News

A petition calling on the Government to relax the criteria for self-employed people to access income support during the coronavirus crisis has received more than 300,000 signatures. Though at first given a cautious welcome, the coronavirus self-employment income support scheme (SEISS) announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak on 26 March soon came under fire for allowing … Continued

HMRC has deferred rolling out the second phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for 12 months due to the coronavirus. Phase one of MTD kicked in for VAT return periods starting on or after 1 April 2019, with what HMRC described as a soft-landing period. This included the use of basic bridging software and waiving … Continued

HMRC intends to contact millions of people eligible for the self-employed income support scheme by the middle this month. Those workers who have lost profits due to COVID-19 will be invited to submit online claims for payments, which will be made by early June. The scheme provides taxable grants worth 80% of a self-employed worker’s … Continued

VAT rules for food and drink in the UK are “overly complex” and in need of reform, the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) has claimed. Chancellor Rishi Sunak used his Spring Budget to scrap the so-called ‘tampon tax’ when the Brexit transition period ends on 1 January 2021. The ATT hopes the decision to abolish … Continued

The point at which tapering of the annual pension allowance kicks in will increase by £90,000 for both threshold income and adjusted income in 2020/21. The move, which was announced in last month’s Spring Budget, means the taper will not affect anyone with income of less than £200,000. It brings to an end a long-running … Continued