Taxes | FavStocks

MP’s can still benefit from ‘disguised remuneration’ trusts

7 April 2011 – 5:02 am PDT

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I was shocked to read a note in AccountancyAge online this morning claiming that “MPs excluded from tax avoidance legislation”. That would be outrageous. I’ve checked the Finance Bill in question and cannot find the words originally quoted in the article. However what it does say is almost as bad. We’re talking here about the [...]

Unreliable evidence: A high level Radio 4 discussion about tax avoidance

7 April 2011 – 2:07 am PDT

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The Radio 4 programme, Unreliable Evidence, hosted by Clive Anderson, last night contained an informed and fascinating discussion about tax avoidance – the way in which people and companies make arrangements within the law to keep their tax bills low. The first 25 minutes of the programme addressed a number of issues and misconceptions about [...]

50% tax rate announced in Budget 2009 but 2 years on and the self employed haven’t paid it yet

5 April 2011 – 5:41 am PDT

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For all the fuss about the impact of a new top rate of 50% income tax, no self employed person earning above the Â£150,000 threshold has yet paid tax at 50%. They need not have taken action to reduce their tax bills. It’s just the way the tax system works. Let me explain: The new [...]

50% tax rate announced in Budget 2009 but 2 years on and no one has paid it yet

5 April 2011 – 4:16 am PDT

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For all the fuss about a new top rate of 50% income tax, no one* earning above the Â£150,000 threshold have yet to pay tax at 50%. They need not have taken action to reduce their tax bills. It’s just the way the tax system works. Let me explain: The new 50% rate was introduced [...]

Tax tease: "Worse off Wednesday" is widiculous

4 April 2011 – 1:59 am PDT

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I read about this in the Evening Standard on Friday 1st April but it’s no April Fool. Then again I’ve not found anyone else writing about it, yet. But I bet they do on Wednesday although the origin of the phrase is unclear. The Standard reports that: Many households will see income fall from “Worse [...]

Overlooked Budget paper will force Gordon Brown to apologise

31 March 2011 – 6:24 pm PDT

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Overlooked Budget paper will force Gordon Brown to apologise

One of the problems with the Budget is that there is just so much paperwork. Inevitably most people focus on the economic issues and the tax issues. Occasionally items get missed. And I think I’ve spotted one that has yet to be reported. Hidden away on page 1420/11 of the appendices to the 2011 Budget [...]

Tax tease: Late filing penalty STAYS at Â£100

31 March 2011 – 1:44 pm PDT

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The media have been reporting that the Â£100 penalty for late filed tax returns is about to rise from Â£100 “to a possible Â£1,300″. Nice and newsworthy. Whilst arguably true it’s not as big a deal as the reports suggest. Quelle suprise! Most of the media stories are lifted directly from HMRC’s press release about [...]

Blog release: Award winning accounting practice chooses Tax Advice Network

31 March 2011 – 1:14 am PDT

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The Tax Advice Network has been selected as preferred specialist tax advisers by Elaine Clark, founder of the award winning and fast growing online accounting practice: Cheap Accounting. Despite the name of the practice Elaine stresses that â€œQuality is in no way compromised. CheapAccounting operates to a set of very high service valuesâ€. Inevitably, perhaps, [...]

And the award for best budget night commentary goes to…..

24 March 2011 – 2:30 am PDT

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I’ve long been critical of the ‘me too’ type of overnight budget commentaries. Indeed, these days ‘overnight’ is slow and many commentaries appear online within hours. I have seen dozens of such identikit commentaries since the Chancellor sat down yesterday. Almost all contain pretty standard lists of the headline measures, cut and paste extracts from [...]

Budget prediction: No immediate merger of tax and national insurance

23 March 2011 – 1:55 am PDT

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It was inevitable that, due to a short holiday last week, I would miss the opportunity to offer timely comment and debunking of key tax stories. Although I’m back just in time for the Budget, there seems little point in writing about anything else today. However there is one point about which I’ve been unable [...]