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The Government has called for a comprehensive review of the capital gains tax system. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has commissioned the Office for Tax Simplification (OTS) to review how asset sales are taxed. Capital gains tax applies on the sales of...

The UK’s economy experienced the largest monthly contraction on record in April 2020, shrinking by 20.4%. The sharp fall in GDP came as the UK spent its first full month in lockdown to try and halt the spread of COVID...

Bodies representing UK businesses have described their relief after the job retention scheme was extended until 31 October. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the Government will continue to pay the wages of workers on leave because of coronavirus. Furloughed employees, therefore...

VAT rules for food and drink in the UK are “overly complex” and in need of reform, the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) has claimed. Chancellor Rishi Sunak used his Spring Budget to scrap the so-called ‘tampon tax’ when the Brexit...

The Government has delayed extending the off-payroll working rules to the private sector, as the UK fights to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Hot on the heels of announcing a £350 billion support package for struggling businesses, the Treasury pulled the...

Almost a million taxpayers missed the self-assessment deadline on 31 January, despite record numbers of compliance. Figures from HMRC showed that a record 11,122,967 taxpayers out of 11.7 million beat the midnight self-assessment deadline for 2018/19 on 31 January 2020...

A report into the loan charge may not be published until after the deadline for settling claims with HMRC has passed. Up to 50,000 people whose employers had paid them through loans from offshore trusts dating back to 1999 were...

A government-backed pension provider is trialling emotive messages to nudge sole traders to start retirement saving. The messages from NEST aim to persuade the self-employed to sign up for pensions through payment or accountancy platforms or trade and industry bodies...

As the global financial crisis began to bite in 2008, central banks in several nations took action, attempting to shock the world economy back to life by slashing base interest rates. The idea behind this kind of stimulus is to...

Are Jaffa Cakes biscuits or, as the name implies, cakes? This question is one of the most famous examples of the kind of debate that happens frequently in the world of VAT because precise definitions can make the difference between...

Thousands of taxpayers used the Christmas break to file tax returns for 2018/19 through self-assessment. Statistics from HMRC showed that 34,292 taxpayers submitted tax returns between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. Precisely 22,035 taxpayers filed on 24 December 2019...