The National Audit Office has published a report on HMRC’s 2018-19 accounts. The report shows that HMRC raised £627.98bn of tax revenues during 2018-19, an increase of £22.1bn (3.6%) on 2017-18. Of this total, around £250bn was paid in PAYE and National Insurance.

Currently, around 5.7m small businesses represent more than 95% of businesses in the UK. These businesses paid £115bn in corporation tax, VAT and other taxes during 2018-19. Small businesses are defined as having a turnover below £10m and fewer…

At Spring Statement 2019, the government announced that it would launch a call for evidence exploring ways to improve the operation of Partial Exemption (PE) and the Capital Goods Scheme (CGS), following the findings of the 2017 Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) VAT review.

HMRC have now published the consultation document covering both subjects. These are two areas of VAT which can involve a significant amount of administration for businesses, with complex calculations often being required for some businesses to determine the amount of input…

HMRC have published Brief 6 (2019), which explains changes to the rules on accounting for VAT, where the amount paid changes after the VAT has been accounted for to HMRC from 1 September 2019.

The prices businesses charge for goods and services can be reduced after VAT has been accounted for on a supply, for example when a business delivers goods, some of which are faulty, and it agrees with its customer that the price should be reduced.

When this occurs a business normally…

HMRC have issued Brief 3 (2019), which aims to clarify that the Department’s policy on the scope of the VAT zero rate for transport services has not changed following the Upper Tribunal (UT) decision in Jigsaw Medical Services Ltd (2018) UKUT 0222.

In this case, the UT heard an appeal by HMRC against the First-tier Tribunal’s decision that emergency transport in a specially adapted ambulance was zero-rated, rather than being exempt.

This decision may be of interest to suppliers that provide transport services in emergency vehicles (ambulances), or in…

Tax relief is generally available on pension contributions at the taxpayer’s highest rate of income tax paid, meaning that basic rate taxpayers get relief on contributions at 20%, higher rate taxpayers at 40%, and additional rate taxpayers at 45%. In Scotland, income tax is banded differently, and pension tax relief is applied in a slightly different way.

Pensions are a particularly tax-efficient form of savings since nearly everyone is entitled to receive relief on contributions up to an annual maximum regardless of whether they…