Tax Jobs | Banking, M & A, Compliance & Stamp Duty

Taxman simplifies 200 standard letters
HMRC have rewritten more than 200 standard letters in an effort to make tax matters easier for taxpayers to comprehend. The correspondences have had their language simplified and cleaned up. The sentence ‘I must now advise you that I am considering formal recovery action’, for example, has been changed to ‘We will now take action to recover the money’. Timescales offered within the letters have also been made clearer – specific dates have replaced ambiguous phrases such as ‘within 30 days’ – and further explanations have been added to help taxpayers better understand Revenue processes and the reasons behind them. An example of a letter before and after a rewrite can be seen here. read more

Record 6.4m SA returns filed via internet
The record for the number of self assessment tax returns filed online has been broken once again, HMRC announced today. Of the 9.5 million taxpayers who received SA forms for 2008/09, 6,429,899 filed online by the 31 January deadline: three-quarters of all returns submitted. This represented an increase of almost 12% on last year's figure of 5,759,006, which was itself was a vast increase on the number of people who filed in 2008. On the busiest day for online returns, 29 January, HMRC received 384,638 online SA returns. The peak filing hour occurred between 4pm and 5pm on the same day, when 39,512 digital returns were received by the Revenue.

Huge rebates forecast for investment funds
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has predicted multimillion tax refunds for investment funds in the EU, following a decision by authorities in Norway. The country’s government this week pledged to repay withholding taxes to the Finnish resident real estate company Aberdeen Property Fininvest Alpha Oy, which is structured as a Luxembourg société d’investissement à capital variable, a type of open-ended investment fund. The decision follows the final judgment issued last June by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in favour of Aberdeen. It was ruled that the application of withholding tax on dividends paid to non-resident investment funds, while exempting domestic investment funds, was discriminatory and in breach of Articles 43 and 48 and Articles 56 and 58 of the EC Treaty. read more

New guidance on foreign currency accounts
In December, the Treasury said legislation was required to prevent certain capital gains tax losses from transactions on foreign currency bank accounts. The losses tend to arise where remittance basis users make a remittance that comprises or includes remitted foreign income. In response to numerous requests for clarification of the way in which users of the remittance basis should treat gains and losses that arise from movements between overseas bank accounts held in a foreign currency, HMRC have published draft guidance. For the purposes of capital gains tax, an overseas bank account held in a foreign currency is a chargeable asset. read more

Record 6.4m SA returns filed via internet
The record for the number of self assessment tax returns filed online has been broken once again, HMRC announced today. Of the 9.5 million taxpayers who received SA forms for 2008/09, 6,429,899 filed online by the 31 January deadline: three-quarters of all returns submitted. This represented an increase of almost 12% on last year's figure of 5,759,006, which was itself was a vast increase on the number of people who filed in 2008. On the busiest day for online returns, 29 January, HMRC received 384,638 online SA returns. The peak filing hour occurred between 4pm and 5pm on the same day, when 39,512 digital returns were received by the Revenue.

Huge rebates forecast for investment funds
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has predicted multimillion tax refunds for investment funds in the EU, following a decision by authorities in Norway. The country’s government this week pledged to repay withholding taxes to the Finnish resident real estate company Aberdeen Property Fininvest Alpha Oy, which is structured as a Luxembourg société d’investissement à capital variable, a type of open-ended investment fund. The decision follows the final judgment issued last June by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in favour of Aberdeen. It was ruled that the application of withholding tax on dividends paid to non-resident investment funds, while exempting domestic investment funds, was discriminatory and in breach of Articles 43 and 48 and Articles 56 and 58 of the EC Treaty. read more

No disruption to online services helpline
HMRC have moved to allay fears among tax advisers that the department’s online services helpline (OSH) will be providing a reduced service in the run-up to the self-assessment deadline. The Chartered Institute of Taxation and its charity arm, the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG), both expressed concern yesterday that the Revenue’s staff-run assistance would be available until only 4.30pm on Saturday 30 January, rather than until the usual 8pm closing time. The organisations’ claims were as a result of a note from HMRC to agents, which appeared to state that essential maintenance would be truncating the OSH’s weekend service. ‘What we cannot understand is why this information has not been posted on HMRC’s website for members of the general public, as it would appear equally to affect them,’ said the LITRG. read more

Treasury offers £160m boost to gas fields
Fuel companies operating in the most difficult-to-exploit areas of the UK continental shelf are set to receive a multimillion pound financial boost, according to the Treasury, which has introduced secondary tax legislation to encourage development of remote gas fields. The department said its new measure – applicable to the region west of the Shetland Islands, which is estimated to contain around 20% of the UK's remaining oil and gas reserves – could provide up to £160 million-worth of tax relief for each gas field that qualifies for the support. The new incentive extends the field allowance, announced in Budget 2009 and introduced in Schedule 44 to Finance Act 2009, to remote deep-water gas fields found in the west-of-Shetland area. read more

Taxman simplifies 200 standard letters
HMRC have rewritten more than 200 standard letters in an effort to make tax matters easier for taxpayers to comprehend. The correspondences have had their language simplified and cleaned up. The sentence ‘I must now advise you that I am considering formal recovery action’, for example, has been changed to ‘We will now take action to recover the money’. Timescales offered within the letters have also been made clearer – specific dates have replaced ambiguous phrases such as ‘within 30 days’ – and further explanations have been added to help taxpayers better understand Revenue processes and the reasons behind them. An example of a letter before and after a rewrite can be seen here. read more

New guidance on foreign currency accounts
In December, the Treasury said legislation was required to prevent certain capital gains tax losses from transactions on foreign currency bank accounts. The losses tend to arise where remittance basis users make a remittance that comprises or includes remitted foreign income. In response to numerous requests for clarification of the way in which users of the remittance basis should treat gains and losses that arise from movements between overseas bank accounts held in a foreign currency, HMRC have published draft guidance. For the purposes of capital gains tax, an overseas bank account held in a foreign currency is a chargeable asset. read more

Record 6.4m SA returns filed via internet
The record for the number of self assessment tax returns filed online has been broken once again, HMRC announced today. Of the 9.5 million taxpayers who received SA forms for 2008/09, 6,429,899 filed online by the 31 January deadline: three-quarters of all returns submitted. This represented an increase of almost 12% on last year's figure of 5,759,006, which was itself was a vast increase on the number of people who filed in 2008. On the busiest day for online returns, 29 January, HMRC received 384,638 online SA returns. The peak filing hour occurred between 4pm and 5pm on the same day, when 39,512 digital returns were received by the Revenue.

Treasury offers £160m boost to gas fields
Fuel companies operating in the most difficult-to-exploit areas of the UK continental shelf are set to receive a multimillion pound financial boost, according to the Treasury, which has introduced secondary tax legislation to encourage development of remote gas fields. The department said its new measure – applicable to the region west of the Shetland Islands, which is estimated to contain around 20% of the UK's remaining oil and gas reserves – could provide up to £160 million-worth of tax relief for each gas field that qualifies for the support. The new incentive extends the field allowance, announced in Budget 2009 and introduced in Schedule 44 to Finance Act 2009, to remote deep-water gas fields found in the west-of-Shetland area. read more

Revamped workplace meals clause published
HMRC have published draft legislation on the change to the tax set-up of work canteens. This follows the announcement in last year's pre-Budget report to restrict the exemption for free or subsidised meals where an employee has an entitlement in conjunction with salary sacrifice or flexible benefits arrangements. The draft clause will amend ITEPA 2003, s 317 and will have an effect on or after 6 April 2011. It shall remove the tax exemption in circumstances where workers are in effect using a designated amount of their gross remuneration to fund the purchase of food and drink at work. read more

Working With Agents approaches deadline
There is just one month left to respond to the latest consultation on the relationship between advisers and HMRC, the department warned today. Working with Tax Agents: the Next Stage was launched at the pre-Budget report in December to look at how the Revenue ‘interacts with tax agents to ensure that their clients’ returns and claims are correct when submitted’. It is the follow-up to a consultation published last April, which was widely criticised within the tax sector for highlighting the taxman’s distrust of agents, who commentators claimed would be either laden with additional regulatory burdens or forced to leave the UK. read more

Carelessness fines don't include advisers
The FA 2007 penalty regime has been in operation since April 2009, but issues continue to arise in practice. The Chartered Institute of Taxation raised a point concerning the penalty for carelessness in FA 2007, Sch 24 para 1. The penalty is directed against the taxpayer, but the institute wondered if it could also encompass the adviser? In response, HMRC confirmed that it did not. read more

Taxpayer's appeal refused in Grays Timber
The Supreme Court today gave judgment in the long-running Grays Timber Products Limited v HMRC, which was the first tax case concerning employee share awards under the rules introduced in 2003. The appeal of the taxpayer – heard on 14 and 15 December last year – was refused, although the victorious Revenue came under criticism from the judges, as did the language of the legislation concerned. The long-running case had its origins in November 1999, when Alexander Gibson was appointed as MD of Grays Timber, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Grays Group Ltd (GGL), of which Mr Gibson became a director. read more

No disruption to online services helpline
HMRC have moved to allay fears among tax advisers that the department’s online services helpline (OSH) will be providing a reduced service in the run-up to the self-assessment deadline. The Chartered Institute of Taxation and its charity arm, the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG), both expressed concern yesterday that the Revenue’s staff-run assistance would be available until only 4.30pm on Saturday 30 January, rather than until the usual 8pm closing time. The organisations’ claims were as a result of a note from HMRC to agents, which appeared to state that essential maintenance would be truncating the OSH’s weekend service. ‘What we cannot understand is why this information has not been posted on HMRC’s website for members of the general public, as it would appear equally to affect them,’ said the LITRG. read more

Offshore rules exempt investment managers
HMRC have confirmed that the regulations contained within chapter 6 of part 3 of the Offshore Funds (Tax) Regulations 2009 – which set out when transactions by certain offshore 'reporting' funds are not treated as trading transactions for the purposes of computing 'reportable income' – have no relevance to matters relating to the taxation of such funds potentially trading in the UK through a permanent establishment or agent. read more

OECD sets up tax and development task force
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has hosted a joint meeting of its Committee on Fiscal Affairs and the Development Assistance Committee, bringing together the tax and development forums for the first time. The participants agreed on a number of general principles, including the need for close co-operation to combat tax evasion, and to work with the developing world to take advantage of the opportunities in the more transparent global environment. They also agreed to develop a programme to improve transparency in the reporting of profits and tax payments and to support developing countries in applying transfer pricing principles to enable them to collect their fair share of tax. read more