The government has announced the withdrawal of the VAT Retail Export Scheme (RES) from non-EU visitors and no extension to EU visitors. It was part of several policy modifications following ‘A consultation on duty-free and tax-free goods carried by passengers’.
SME Tax News
HM Treasury have opened a new consultation ‘The scope of qualifying expenditures for R&D Tax Credits’ seeking views on what costs companies can include in R&D tax credit claims and whether they should be updated to reflect modern trends in R&D.
In Cotterell & Anor v Allendale & Anor [2020] EWHC 2234, the High Court agreed to grant additional powers to the trustees of a family settlement for the purposes of Inheritance Tax planning.
Hello,
We are counting down the days until the end of September, ever more conscious of the work that is being undertaken by HMRC in trying to agree settlement of the remaining disguised remuneration loans.
HMRC have released Spotlight 56 ‘Disguised remuneration: tax avoidance by owner-managed companies using remuneration trusts’.
In J Charman v HMRC [2019] UKUT0253, the Upper Tribunal (UT) considered whether the grant of a share option amounted to a ‘right to acquire securities’. It also considered whether shares issued on a share for share exchange were acquired as an officer or employee of the original shares.
In Alan Firth Webster [2020] EWHC 2275 (Ch), the claimant’s case for 'rectification' of his 2016/17 tax return to correct a Gift Aid claim error was dismissed by the court. It confirmed that a Gift Aid carryback election must be made in an original tax return.
HMRC have 1,000 officers working to agree a settlement with an estimated 9,000 outstanding Disguised Remuneration cases before the settlement deadline of 30 September 2020. Of the 9,000 taxpayers, around 3,000 have not responded to HMRC and so it may be tricky for them to settle. A further 6,000 cases are unsettled and those taxpayers will become subject to the Loan Charge.
Hello,
There are widespread rumours that the chancellor is planning tax rises. I would guess that everything is very much at the planning stage and any increase could yet affect all the main taxes. Conversely, some commentators suggest that a tax increase is possibly the worst thing one can do to stimulate the economy.
In Stirling Jewellers (Dudley) Limited v HMRC [2020] UKUT 0245, the Upper Tribunal found that changes to a company's trade and the appointment of a qualified accountant meant that the 'presumption of continuity' could not apply to record-keeping and business margins for earlier years. The case has been remitted back the First Tier Tribunal.