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Hello,

If you were starting out again in practice, how would you plan your business? If you're in the process of selling up, with the benefit of hindsight is there any advance planning you would have done differently? And, what, if anything, are you doing about Inheritance Tax (IHT) planning?

Hello,

Research prepared for HMRC on the 'Impact of Making Tax Digital for VAT' seems to have been buried on HMRC’s website. Published in July 2021, it reveals something of a mixed picture regarding benefits that Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT can offer businesses.

In Dukeries Healthcare Ltd and Ors v Bay Trust International Ltd, HMRC and Ors [2021] EWHC 2086 (Ch), the High Court dismissed claims to set aside Remuneration Trust arrangements using the equitable doctrine of mistake. There was insufficient evidence of serious mistake and the claimants had accepted the risk the schemes would fail.

Hello,

The introduction of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD for ITSA) for individuals has been postponed yet again. It will now commence on 6 April 2024. General partnerships will not be mandated to join until 2025. The date at which all other types of partnerships will be required to join will be confirmed later. The Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Lucy Frazer, made the announcement to parliament this morning.

In HMRC v Professional Game Match Officials [2021] EWCA Civ1370, the Court of Appeal concluded that the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) and Upper Tribunal (UT) had both erred in law when considering the control and mutuality tests in deciding whether football referees were employees. It refused to decide the employment status of the referees and instead remitted the case back to the FTT.