Rebecca Walker considers the recent Tribunal case of Petrol Services Ltd which saw HMRC successfully argue that the split contract arrangement did not work; all income was a result of the directors’ office holding, with none attributable to the separate consultancy contracts in place.

EU companies contrasted with the rest of the world and reduced their global R&D share in ICT industries and showed reductions in low tech and Chemicals sectors whilst increasing innovation in Automotive and Aerospace.

Changes announced by the government to the R&D scheme for SMEs will come into force from early 2020 in an attempt to persuade companies to employ technical staff rather than outsourcing their R&D activities to third parties.

HMRC’s stance on the valuation of goodwill in trade-related properties has become much stricter. Therefore advisors need to be prepared for their original valuations to be robustly challenged. Plan for the worst and hope for the best!

Our round-up of topical news this month features clients who make partial surrenders on life insurance products face unfair tax charges unless they take action, following the case of Lobler V HMRC and we compare the legislation regarding who should file a self-assessment tax return with HMRC’s guidance. 

Our round-up of topical news this month features the new €10,000 threshold coming in from 1 January 2019 for micro-businesses selling digital services to EU consumers and how HMRC has recently made changes to the guidance on how some of the conditions of S396B may apply.

The introduction and evolution of ADR has given advisors an avenue to resolve disputes with HMRC which is much more effective and cost efficient than the alternatives available.

HMRC are writing to businesses who have outsourced both their payroll and their employees to a third party labour provider. The reason for the letter is to notify the business that they believe the third party has not accounted for all of the PAYE and VAT and asks for information and assurances regarding due diligence undertaken.

From 1 October, where HMRC discover that a UK taxpayer has overseas income and/or gains, a new penalty regime will apply of between 100% and 200% of the tax paid late.

My employer operates a defined contribution pension scheme. At present, let us say that the employer pays £100 into the scheme for me each month and pays me a salary of £1,000 from which I contribute another £100 to the scheme.