Two consultations on offshore evasion strategy have now closed, new measures are being introduced in 2015/16. The new measures include making a failure to declare offshore income or gains a criminal offence.
SME Tax News
The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) are calling for online government services to be clearly marked in order to prevent people being coned into paying for free government services by copy-cat websites. LITRG is calling for the introduction of a kitemark to help the public ensure they are using official websites.
Advisers KPMG report that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have issued 36,000 letters informing employers and agents of possible overpayments of PAYE. The letters, issued at the beginning of August, are causing some confusion as they refer to both the last three Real Time Information (RTI) submissions and the period 6 July – 5 October; time periods which do not correlate.
PAYE penalties for the tax year 2013-2014 will be notified by the issue of the first interim penalty notice in late September 2014 to those employers who failed to send their relevant return by 19 May deadline.
The Government's proposal for Direct Recovery of [tax] Debts will allow HMRC a free hand to dip into taxpayer's bank accounts has met with united opposition from all of the tax and accountancy bodies. Simply put, HMRC makes too many mistakes to be trusted, and any power which allows the Government to circumvent the normal legal process of an open court hearing is not something that that a civilised Western society expects. Please sign the petition to stop this measure.
Chancellor George Osborne’s plans to raid people’s bank accounts are a “power too far” for the taxman and will damage innocent families and vulnerable people, according to a powerful new coalition calling for him to ditch the proposals.
The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) is calling for a permanent exemption for small employers for PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) reporting.
Settlement opportunity: tax on contractor loans. HMRC gave contractors who entered contractor loan schemes tax avoidance arrangements an opportunity to pay their tax and avoid penalties. This closed on 30 June 2015.
A new consultation, Office of Tax Simplification, review of unapproved share schemes: Marketable Security, makes recommendations which stand to reform the taxation of employment related securities.
Employee Shareholding Vehicle consultation. This idea was dropped in Novemeber 2014 due to lack of interest.