The chancellor gave his Autumn Statement on 25 November 2015 together with his spending review. This is our summary of tax-related issues in his speech.
SME Tax News
In Burgess & Anor v HMRC [2015] the Upper Tribunal (UT) found that HMRC had failed to discharge its burden of proof in making discovery assessments.
A number of changes to working tax credits and child tax credits were announced in the Summer Budget and we have summarised these for you.
The government has set out the steps it will take to make it easier for authorities to identify the beneficial owners of corporate entities; these steps include changes to Company Law and Money Laundering regulations, and the creation of a publicly accessible central register.
In Nigel Barratt v HMRC [2015] TC04514 the first tier tribunal (FTT) once again found that HMRC's interpretation of reasonable excuse was 'inappropriate'.
In GDF Suez Teeside Ltd v HMRC [2015] TC04590 the FTT concluded that the company's accounts did not fairly represent its profits, despite them being prepared in accordance with GAAP.
In Peter Silvester v HMRC [2015] TC04682 a farmer was denied sideways loss relief, despite changing his business model. HMRC was entitled to make a discovery assessment on losses, even though losses were reported every year.
HMRC have reported that an increasing number of errors are being made in inheritance tax reporting.
In Ernest O Bustard v HMRC [2015] UKFTT TC04703 a take-away owner successfully appealed the results of a mark-up exercise by HMRC: its assessments were not made in best judgement and were excessive.
In Skatteverket v David Hedqvist (C-264/14) [2015], the CJEU has decided that bitcoin exchange services are exempt from VAT.