The government has again underlined its focus on tackling tax avoidance by closing down a scheme being marketed as a way for companies to artificially reduce corporation tax bills. The scheme, which sought to exploit rules that automatically allow certain types of expenditure to be deducted from profits, was notified to HM Revenue & Customs… Read more…

More than 1,500 people took a break from turkey and tinsel on Christmas Day to file their tax returns online, according to new figures from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). HMRC said 1,548 people filed tax returns online on Christmas Day, a 40 per cent increase on 25 December 2011 when 1,100 people did so.… Read more…

Businesses across the country are being urged to bid for a share of a £150 million pot to create the training schemes they need to grow their companies. The fund, launched on 19 November, forms the second round of the Employer Ownership of Skills pilot (EOP), which is already giving nearly £70 million to 35… Read more…

The government has announced reforms that will allow parents to share up to a year’s leave after the birth of a child and described them as “good news” for employers. It plans to introduce the changes to flexible working in 2014 and to flexible parental leave in 2015. The flexible working proposals would extend the… Read more…

New government figures suggest most people will stay in pension schemes under the new automatic enrolment initiative. The Department for Work and Pensions published its latest survey on retirement saving on 26 November, which found that 70 per cent of those questioned said they would be likely to stay in a pension scheme if they… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has warned businesses registered for VAT that they may receive a new certificate they are not expecting. HMRC said that it was carrying out routine maintenance of its VAT systems and might need to change the way it recorded addresses for businesses registered for VAT, to ensure consistency across the… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is to give some employers extra time to submit PAYE data in real time. Real Time Information (RTI) reporting of PAYE information will take effect in April 2013, when employers will need to start sending PAYE information electronically to HMRC, either on or before the date the payment is made.… Read more…

The costs of red tape on business will be slashed at twice the present rate from January 2013, the government says. From January, every new regulation imposing a new financial burden on firms must be offset by reductions in red tape that will save double those costs. The new One-in, Two-out rule will involve every… Read more…

British firms are being urged to explore new trade opportunities with the UK’s fastest growing major export market. The call came as Trade and Investment Minister Lord Green and CBI director-general John Cridland led a trade mission to Russia, including visits to Moscow and St Petersburg. The trip, involving 25 mid-sized businesses, took place from… Read more…

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has been writing to more than 1.4 million employers to its launch Real Time Information (RTI) awareness campaign. The letters, which went out during October, provided  information on what employers need to do to prepare for the new way of reporting PAYE data starting in April 2013. From April, employers… Read more…