Rebecca Murray analyses what a ‘realistic view of the facts’ means in tax avoidance cases involving expenditure.
The Scotland Bill received Royal Assent on 1 May and is now the Scotland Act 2012.
HMRC has published a further reminder to employers that annual returns of employees’ tax and NICs for 2011/12 must be sent online to HMRC by 19 May in order to avoid late filing penalties.
Seventy-seven disclosures of tax avoidance schemes were received by HMRC in the six months to 31 March 2012, according to provisional figures released on 1 May. There were 138 disclosures in the financial year to 31 March 2012, showing a slight increase on the previous year.
Deloitte has appointed Kit Dickson as a new partner in its information reporting and withholding taxes group within the financial services practice. He joins from KPMG’s investment management team.
HMRC has reminded electricians that the registration deadline for its Electricians Tax Safe Plan is 15 May. Electricians taking part can pay any tax and interest they owe while benefiting from ‘lower penalties of only 10%, with a maximum of 20%’, HMRC said in a press release.
HMRC has updated three of the toolkits designed to help reduce common errors in the completion of tax returns:
‘India will delay the introduction of wide-ranging proposed tax avoidance laws by one year, in a move designed to placate international investors worried over increasingly erratic legal changes.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has warned that ‘massive’ offshore tax evasion and avoidance cause ‘serious harm to the public interest’ in Europe and elsewhere, and particularly in developing countries.
Country by country reporting of profits and taxes paid is ‘essential’ for detecting corporate tax avoidance, according to MEPs who adopted by 538 votes to 73 a resolution on ‘concrete ways to combat tax fraud and tax evasion’. There were 32 abstentions.