Who should pay for the cost of tax compliance?
UK taxpayers are legally obliged to report any taxable income and profits to HMRC, but with the tax office rapidly withdrawing manual reporting options, should taxpayers have to pay to comply digitally? In 1997 the first electronic personal tax return was submitted to HMRC, or the Inland Revenue, as it was known then. Since that […]
Taxpayer who owes zero tax is heavily fined
Today’s Blog concerns a taxpayer who recently lost his appeal at the first-tier tax tribunal against a £1,600 late filing penalty for not submitting his 2020/21 SA tax return, despite his argument that he did not owe any tax and had been unaware of his responsibility to submit a return as he’d been living abroad. […]
A belated HMRC Christmas carol
After a restless Christmas Eve, HMRC’s modern day scrooge, top official Big Jim Harra is haunted by visions of HMRC’s lost glory, present-day struggles and a bleak future. But will he mend his ways in time before he is presented with his massive gold envelope and takes, what he believes to be, a well-earned retirement […]
2024 – a year in quotes
For my first Blog of 2025, I thought that I would look back at 2024, a year dominated by the Post Office scandal, various tax U-turns, a General Election and the usual accounting and tax headaches. My review is based on what I consider to be the best quotes on tax from a variety of […]
UK Tax Questions Answered by Shrewsbury Accountant No. 46
Now that the dust has settled on Rachel Reeves’ first budget, I’ve been rummaging through my postbag for some interesting tax related questions, asked by clients and readers of the Blog, which will hopefully be of interest to you. Today’s selection: 1.Private use of work vans I’m a self-employed electrician and own two vehicles, an […]
VAT on private school fees is still an Eton mess
At last, HMRC have finally published their updated guidance for the removal of VAT exemption for private school fees. The clarification on how the scheme will operate is of course clearly welcome, but having looked at the fine print, it’s clear that they’ve created something of a (‘Eton’) mess! The lightning-fast introduction of these changes, […]
Are farmers getting diddly squat?
Over the last couple of weeks, the news has been dominated by a subject close to my heart, namely tax. Rather than the swingeing increases in national insurance contributions for employers, or the effects of fiscal drag, the news outlets have been stirring up more trouble than seemed possible over the impact of impending changes […]
Is fuel duty set to be replaced by tax on EV’s?
In the Budget on 30th October, the Chancellor announced that fuel duty would be frozen for the 15th consecutive year and that the ‘temporary’ 5p cut, will also be extended for a further 12 months. This would appear to be somewhat counterintuitive, when stated government policy favours a switch to electric cars or EV’s. The […]
New rules on tipping
Last month the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 provisions came into force and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has now published the revised code of practice on fair and transparent distribution of tips to staff. The new code of practice covers the method of tip collection and how a business must distribute […]
Tax on savings
If you earn less than £18,570 a year from earned income and savings combined, then all your interest from those savings is potentially tax-free. This is primarily due to what is called the ‘starting rate for savings’ which you get on top of your ‘personal savings allowance’. It can be complex, so read on: If you […]
