HMRC to be quizzed over fairness towards individuals
HM Revenue and Customs is to face questioning over its treatment of individuals during tax enquiries.
Tax & Regulation
-
-
IFAs urged to ditch IoM life cos over commission disclosure
IFA firms should “wrest control” of their businesses from life companies based on the Isle of Man before the Conduct of Business Code comes into force, the director of Thames River International has argued. A move described by one industry source as “dodgy” and a “stain on the industry”.
-
Passporting vital for small advice firms post-Brexit
News that passporting will continue during the Brexit transition period has been welcomed by the founder of a Belgium-based advice firm who has also backed the FCA chief’s calls for the agreement to continue after the UK leaves the EU.
-
Head of UK tax evasion inquiry blasts offshore centres
The UK “should regard it as a matter of national shame that the crown dependencies and overseas territories that fly our flag give shelter to the wealth of the world’s financial elite”, HM Treasury sub-committee chair John Mann has said.
-
Anbang chief faces life imprisonment
The chief executive of Chinese insurance giant Anbang is facing life behind bars after being put on trial for illegal fundraising, fraud and embezzlement by the country’s regulatory watchdog.
-
AJ Bell to compensate Sipp client for ‘significant injustice’
The Pensions Ombudsman has ordered AJ Bell to compensate a client for lost interest and pay him £500 ($709, €570) for “significant non-financial injustice” after the investment platform failed to notify him the interest rate of his account would drop to 0%.
-
EU targets US for tax haven blacklist
A “fast-tracked” OECD review could decide if the European Union adds the United States to its blacklist for non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, according to media reports.
-
‘Disaster’ averted: UK keeps mandatory pension transfer advice
Easing the advice requirements for transfers of guaranteed pensions to overseas schemes “could have been a recipe for disaster”, AJ Bell senior analyst Tom Selby said of the UK Government’s decision not to scrap the requirement to take financial advice.
-
FSCS opens door to Beaufort compensation
Clients of the failed discretionary fund management firm Beaufort Securities and its clearing arm, Beaufort Asset Clearing Services, may be now eligible to claim compensation, after the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) declared the two firms in default.
-
Experts react to DB pension transfer ruling
Pension experts have welcomed the clarity the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has established for defined benefit (DB) pension transfers through its updated rules. But they warn further, lengthy, consultation may not be the best way to address issues of poor practice that have come to prominence in recent months.
-
FCA keeps ‘unsuitable’ DB transfer assumption
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has backtracked on a proposal to change its position that an adviser should assume that a Defined Benefit (DB) pension transfer is “unsuitable” for a client.
-
What Facebook’s privacy blunder means for tech
Earlier this week, the US Federal Trade Commission began investigating Facebook over privacy concerns around data used to influence the US election. Shares in the social media giant began to slide quickly after, but could this be a blow for all tech stocks?