Hello
Making Tax Digital (MTD) for business has been postponed for every tax except VAT and we have new guidance anti-phoenixing rules, an update on the next Finance Bill, new guidance on both Personal Service Companies and Persons with Significant Control.
Happily for most advisers and their clients, and unhappily for many software companies the government has decided to revise the staging dates for MTD, only VAT registered business will be MTD quarterly reporting and only for VAT from 2019. Those within income tax do not have to start reporting until 2020. This still does not allow much time if you factor the evaluation of the ongoing and newly starting MTD pilot studies together with the demands of Brexit into the equation. We can see that HMRC have got an absurdly tricky task of inventing enough statutory instruments to both fine tune MTD and VAT upon Brexit.
The Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mel Stride has also confirmed that the Summer Finance bill will also slip back to after the summer. This is a bit troublesome given that we are going to have another Finance Bill come November and then the Budget, although we have a lot of legislation which was due to start and will now be backdated to April 2017 (think non-dom rules, losses, interest restrictions, cash basis for landlords).
I am now getting to the stage of feeling pretty annoyed by all the stopping and starting and moving of goalposts. No doubt in a couple of years' time the House of Commons' Treasury Select Committee will make a report on the awful way that MTD (and probably Brexit) has been handled. We welcome their new chair, Nicky Morgan who replaces Sir Andrew Tyrie in that role.
What else is new this week? Read on below.
If you have any tax queries please do try out our Virtual Tax Partner support portal at www.VtaxP.co.uk
Back soon
Nichola Ross Martin FCA, CTA (Fellow) Tax Director
Your Virtual Tax Partner®: online PRACTICAL support for accountants & tax advisers BY accountants & tax advisers
Quick news (freeview)
Making Tax Digital postponed
New announcements from government with revised MTD timetables and links to our toolkits and briefings.
Time for a statutory employment test?
Matthew Taylor's 116 page Review of Modern Working Practices sounds like the work of the Victorian social reformer. The review's recommendations include a statutory employment test together with a more dynamic system of taxation for the self employed that will see the abolition of the ‘cash job’.
Updated guidance for PSCs
HMRC have released two updates for personal service companies (PSC).
Online trust registration now active
The trusts and complex estates online registration service is now available for individuals.
Latest list of deliberate tax defaulters released
HMRC have released their latest 'name and shame' list of deliberate tax defaulters. The list details the name of the defaulter, the industry, amount of tax avoided, and penalties charged.
Case Update (freeview)
Reservation of Benefit
In Viscount Hood, executor of the estate of Lady Diana Hood v HMRC [2016] T04858 an IHT avoidance scheme in granting a reversionary lease failed: the lease was a gift with reservation of benefit (GWR).
Tribunal reinstates appeal with no grounds
In SRN Horizon v HMRC[2017] UKUT 0246 (TCC) an appeal was reinstated due to adviser error even though the taxpayer had ignored the tribunal’s directions and failed to provide any grounds for appeal.
Editor's Choice (subscribers)
Transactions in securities
UPDATE: when will a distribution on a winding up be caught by the TAAR and taxed as income?
Transactions in securities: case studies
UPDATE: more examples added, what is a similar activity? when is someone involved with a connected persons activity?
HMRC software specification errors
UPDATE: new examples for savings income and dividends
Practical Tax Guides and Updates (subscribers)
Personal service company (PSC) tax
UPDATE: Public authorities must respond within 31 days for written requests for an explanation of their decision to apply the off-payroll workers rules to PSCs working in the public sector.
Gift Aid
UPDATE: More details on the changes to the Gift Aid Small Donations repayment scheme from 6 April 2017.
Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme
UPDATE: What you have to do if you are a retailer buying alcohol from a wholesaler.
Ask the Virtual Tax Partner
Groups and instalment payments
NEW: When to pay Corporation Tax by instalment.
Connected companies: Annual Investment Allowance
NEW: How the rules work and who is connected with who
Persons with Significant Control (PSC)
UPDATE: changes to reporting entities and deadlines from June/July 2017
CPD Webinars
Missed last time's update?
Nichola's SME Tax w-update 7 July 2017
Features:
- MTD penalties condoc responses
- Rangers EBT
- Update on HMRC information powers
- Shares losses and negligible value claims
- Capital Taxes Update for June
- Designing employee share schemes
- VAT registration and invoicing
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