Why VAT Needs a Fresh Look The UK’s Value Added Tax (VAT) system, first introduced in 1973, has become increasingly complex. With thousands of exceptions and outdated thresholds, businesses often find compliance time-consuming and costly. A VAT reform is long overdue—not just to simplify administration, but also to ensure fairness and efficiency for both small...
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) can be a confusing area, especially when dealing with run-down or damaged properties. A recent Court of Appeal ruling in the case Mudan v HMRC ([2025] EWCA Civ 799) brings important clarity to the residential SDLT rules, especially regarding properties in poor condition at the time of purchase. Background to...
The amount of inheritance tax (IHT) collected by HMRC continues to rise rapidly, reaching £ 6.7 billion in the 2022/23 tax year, some 12 percent higher than the 2021/22 figure. One in every 21 deaths resulted in an IHT charge, equal to the previous high of 2016/17 before the residential nil-rate band was introduced. The...
HMRC has launched an enforcement campaign targeting tax agents who claim repayment of stamp duty land tax (SDLT) because the property needs extensive repairs, is uninhabitable, and therefore not liable to residential SDLT. HMRC’s stance is based on the recent England and Wales Court of Appeal decision in Mudan v HMRC (2025 EWCA Civ 799), which agreed with...
Criminals have hacked the online tax accounts of 100,000 taxpayers to claim GBP47 million of fraudulent repayments, HMRC has acknowledged. Most of the attacks were conducted by phishing using credentials obtained from non-HMRC sources to either set up new HMRC accounts or hijack existing ones, rather than by breaches of HMRC security. HMRC is writing...
The First-tax Tier Tribunal (FTT) has rejected three business owners’ claims that GBP10 million they received from cancelled shares in their company was exempted from tax under the transactions in securities legislation. The FTT accepted HMRC’s contention that the legislation contained an error and the words ‘despite the fact’ meant ‘where’, not ‘even where’. This...
HMRC’s annual ‘compliance yield’ from wealthy taxpayers more than doubled from GBP2.2 billion in the 2019/20 tax year to GBP5.2 billion in 2023/24, according to a report from the government’s National Audit Office (NAO). The NAO says the large increase suggests that underlying levels of non-compliance among the wealthy population could be greater than previously...
A woman who lived rent-free in a house settled in an offshore trust by her late husband was liable to GBP163,414 income tax under the transfer of assets abroad (TOAA) legislation even though she was not the transferor, the First-tier Tax Tribunal has ruled (Moran v HMRC, 2025 UKFTT 540 TC). It ruled that the ‘motive defence’...
A couple who bought a property for GBP9.75 million, demolished and rebuilt it, then sold it for GBP27.15 million, have won their appeal against a GBP3.3 million capital gains tax charge. Raymond and Diana Eyre successfully claimed they were not developing in the nature of a trade and the house was their principal private residence...
HMRC is warning landlords against a specific tax avoidance scheme that claims to convert rental income into non-taxable loans. This scheme is under investigation and poses serious financial risks. Promoters suggest landlords can receive their rental income back as a loan without paying tax, but HMRC says this setup does not work and treats it...
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Copyright by CareAccountancy. All rights reserved.
