be aware of. (more…)
May 14, 2013
HMRC has recently turned its attentions to property owners and investors with the launch of new taskforces and initiatives to recover additional tax revenues. Firstly, aimed at buy-to-let landlords in the South East, HMRC currently has a taskforce monitoring the activities of landlords whose self assessment tax returns may not reflect the value of their property portfolios. If you have rental property and think you may have underpaid tax, please seek professional advice. This particular initiative is not accompanied by an opportunity for landlords to avoid penalties for outstanding tax owed and any declarations should be treated with caution to avoid further enquiries being opened. (more…)
April 9, 2013
Time is running out very quickly for self-employed people who sell directly to customers and who haven’t paid all the tax they owe. They have just two weeks left to voluntarily come forward to HMRC and pay their dues. This time limited Amnesty will expire on February 28th 2013, so if you think you might owe unpaid taxes, you should act quickly to avoid penalties. (more…)
February 18, 2013
We are living in an era of greater financial equality than in the past, which means that spouses or partners are more able, in these enlightened times, to be ‘discreet’ with one another over the exact amount of their earnings. These days, many couples prefer not to disclose salary details to their partner and where they do maintain a joint account, may simply do so for household budgeting.
This practice is a result of many years of growing equality, which has now been delivered a side swipe by the Treasury by the introduction of some rather over-complicated changes to child benefit payments. A by-product of these changes is that the income levels of many individuals will be made clear to their partner, whether they want them to or not. (more…)
November 27, 2012
HMRC has confirmed it plans to re-start the Business Record Checks programme originally launched last year from November 26th. This time, it says it’s going to be taking a “fresh approach” to visits, which are aimed at SME business owners based in London and the South East.
(more…)
November 21, 2012
Last week’s news was full of stories relating to major companies – Starbucks, Apple, Facebook and most recently, eBay – and the low tax bills they are able to sustain. Despite appearances what these organisations do to reduce their tax liabilities is perfectly legitimate, allowable under the transfer pricing rules. It is a valid tax planning strategy because for the most part, these multinational businesses have their European operations based in Ireland, where the rate of corporation tax is much lower. (more…)
October 24, 2012
As part of RJP’s ongoing analysis of new HMRC tax initiatives, we discuss the latest to potentially affect our clients. Two new HMRC anti-fraud campaigns are underway to collect additional revenues from taxpayers who have under-declared their income levels. (more…)
September 13, 2012
Previous page
