Draft legislation, for inclusion in FB 2013, was published today. I have prepared two notes covering the following proposals: The introduction of an Above The Line Credit for R&D - now called an R&D Expenditure Credit. The temporary increase in Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) from £25,000 to £250,000 with effect from 1 January 2013.
There is a debate underway at the moment about the UK's Corporation Tax regime. Well, when I say 'debate', I guess I really mean 'argument'. And when I say that it's 'about' the UK's Corporation Tax regime, I suppose that what I really mean is that the CT regime sort of features in the argument, [...]
This morning on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Simon Jack, a business reporter, ended his short piece with a comment on the fact that Tui Travel paid very little UK CT last year, despite record profits. This, he correctly stated, was due to their use of brought forward losses. Unfortunately, he then commented that this [...]
HMRC has just published R&C Brief 32/12 in which it updates its views on the eligibility of polytunnels for Plant & Machinery Allowances. Until now, HMRC has considered that most polytunnels are either fixed structures or, in some situations, premises or setting. In either case, that would prevent them from qualifying as Plant for capital allowances [...]
Over the weekend, the BBC reported that HMRC is writing to certain individuals warning them that their participation in a scheme that HMRC does not like, means that their tax affairs are to be treated as "high risk". Apparently, the letter advises these individuals that HMRC will be opening enquiries into their tax affairs. Furthermore, according [...]
The tax avoidance "debate" - if, indeed, what we are seeing can really be called a debate - has given birth to the concept of individuals (almost always "rich") and corporates (usually "multi nationals") paying their "fair share" of tax. I don't think anyone would really object to everyone paying their "fair share". The problem [...]
The Patent Box regime is just around the corner. It may still feel as though 1 April 2013 is some way off but, as I have blogged before, there is a lot that companies need to do in order to be ready for the new regime. I was talking with the head of tax at one large company [...]
I decided to watch the meeting of the Parliamentary Accounts Committee yesterday afternoon when they were questioning senior management from HMRC on the department's accounts for 2011/12. The HMRC team was led by Lin Homer, HMRC's Chief Executive. It was initially slightly amusing but very quickly became quite depressing. Not, ironically, because of any of [...]
As taxpayers, we finance the operation of every single Government department, so why do those Civil Servants think it is acceptable to charge for telephone access to their services? It is increasingly evident that most, if not all, Government departments - and Executive Agencies - are switching their contact phone numbers to 0845 numbers. In [...]
In July, I blogged about the importance of using a specialist. In that blog, I commented on the websites I see of firms claiming expertise that the technical errors on those websites would suggest they don't really have. Yesterday, I was directed to the site of a small specialist R&D consultancy who state that, whilst [...]