New Year, new choices

Now we have passed the twelve days of Christmas the New Year beckons and here are about half a dozen things to watch out for in the coming months.

Tax transparency and avoidance

It's hardly a wild guess to say that tax avoidance will continue to hit the headlines throughout 2013. Large corporates will remain under pressure to be transparent in their tax dealings and the media frenzy in this area is likely to continue as the Public Accounts Committee call the big four accountancy firms to give evidence.

Meanwhile HMRC released a further briefing at the end of 2012 summarising its approach to tackling tax avoidance and evasion. It highlights that the government is investing...