Hello

I thought that this week would be quite quiet from an editorial point of view, but far from it. In this time's web-update, our highlights are our latest Company Tax update, news of the Jobs Retention Bonus, a useful VAT decision from the Upper Tribunal for online agencies and an updated guide to the taxation of cryptocurrences and cryptoassets. 

We have been updating our capital allowance section in recent weeks and it has not gone unnoticed that several of the government's policies relating to zero-emissions vehicles, which were published in March 2020, were omitted from the 2020 Finance Act and are presently not tabled for 2021 either. The ones that you might find interesting relate to capital allowance measures for cars and vans, and of course they will impact car and van benefits and anything else based on COemissions too. After a bit of rummaging through the depths of the internet, it appears that the reason they remain unenacted is EU withdrawal-related and not about tax. No doubt Coronavirus and affected trade talks have delayed matters, and the government has only recently opened a consultation that may well join all the dots. If you have anything to say on how the UK works out its CO2 emission performance standards for new passenger cars and vans from 1 January 2021, you had better be quick, it ends on the 21 August. You can track all this in our Finance Act 2020 rolling planner and tracker. 

If you have any tax-specific queries, please do post them up to our sister site: www.VtaxP.co.uk. We have made the anti-money laundering section a bit easier to navigate. Apologies to all who found this tricky.

Back soon 

Nichola Ross Martin FCA CTA (Fellow)
Tax Director

www.rossmartin.co.uk

Your Virtual Tax Partner® online PRACTICAL support for accountants, tax advisers BY accountants and tax advisers.

Quick News

Job Retention Bonus
HMRC have released further details of the Job Retention Bonus, a one-off payment to employers of £1,000 for every employee who they previously claimed for under the Coronavirus Employee Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) whose employment is maintained until the end of January 2021. 

HMRC step up investigations of football industry
HMRC have stepped up their investigations into the tax affairs of the football industry, tripling investigations of individual professional footballers and more than doubling its tax takings from investigations in 2019/2020

Probate: Consultation on mandatory online filing 
The government has published a consultation paper, 'Non-Contentious Probate Mandating online professional applications'. It proposes changing the non-contentious probate rules to make it mandatory for professional users to use the online process.

Consultation on zero-emissions performance standards
One for the motor trade and environmentalists to sift through. You'll need to be quick. Consultation on new post-Brexit standards ends on 21 August 2020.

COVID-19 Government Support Tracker
We continue to track new measures as announced by the government to support individuals and businesses, as we get through COVID-19.

Editor's Pick

Company Tax: What’s New? August 2020
NEW: An update of recent and upcoming changes to company tax.

How are Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies or cryptoassets taxed in the UK?
How do you tax Bitcoin? Are cryptocurrency or cryptoasset gains or profits, taxable? Can you obtain tax relief if you make losses on Bitcoin? Gains on transactions in cryptoassets are potentially taxable in the same way as other investments. 

Finance Act 2020 Tax Update & Rolling Planner
UPDATE: Our unique a glance summary of everything that is new this year and next for small and medium-sized entities, owner-managed business and their owners.

Guides and Updates (subscribers)

Furnished Holiday Letting
UPDATE: Furnished holiday letting (FHL) is an activity which has for many years been subject to a favourable set of tax rules. FHL owners may need to consider the 'period of grace' rules if their letting has been disrupted by the coronavirus.

Private residences and tax relief
UPDATE: A handy memo. Profits or gains made on the disposal of UK residential property and land are taxed in different ways depending on who owns it and how it has been used.

Capital allowances: Four wheels
Finance Act 2020 failed to include any of the policy changes on zero-emissions vehicles that had been proposed back in March. Nothing has yet been mentioned in the draft 2020-21 Finance Bill proposals. It is assumed that the government will make changes in a future bill, or maybe not.

Case Update (Freeview)

 Goodwill amortisation disallowed, conditions for relief not met
In Armstrong & Haire Ltd v HMRC [2020] TC7780, the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) refused a Corporation Tax deduction for goodwill amortisation. The pre-incorporation businesses had been carried on before April 2002.

Basement annexe not a separate dwelling for SDLT
In David Merchant and Sarah Gater v HMRC [2020] TC07783, the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) dismissed the appeal made by the taxpayers. It was found that the closure notice issued by HMRC was valid and that the annexe was not a separate dwelling for Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) Multiple Dwellings Relief (MDR).

Disallowable interest: Loans to partners are not partnership loans
In Ian Shiner & David Sheinman v HMRC [2020] TC7779, the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) disallowed interest on loans to members of a trading partnership. 

VAT Update

Student essay writing agency was principal and not agent for VAT
In All Answers Limited v HMRC [2020] UKUT 0236 the Upper Tribunal (UT) confirmed that an online business which provided essays, theses and coursework on demand for students, was making a supply for VAT in its own right and not acting as an agent for the writers of the material.

Virtual Tax Partner Toolkits (freeview)

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Tax writer and editor job opportunities
We have new vacancies for tax writers and editor focusing on SME and OMB tax including VAT, and we are also looking for a SME tax adviser, the two roles can be combined. We would love to hear from you...More

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CPD for lunch 

Byte-sized chunks of CPD for subscribers

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More at CPD Index

Missed last time's Web-update?

Nichola's SME Tax W-update 6 August 2020

Nichola's SME Summaries for July 2020

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