A new penalty of 60% on tax due will be levied against tax avoiders in all cases successfully tackled by the General Anti Abuse Rules (GAAR), Osborne announced in his joint Autumn Statement and Spending Review on Wednesday.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is to receive more than a billion in additional funding to digitalise the UK’s tax system and introduce personalised digital accounts, removing the need for annual tax returns, chancellor George Osborne announced Wednesday.
Roughly 40% of those enjoying the tax amnesty available through the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility (LDF) only did so following unrelated HMRC enquiries.
A sharper focus on offshore banking activity and tax avoidance has seen HM Revenue & Customs grow its Affluent Unit by more than 50% in the past two years.
HM Revenue & Customs’ plans to modernise its operation, consolidating 170 offices into 13 regional centres has seen tax experts question its motives.
Savers suffering from ill health could see their pension pots subject to inheritance tax if they transfer to a scheme that gives them greater access to the UK’s pension flexibilities, Old Mutual Wealth has warned.
HM Revenue & Customs is still failing to report how much cash it has received from its efforts to address aggressive tax avoidance, a group of MPs has said.
HMRC should not pursue insolvency proceedings to demand that tax allegedly owed from years ago be paid in full until the underlying dispute has been resolved, warned law firm RPC.
Liechtenstein and the EU Commission have signed an agreement on the automatic exchange of information (AEOI), which will ensure greater transparency and cooperation between tax authorities.
The UK’s ‘tax gap’ has remained around the £34bn mark over the previous year, according to the latest figures from HM Revenue & Customs.
Former chair of the UK public accounts committee Margaret Hodge, who has repeatedly attacked the use of offshore tax avoidance schemes, has called for an overhaul of the British tax system.
HM Revenue & Customs has backed out of a controversial policy to scrap concessional treatment of non-domicile loans.
