In the six months to 31 December 2022, HMRC issued fines of £3.2 million to 419 businesses for failures to follow the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations and have 'named and shamed' 240 of the worst offenders. The single biggest fine of £1.4 million went to Xpress Money Services Ltd who apparently failed at every stage of the compliance routine.
SME Tax News
In Laing O’Rourke Services Limited v HMRC & HMRC v Willmott Dixon Holdings Limited [2023] UKUT 155, the Upper Tribunal (UT) held that Class 1 NICs paid in respect of car allowance payments to employees were refundable where the employees had undertaken business mileage.
A review of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) supervision by HM Treasury has concluded that although technical compliance with AML Regulations (MLRs) has significantly improved, the effectiveness of supervisory interventions across Professional Body Supervisors (PBSs) is inconsistent and there is a big case for reform.
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Tax-geared news of the sort that we think you might want to know about is quite thin on the ground this week. It's 'the calm before the storm', as 'L-day' (Legislation Day) is on the 18th July. This is the day when the government will unfurl (in the digital sense) the new draft finance bill for 2023. In the meantime, we have been updating our website and devising new tax workshops for you.
HMRC's latest round of tax statistics shows the impact that the Cororonavirus pandemic and government policy on certain elements of taxation. Excess deaths due to COVID-19 have led to a record high in Inheritance Tax receipts whilst many Non-Domiciled individuals stayed outside of the UK and remitted less taxable income back.
In GE Financial Investments Limited v HMRC [2023] UKUT 146, the Upper Tribunal (UT) held that a UK-incorporated company was also US resident under the UK/US Double Tax Agreement (DTA) although it had no Permanent Establishment (PE) in the US. That was enough to allow a claim for Double Tax Relief (DTR) in the UK.
In Sentinel Fire and Security Systems Limited v HMRC [2023] TC08849, the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) confirmed that HMRC were able to clawback a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) payment for a new employee who joined the business in February 2020 but did not appear its payroll for RTI purposes until after the March cut-off date.
In Mr Meades v HMRC [2023] TC088440, the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) found that, despite HMRC’s misunderstanding of the legislation, a taxpayer was subject to the High-Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) as he was still ‘entitled’ to Child Benefit paid to his divorced wife.
Missed our SME Tax Web-updates in June? Here is a summary of the month.
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Keeping up with your tax compliance obligations can seem akin to trying to learn to drive a high-speed bulldozer. While it's relatively easy to get started, steering in the right direction can be tricky and you are likely to crash if you take your eye off the road!