OK, I know that HMRC have always denied that they want the right to regulate tax advisers but no one really believes that, do they? Just take a look at the consultation document on "Establishing the future relationship between the tax agent community and HM Revenue & Customs" published last May. In the section "Future [...]
The Patent Box regime, which comes into effect in April 2013, will provide valuable relief for those developing and exploiting qualifying patents. In brief, the new regime will enable companies generating Relevant Intellectual Property Profit (RIPP) from qualifying patents, to elect for tax to be charged on those profits at a reduced rate of 10%. [...]
The new Patent Box regime comes into effect - albeit with the full benefit phased in over five years - from April 2013. That might seem some way off now but there's a lot of things an efficient tax director can start doing now to get ready for the new regime. Like a growing number [...]
So, a recent report from RSM Tenon (as reported in Accountancy Age) suggests that "A third of small- and medium-sized enterprises could be failing to take advantage of tax breaks." That statistic almost certainly highlights a bigger problem, however. Although I have not seen the full report from RSM Tenon, I suspect that the 33% [...]
As an independent tax specialist, I do a fair bit of work consulting for firms of accountants and lawyers. The reason I have been able to develop this business is that these firms recognise that they don't have the level of expertise in my fields that I have - and it is not economical for [...]
The Government is currently consulting on the introduction of an Above The Line Credit for R&D. Overall, I firmly welcome these proposals as I believe the regime will make it much more cost-effective for businesses to carry out R&D in the UK. There is still a lot of work to be done before we have [...]
The short answer is, 'different things to different people'. And that is one of the reasons why the issue is not going to be resolved any time soon; at least, not sensibly. Let's be absolutely clear about this, "tax avoidance" is not the same as "tax evasion". Tax evasion is, essentially, the process of evading [...]
The Government published the long awaited consultation document on the Above The Line (ATL) Credit for R&D yesterday. Here is my initial analysis of the proposals. Before looking at the proposed structure, it is worth looking at David Gauke's foreword. In this, he states that the Government "would like a system for supporting R&D which [...]
So George Osborne has again stated that the Government intends to introduce an Above The Line (ATL) R&D credit, following consultation. Although we are still waiting for the publication of the consultation document - I understand from HMT that they are aiming to issue it next week - the wording of the announcement causes me [...]
George Osborne delivered his 2012 Budget earlier this afternoon; from my perspective, there were few surprises. The Finance Bill is due to be published next week, when we will have the chance to review the detailed legislation. We are also waiting for two important consultation documents covering the above the line R&D credit and the [...]