From 13 December 2024, the EU’s General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) adds stringent compliance obligations to businesses selling goods that are intended for consumers living in the EU and Northern Ireland. Many small UK sellers are adversely affected by the changes.
SME Tax News
In John Harvey & Keswick Enterprises Holdings Charitable Trust v HMRC [2024] TC09372 the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) found a series of ‘donations’ to charity were not ‘qualifying donations’ and a loss to tax had occurred due to excessive gift aid claims.
In Simrajsar Ltd & Achilles Products Ltd v HMRC [2024] TC09363 the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) found that payments made to directors were not genuine termination payments and were not covered by the £30,000 tax free exemption. 
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Wales set its Budget for 2025-26 this week, the CIOT and ICAEW create a benchmark for HMRC service standards, and as Managed Service Companies (MSCs) hit the headlines again we consider why MSCs are a problem for accountancy firms.
In Calder Hairdressing Ltd v Revenue Scotland [2024] FTSTC 8, the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) found that unawareness of the requirement to lodge an LBTT 3-year lease return was not a reasonable excuse for late submission.
In Frenkel v LA Micro Group (UK) Ltd & ors and LA Micro Group Inc v LA Micro Group (UK) Ltd & ors [2024] UKSC 42, the Supreme Court found that an oral agreement between the legal and beneficial owners of shares was enforceable, and created a constructive trust. This meant that the transfer of beneficial ownership to the legal owners did not need to be in writing.
In MR Currell Ltd v HMRC [2024] UKUT 00404, the Upper Tribunal (UT) set aside a decision made by the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) due to an error of law. This resulted in the UT concluding that a payment from a company to an employee benefit trust was not earnings.
Tax and accountancy bodies have completed a survey of HMRC’s service levels with some uncomfortable findings: well over a third of calls to HMRC are unproductive. The data harvested sets a new baseline standard for improvement and, future monitoring has now been established.
In Beigebell Limited (No. 2) v HMRC [2024] UKUT 382 (TCC), the Upper Tribunal (UT) found that purchases of memory cards were connected to fraud, which the taxpayer should have known about, causing its claim for input tax to be denied.
Mark Drakeford, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language set out the 2025-26 Welsh Budget on 10 December 2024.
