When was the last time you had a career check-up? With client concerns, professional development and a pandemic to contend with, STEP members might quite reasonably believe that career development comes low on the priority list. Actually, the turbulence of the times is exactly why you should be investing in your career health. Digitisation combined… Read More How’s your career health these days?
One of the most exciting things set to happen in STEP this year was to be our fourth Global Congress, which would have brought together leading experts in Dublin to exchange insight and expertise with delegates from all over the world. Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic has meant the event has had to be postponed, but… Read More STEP’s upcoming Thought Leadership Series: expert perspectives on today’s big issues
The England and Wales Law Society has issued guidance to solicitors who advise on tax, drawing out their obligations within the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) rules and regulations. The new guidance acknowledges the Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation (PCRT), which has been developed and published by several UK accounting and tax professional bodies, including STEP,… Read More Law Society issues guidance to solicitors advising on tax
Each year, STEP supports a charitable organisation through its Private Client Awards. Instead of charging an entry fee to the Awards, we ask entrants to make a donation to our chosen charity; attendees can donate at the event itself, and STEP members can also donate online here. Charity partnerships are for three years, and previous… Read More Introducing STEP’s new Private Client Awards charity partner, the World Literacy Foundation
Vulnerability is not synonymous with poverty or age, it can happen to anyone, at any time. While I have been interested in vulnerability for many years, it was the development of my firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy, with the theme, ‘vulnerability and combating financial abuse,’ that really crystallised my desire to develop my technical… Read More Practitioner perspective: We need to work together to help vulnerable clients
The UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has today announced the implementation of secondary legislation under the Electronic Communications Act 2000 that can be applied retrospectively to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic on 31 January. The new legislation, which only applies in England and Wales, enables individuals to video-witness the execution of their wills if… Read More UK Ministry of Justice enacts video-witnessing of wills
Update 11 August 2020: It remains unclear exactly when the proposed Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 will come into force as this is being created by way of a Statutory Instrument, which is subject to the sifting procedure in Parliament. This is a special procedure for EU legislation, and the… Read More STEP welcomes UK government response to Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive consultation
The first STEP Virtual STEP UK Annual Tax Conference was held on 26 June with over 800 people attending online. The day was a radical departure for STEP, with conventional meetings postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19. While it did include some glitches, attendees have the opportunity to catch up on any material they missed,… Read More STEP’s first Virtual UK Annual Tax Conference
HM Revenue & Custom’s (HMRC) compliance team has identified the five most common errors made by UK administered trusts which are Financial Institutions (FIs) when fulfilling their obligations under the International Tax Compliance Regulations 2015. These obligations relate to Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) which includes the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and the Foreign Account… Read More The five most common reporting errors for trusts to avoid
HMRC’s Trusts and Estates team met with the Agents Advisory Group and Capital Taxes Liaison Group in May and provided the following updates: Operational update Despite the unique challenges presented by the current COVID-19 situation, inheritance tax and trusts operational areas are currently meeting all key targets and processing post and new accounts within published… Read More Update from HMRC’s Trusts and Estates team
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