The First-tier Tribunal has finally given a decision on the loan relationships unallowable purpose test, 15 years after its introduction. Matthew Hodkin discusses whether it was worth the wait.
The tax gap was £35bn in 2009/10, according to HMRC’s estimate released today. The department has revised its £42bn estimate for the previous year to £39bn.
RSM Tenon has appointed Steve Besford and Sandy Cochrane as Associate Directors to its London-based tax team. Besford, an investigations specialist, joins from BDO. Cochrane joins from Grant Thornton and becomes RSM Tenon’s Head of VAT in London.
The OECD has published peer reviews on the legal framework for transparency and exchange of tax information in Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Austria, Bahrain, the British Virgin Islands, Curaçao, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
HMRC have announced updates to the following guidance manuals (see Tax Journal 12 August 2011 for previous announcements):
August 2011
HMRC are consulting on draft regulations to give effect to the new EU Mutual Assistance in Recovery Directive, Council Directive 2010/24/EU (‘MARD’).
HMRC do not recognise or give ‘proper credit’ for a tax agent’s membership of a professional body, the ICAEW Tax Faculty said in response to the department’s consultation on a strategy for engaging with tax agents.
Corporate tax incentives for debt finance and ‘very low’ taxes on capital gains may have played a minor role in creating or facilitating the financial crisis, according to the Mirrlees review of the UK’s tax system.
Almost 24,000 fraudulent emails were reported to HMRC last month, an increase of nearly 300% on last year.