A raft of ‘exceptional’ enquiries?
Adam Grannell
Last week saw the release of the minutes of the 5 October 2022 meeting of the Wealthy External Forum, a sponsored stakeholder forum run by the HMRC ‘Wealthy’ team who deal with the personal tax affairs of the UK’s wealthiest individuals. The minutes set out an ‘exceptional’ area of interest for HMRC where taxpayers have claimed that they were in the UK for coronavirus related reasons during the 2020/21 tax year.
HMRC will now only answer agents’ ‘complex’ tax return queries
Sian Marsden
HMRC has issued an update to agents stating that in January 2023 HMRC’s Agent Dedicated Line (ADL) will only be able to answer queries on ‘complex’ self-assessment queries.
The unhappiest time of the year: the tax cost of divorce
Stephanie Court
January is often cited as being the busiest month for divorce lawyers, perhaps following New Year’s resolutions or couples spending one last Christmas together. Over the past 50 years, one third of marriages have ended in divorce and the latest statistics reflect a 10% increase in divorce rates between 2020 and 2021. For couples in the process of separating, the tax position can often be unfair and complicated, or overlooked altogether, resulting in a shock tax bill.
New year, new business idea: why entrepreneurs should think about LLPs
Rob Harris
With a financially challenging 2023 likely for many existing and prospective business owners, it’s vital to think about the tax implications of how to structure a business. Since their inception in the early 2000s, Limited Liability Partnerships have traditionally been viewed as a business structure reserved for professional practices like law firms. There are many good reasons why this should not be the case, and we could see a surge in new ones being set up.
A focus on capital taxes is an unwelcome Christmas gift for entrepreneurs
Kate Aitchison
Many business owners are looking forward to the end of 2022, which has heralded a huge amount of change and uncertainty within the tax system. But ahead of a break for many over the Christmas holiday, business owners should be bracing themselves for a renewed focus on capital taxes in the new year. What should they be thinking of ahead of potential changes and increases in capital taxes?
Tribunal cuts off parking VAT windfall for local councils
Sarah Halsted and Scott Harwood
In the latest round of litigation on a long running dispute about car parking charges, The Upper Tribunal has reached the decision that local councils are liable to pay VAT to HMRC on overpayments made by customers because the ticket machine does not give change.
The new year’s resolution handbook for landlords
Chris Etherington
The recent increases in both the tax burden and in interest rates are making it increasingly difficult for buy-to-let landlords to continue their businesses commercially, with many considering whether they should simply sell up. We set out some top tax tips that landlords should be considering to help ease the financial burden.
