HMRC
Half of small businesses make VAT return errors
Half of small businesses say they have made mistakes when sending in their VAT return and only a quarter are confident they have the figures correct despite spending more than an hour checking them. With the first deadline for online filing under Making Tax Digital for VAT falling this month, software specialist Intuit QuickBooks surveyed 500 UK small business owners
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Update from HMRC: MTD VAT service progress
On 7 August HMRC reached a significant milestone in the rollout of Making Tax Digital (MTD), with the first quarterly filing deadline for VAT. HMRC have been encouraged by the numbers who have signed up and submitted their VAT returns through MTD. There are now nearly one million businesses in the service who have made over 900,000 VAT submissions. As
Read more HMRC Agent Update – Issue 73
HMRC’s Agent Update 73 is available now and contains a variety of articles and updates. It features an update on Making Tax Digital, including information on VAT certificates and Anti Money Laundering requirements. Other highlights include articles about: Temporary Increase in the Annual Investment Allowance: Detail on the temporary increase in the allowance until 1 January 2021 National Insurance Contributions on
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MTD for VAT service information
HMRC will shortly be undertaking scheduled maintenance to the Making Tax Digital (MTD) service for VAT. Businesses will be unable to use the MTD VAT service from 4pm on Saturday 17 August to 4pm on Monday 19 August. During this period, users will be unable to: Sign up for MTD Sign clients up for MTD Submit returns View previous submissions
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One in four estates facing IHT investigations
More than 5,000 IHT investigations were launched by HMRC in the 2018/19 tax year, representing nearly 25% of the 22,000 estates liable for inheritance tax over the period. This equated to 5,537 investigations, up from 5,354 the previous year. The number of IHT investigations has grown by around 7.8% following the introduction of the residence nil rate band (RNRB) in
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IR35: HMRC targets £30m windfall from contractors
HMRC is looking to squeeze an extra £29.7m from contractors through investigations into their employment status. The figures were revealed in the Revenue’s recent HMRC’s Spotlight 53 bulletin covering disguised remuneration. The data refers to tax under consideration, an estimate of how much HMRC thinks it could collect before investigations have been concluded. Mike Crellin, a director at UHY Hacker
Read more Tax advisers welcome additional scrutiny of HMRC powers
The Chartered Institute of Taxation has welcomed the announcement of a series of measures designed to strengthen public trust in HMRC’s exercise of their statutory powers. These include: A new professional standards committee, advised by independent experts, to advise HMRC on their use of statutory powers. A post-implementation evaluation of the HMRC powers and safeguards introduced since 2012. A comprehensive
Read more HMRC misses key tax credits fraud-and-error target
HMRC has missed its key fraud-and-error reduction target and notched up tax credit overpayments of £1.46bn, its latest annual report reveals. However, the tax-collection agency is closer to its 5% target than chief executive Sir Jon Thompson warned MPs it would be two years ago, and the measure is the only one of 14 performance commitments outlined in the report
Read more Government to set up standards committee to scrutinise HMRC’s powers
HMRC is to be put under greater scrutiny, with a new professional standards committee to oversee its use of wide-ranging powers to tackle tax avoidance and evasion. The move for greater scrutiny of HMRC comes amid concerns that the balance between clamping down and treating taxpayers fairly has tipped too far in the Revenue’s favour. The committee, which will take
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