The Chancellor’s Spring Budget coincided with a challenging set of global circumstances. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank just days prior emphasised the need for economic confidence, investment and growth here in the United Kingdom. Coined as the ’back-to-work’ Budget, the Chancellor’s focus was on incentivising the skilled workforce to remain in work longer. Among… Read More UK Spring Budget: key updates for STEP’s members
The UK’s HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has recently published a review of its powers to tackle poor agent behaviour and uphold standards for its agents. This follows an HMRC call for evidence in 2020 about raising standards in the tax advice market, which STEP responded to. STEP also replied to the consultation through the… Read More HMRC releases report on its review of powers to uphold its standard for agents
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
STEP is delighted and relieved by the news that the proposed increase in probate fees in England and Wales has been dropped. News reports emerged early on Saturday morning (12 October 2019), to the relief of practitioners and others in the industry. ‘STEP welcomes the news that the government has decided to scrap the proposed… Read More UK government drops probate fee increase
STEP attended the Global Tax Advisers Platform (GTAP)’s inaugural conference ‘Tax & the Future’ in Turin, Italy last week, alongside many leading European tax advisors. The event was hosted by the foundation of Confédération Fiscale Européenne (CFE) Tax Advisers Europe, which was celebrating its 60th anniversary (press release). The GTAP was set up by the… Read More STEP attends Global Tax Advisers Platform conference in Turin
It was an absolute pleasure to be back in Toronto, Canada for the 21st National Conference, the STEP Canada Board meeting and AGM. I had visited in February, early in my tenure, given the importance of the region to STEP overall and to learn more about how we operate in different parts of the world.… Read More A welcome return to STEP Canada to attend the 21st National Conference
The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee has found that HMRC is failing to guarantee fairness for taxpayers by failing to differentiate between users of sophisticated tax avoidance schemes and ordinary citizens who break the law through uninformed or naive actions. In its report, The Powers of HMRC: Treating Taxpayers Fairly (PDF), the committee found… Read More House of Lords report criticises HMRC’s treatment of taxpayers
The UK Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has published its first report of its review into inheritance tax (IHT). The report, in which STEP is widely quoted, finds that the process for completing IHT forms is too complex and old fashioned, and that too many people are having to fill them in unnecessarily. The OTS… Read More OTS report supports STEP’s calls for simplification
This week STEP hosted a seminar to update members on HMRC’s latest moves to tackle tax evasion and avoidance. Entitled, ‘An essential update on HMRC’s activity to tackle tax evasion and avoidance, including information exchange, new powers and its impact on professional advisors,’ the seminar took place at BDO LLP’s office in London. Speakers included… Read More HMRC: no more safe havens
STEP hosted the last in this autumn’s series of Annual Tax Conferences on 21 October in London. Some outstanding STEP members spoke on topical matters including John Barnett TEP, Emma Chamberlain TEP, Robert Jamieson TEP, Edward Stone TEP, Paula Tallon and Chris Whitehouse TEP. Emma Chamberlain provided a much needed update on deemed domiciliaries –… Read More STEP Annual Tax Conference looks at deemed domiciliaries
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