Category: Tax

The UK’s research and development (R&D) tax credit system is failing to prompt companies to increase spending and could prove a “costly failure”, a report claims.  The Centre for Business Research (CBR) said aggregate business expenditure on R&D in the UK is as much as 15% lower than it was before the scheme was introduced … Continued

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) is to explore changing the end of the tax year from 5 April to either 31 March or the end of the calendar year. The OTS published a document last month setting out the scope of a review into the benefits, costs and wider implications of changing the date. … Continued

Almost 2,000 people who thought they’d reduced the values of their estates by making gifts have seen an inheritance tax break stripped away.  Inheritance tax is charged at 40% on individual estates worth more than £325,000, and this can double for married couples. Other allowances and exemptions are available to increase this threshold or taper … Continued

The 5% VAT repayment supplement is set to be replaced with the 0.5% repayment interest rate for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2022.  VAT repayments are usually made within 30 days of HMRC receiving a business’s VAT return, but the tax authority can enquire into the VAT return before processing the repayment. … Continued

Four new measures affecting the construction industry scheme (CIS) were enacted from 6 April 2021 as HMRC cracks down on tackling abuse of the scheme. First, the tax authority can now amend the CIS deductions suffered and reclaimed on real-time information via the employment payment summary to an amount matching any evidence HMRC holds. If … Continued

A million businesses need to have digital links in place to submit VAT returns and comply with phase two of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT. All VAT-registered firms have until their first VAT return period, starting on or after 1 April 2021, to put digital links in place. A digital link is an electronic … Continued

Investment in the UK’s manufacturing sector is poised to rise as a result of the capital allowances super-deduction.  The super-deduction enables companies that invest in qualifying new plant and machinery to benefit from a 130% first-year capital allowance. The policy kicked in on 1 April 2021 and allows companies to cut their tax bill by … Continued

The Treasury has frozen the UK’s VAT thresholds for a further two years in a bid to start repairing tattered public finances following COVID-19. Businesses with annual taxable turnover of more than £85,000 have to register for UK VAT and file digital VAT returns through compatible software. This VAT-registration threshold for 2021/22 remains at £85,000 … Continued

More help for the self-employed has been announced, with the final two income support grants available until the end of September 2021. The fourth taxable grant available through the self-employed income support scheme (SEISS) covers a three-month period from 1 February to 30 April 2021. As with two of the previous SEISS grants, the fourth … Continued

Around 1.8 million taxpayers missed the 2019/20 deadline for self-assessment on 31 January 2021, according to figures published by HMRC. The tax authority revealed 1,790,368 people failed to beat the midnight deadline, almost double last year’s total of 958,296. HMRC attributed the spike in the number of personal taxpayers missing this year’s midnight deadline – … Continued