HMRC effectively fine themselves in IR35 crackdown
Our wonderful shadowy army of tax officials have truly excelled themselves this time by issuing over £300 million in IR35 penalties to other government departments, thus effectively fining themselves. This came to light when a government body, UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), disclosed in its annual report for 2021/22, that it had been fined £36m […]
Tax Return Data: Is HMRC turning into Big Brother?
HMRC has recently announced a massive expansion of the data it collects from taxpayers; but can this huge data grab be justified and what effects will it have on businesses and individual taxpayers? HMRC’s plan covers 6 areas where they claim that the additional data will bring major benefits. However, those benefits appear rather one-sided […]
HMRC loses another Celebrity IR35 Case
HMRC just cannot accept that their interpretation of the rules governing IR35, is not what the law actually says, as has been evidenced by a flurry of court decisions in recent weeks. First, we had Lorraine Kelly, best known for her eponymous programme on ITV Lorraine, quickly followed by Scottish TV presenter and journalist, Kaye […]
HMRC Chasing Celebrity IR35 Cases, Again
Today I’m reporting two recent Tax Tribunal cases concerning HMRC’s seemingly obsessive pursuit of high profile Radio and TV presenters and their attempts shoehorn these celebrities into their own peculiar interpretation of the IR35 rules. This week’s Blog concerns Radio host and Talksport presenter Paul Hawksbee and Loose Women presenter Kaye Adams and their respective […]
Eamonn Holmes Challenges HMRC’s IR35 Rules
HMRC is challenging the pay ITV host Eamonn Holmes received through his limited company. If Holmes is found to be in breach of IR35 rules, it is believed his company’s tax bill could be in the region of £2m. In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, the ‘This Morning’ anchor revealed that HMRC has […]
IR35 WIN FOR HMRC
HMRC has defeated a BBC presenter in the first IR35 ruling since 2011. The first tier tribunal (FTT) ruled the TV personality’s contract was caught by IR35 and landed her company with a £420,000 bill. Former ‘Look North’ presenter Christa Ackroyd lost her appeal against the tax authority when the FTT ruled that her personal […]
2018 Budget Summary
Whilst last week’s Budget was a tad short on big announcements, the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget was full of small changes; but as always the devil is in the detail. So now that all of the finer details have been published, it’s now time for an updated 2018 budget summary of the main business and personal […]
7 little known financial consequences of the snap election
Taxpayers caught out by shortened 2017 Finance Act A slim Finance Act 2017 was passed on 27th April, after shedding some 600 pages of tax proposals, some of which were due to take effect on either the 1st or 6th April. Therefore any taxpayers who have acted on the basis the new tax rules would […]
New SDC Guidance: Is this the end of PSC’s?
Tens of thousands of sub-contractors who operate through their own one-man or one-woman small limited companies, known as personal Service Companies or PSC’s, have been targeted by HMRC. This is because the Treasury believes it is losing up to £500m of tax revenue each year, thanks to a legal tax avoidance loophole enjoyed by PSC’s, […]
Autumn Statement 2015 – what 3 cuts to expect
George Osborne had his sums all tied up; he would bring the country’s accounts back into surplus by 2019/20 by making £12bn worth of social security savings. This plan was flagged up before the election, but the detail was not revealed until the Budget after the election, when it became clear that £4.4bn of the […]
