Hello
The top story this week has to be that the Supreme Court has saved the taxpayer £17billion. The other exciting thing is that we have a Directors' Tax Update special for you.
I often have to assist taxpayers or their advisers when they are preparing to appeal a case to the tribunal. I have lost count of the number of cases where I read HMRC's final review of the case and I find that I wish I had been involved earlier. Sometimes, I am able to step in and can phone the reviewer and sort things out on the spot, sometimes not, because the case has gone too far. If you are reading this and you are going round in circles arguing with HMRC, it can really help to have a second opinion. A 'stitch in time...' and all that.
£17bn was the sum that Littlewoods had been claiming from HMRC in compound interest in respect of a VAT repayment claim over and above interest calculated on a simple basis. The court ruled that the simple basis should prevail.
I really enjoyed putting together our latest Directors' Tax Update; I have pooled together a lot of FAQs with links to our guides. It's totally original and I hope it is useful for you and your clients. We will put it onto a CPD webinar next week.
Also this week, we had a lot of debate in putting together new guides on what happens when an employer settles a director's pecuniary liability and also on the new rules for Making Good benefits. We also have new CPD: we seem to be going in an offshore direction with that of late.
If you have any tax queries please do try out our Virtual Tax Partner support portal at www.VtaxP.co.uk
Enjoy the guides and updates and the news is below.
Back soon
Nichola Ross Martin FCA Tax Director
Your Virtual Tax Partner®: online PRACTICAL support for accountants & tax advisers BY accountants & tax advisers
Quick news (freeview)
SEIS, EIS and SITR all proving popular
Government statistics have revealed the number of companies and amount of funding raised under EIS, SEIS and through Social Investment Tax Relief.
Interest on re-mortgaged buy-to-let property
HMRC seem to have changed its long held views on the availability of tax relief on interest charged on new borrowings by property business owners who remortgage their property to withdraw capital from their business.
Making Tax Digital: when?
Draft secondary legislation appears to introduce MTD a year earlier than expected for some taxpayers.
Case Update (freeview)
Unreasonable requests
In The Barty Party Company Limited v HMRC TC06116, the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) held that an information notice was not valid as HMRC did not justify the period covered thereby.
Convicted Fraudster: not fit and proper person
Slight extension of existing report on Michael Hunt v HMRC following references to the judgement in Munatsi (above).
Prohibited use and specific occupation conditions are synonymous
In Duncan Lichfield v HMRC [2017] TC06040, the First-Tier Tribunal (FTT) clarified that where a planning condition contains a specific ‘occupation’ condition, this is synonymous with a prohibition on use restriction as envisaged by legislation.
Editor's Choice (subscribers)
Directors Tax Update October 2017
NEW: A totally topical update of issues affecting directors, tax planning tip and potential problem areas.
Private Client: What's on October 2017
NEW: All the latest news from the private client world, all in one place.
How to appeal a tax penalty (freeview version)
UPDATE: follow these steps to ensure that you appeal what you mean to appeal.
Tax Guides and Updates (subscribers)
Pecuniary Liabilities
A new guide, following various queries to ourselves and others, on the tax treatment where an employer settles an employee's personal liability.
IHT Business Property Relief: holding companies
UPDATE: Is a holding company 'in business' for the purposes of BPR? How does complex group structures or intra-group loans affect BPR for the group?
Which investment relief is best? IR, ER, SEIS or EIS?
What is the difference between Entrepreneurs' Relief and Investors' Relief? How do they compare to investments in Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS)?
UK Trusts
We only launched this new guide recently but the fast changing nature of the tax world means that we are already having to update it.
R & D Zone
Introducing our new R & D Zone: a mixture of subscriber guides and premium content for those practices who want to cut out the middleman and do their own clients' R & D.
VAT
Food: catering and takeaway
NEW: If food is purchased from a supermarket, one rule may apply. If the same food is bought from a café a different rule could apply. There is also a difference between hot food, cold food, food consumed on premises, food off premises and of course between biscuits and cakes.
Correcting VAT errors
UPDATE: What are the time limits? Can you do it through the VAT return? Do you have to notify HMRC?
VAT reclaims and unjust enrichment
UPDATE: when can overpaid VAT be recovered? When will HMRC apply an unjust enrichment defence? How are repayment supplements and interst calculated?
VAT cases (freeview)
Supreme Court saves the taxpayer 17bn
In Littlewoods Limited and others v HMRC [2017] UKSC 70¸ the Supreme Court has found in favour of HMRC and decided that simple interest is adequate indemnity for a Fleming VAT claim.
CPD Webinars
- Residency: split year treatment
- Non-resident CGT
- Non-doms all change
Missed last time's update?
Nichola's SME Tax w-update to 27 October 2017
Features:
- SA nil gain/nil loss workaround
- Court sets aside a new issue of shares
- Company losses: the new regime
- Entrepreneur's Relief
- Gifting shares to the family.
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