Hello
Legislation Day, or L Day, was last Tuesday. This is the day that the government publishes draft legislation for the next Finance Act. At first glance it all looked quite dull, but that changed upon closer inspection.
SME Tax News
On 'L-Day', 18 July 2023, the government published draft legislation intended for the next Finance Bill, together with new consultations on future tax policy changes and there are also some new announcements. Further draft legislation is due next week.
HMRC have published the responses received to R&D Tax Reliefs Review: Consultation on a single scheme. The consultation sought views on combining the current SME and RDEC R&D Tax Reliefs.
The government is consulting on measures to change the rules for two types of employee trusts: Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) and Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs). The proposals are not particularly controversial, perhaps the real question is, why it has taken so long to make some of the proposed changes.
As part of the government’s Legislation Day (L-Day) on 18 July 2023, HMRC have issued a policy paper setting out new proposals to double the maximum prison term for individuals convicted of serious tax fraud. Draft legislation is included in Finance Bill 2023-24.
HMRC have published a response to their Consultation ‘Tougher Consequences for promoters of tax avoidance’ which set out proposals for a new criminal offence for promoters of tax avoidance schemes who fail to comply with HMRC stop notices and to expedite the disqualification of directors who promote tax avoidance.
Finance (No 2) Act 2023 was given Royal Assent on 11 July 2023. To date, the Act itself has not been published by the government.
In HMRC v Jasper Alexander Thirlby Conran & JC Vision Ltd v HMRC [2022] UKUT 166, the Upper Tribunal found that the value of the designer's optical business on incorporation was £1 and not £8m. The difference was taxable as a distribution and not as a capital gain. Intangibles relief claimed by the purchasing company was also reduced to the market value of £1.
HMRC have published their list of tax avoidance litigation decisions for the 2022-23 year. This identifies the results in litigation decisions where HMRC considered that tax avoidance was involved. The summary indicates increased litigation and a high win rate for HMRC.
HMRC have published a report detailing their current approach to handling Research & Development (R&D) tax relief claims. The number and value of claims are rising and so is the associated non-compliance with it standing at nearly 25% for the SME scheme.