News

VAT guidance issued to clarify supplies distinction

Figures show major increases in prosecutions and distraint

...0300 numbers; Voluntary NICs; Child trust funds; SDLT basis

HMRC marks two years of mandatory tagging

HMRC have added another section to their website’s Spotlights area, which focuses on tax avoidance arrangements the department believes do not work. The latest is, numbered 18, concerns stripped bond schemes.

The First-tier Tribunal ruled in the Revenue’s favour in Malcolm Healey TC2591 and Philip Savva TC2625, two cases involving similar products marketed by banks as investments.

The UK’s video games tax relief could be abandoned after the European Commission (EC) opened an in-depth investigation into the proposed measure over doubts it is necessary

“There is no obvious market failure in this dynamic and growing sector and that such games are produced even without state aid,” said the commission about the planned 25% relief on a maximum of 80% of the production budget of a qualifying video game for expenditure on goods and services used or consumed in the UK

Incomplete submissions are resulting in “unnecessary delays” in the Liechtenstein disclosure facility (LDF) system, HMRC have warned.

The department's LDF helpdesk has sent a letter to specialist advisers stating that tax officials will adopt a “more robust stance… when determining whether a disclosure certificate can be issued in an LDF case”.

HMRC have issued Revenue & Customs Brief 9/13 to address the VAT implications of regulatory changes that will affect the way employee benefit consultants, and others providing services to employers for the setting up and administration of workplace contract-based pensions, will be remunerated in the future.

It does not include services supplied to employers or trustees in respect of occupational pension schemes held through trusts.

DVLA given access to the Revenue’s VAT systems

Employers and tax agents can now report end-of-year expenses and benefits electronically, using a new set of online forms. The service is likely to be most useful for small and medium-sized employers when submitting their employees’ expenses and benefits information, said HMRC.

Only two forms are available – with an equivalent for agents to use on behalf of clients – but more are planned. Web users can access currently:

HMRC have again stressed the achievements of their alternative dispute resolution scheme, which received more than 400 applications during it lengthy pilot phase.

ADR is set for a full launch later this year. Its trial ran between early 2011 until December 2012 to be used by small and medium-sized enterprises and individual taxpayers as another way of settling tax disagreements with the Revenue.

...ISA Bulletin 51; Toolkits; Tonnage tax