According to the figures received by an investigative website, HMRC paid out nearly £400,000 last year as part of little known “bounty payments” for reporting on tax evasion – with the figures rising by over a fifth from the previous financial year.
The reported figures reveal that the value paid for information typically varies from £50 to tens of thousands of pounds, depending on how much tax was recouped as a result of the information; and one of the largest payments is reported to have been paid four years ago when HMRC paid £100,000 for a list of secret offshore accounts held by Britons.
Following the release of the figures, a spokesperson for HMRC described the annual totals as “lumpy” claiming that a few big rewards in a year were able to skew the figures.
The spokesperson added: “If we are recovering many millions of pounds in tax, the payment reflects that.” However they added that payments are at HMRC’s discretion, and the rewards depend on “the value of the information and the quality of the result”, he added, although they are not a fixed percentage of the tax recouped.”
For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
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( 3 / 670 )It has been revealed that the UK’s largest businesses paid out a combined £1.34 billion following HMRC investigations into VAT avoidance within the 2010 – 2011 tax year – more than treble the amount paid the year before – as businesses subjected to new investigations jumped forty-two percent.
The latest figures, which were released as part of a Freedom of Information request, show that HMRC has begun taking a tougher and more aggressive approach to tax and VAT compliance.
However, it has been claimed that such an approach could leave the taxman on a collision course with UK businesses; with a spokesperson for the firm behind the Freedom of Information request, saying: “VAT could become an important battleground between business and HMRC in the next couple of years. Both sides are under pressure: businesses to maintain profits, HMRC to increase its revenue.”
Following the release of the figures, HMRC have claimed that they were distorted by exceptional items including a one-off payment of £500 million which was brought by investigations into the leisure and gaming industry.
HMRC added that it works hard to ensure that the right amount of tax is paid at the right time, added that the avoidance industry had been seriously undermined by its focus on tackling avoidance, preventing billions of pounds being diverted from the Exchequer.
For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
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( 3 / 681 )HMRC have confirmed, within revised guidance on adviser charging, that consultancy charges will be paid only by employees who join an employers’ pension scheme.
Towards the end of last year, HMRC received criticism for its draft guidance over how consultancy charges would be applied if only a portion of employees advised agree on joining a pension scheme. However, following the criticism, HMRC have updated the guidelines, which now state that the cost of the advice fro setting up a personal pension scheme or a group personal pension scheme would be met from the funds of those employees who join.
Following the publication of the revised guidelines, a spokesperson for HMRC said: “The pensions industry raised concerns with HMRC about guidance it had published at the end of last year about the impacts of adviser charging on members of registered pension schemes.
“As requested by the pensions industry, the updated guidance also gives customers additional assurance on the treatment of consultancy charges, which are paid to firms advising employers on pension provision for employees.”
The new guidelines on adviser charging for personal and group pensions also advises that adviser charges payable in connection with annuity purchases would not affect the maximum tax free lump sum payable.
For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
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( 3 / 703 )Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions have revealed that only a quarter of private sector workers are active members of their employers’ pension schemes – down by a third compared to figures from 2007.
The latest Employers’ Pension Provision survey carried out by the Department for Work and Pensions, along with showing that only a quarter of private sector workers are active members of their employers’ pension schemes, also reveal that only three in ten private sector businesses offer their staff any pension provision – another fall from five years ago, when the figures stood at four in ten.
In addition to a fall in the number of businesses within the private sector offering any form of pension provisions, the survey has also found that twenty-six percent of private sector employees are either active members of a work-place pension scheme or have arrangements whereby the employer makes a contribution to a private pension.
With auto-enrolment only a few weeks away, the figures reveal the need for more to be done by both employers and employees in regard to pensions and planning for retirement; sentiments echoed by one of the authors behind the survey, who said: “This report clearly demonstrates the need for the auto-enrolment reforms, but it also demonstrates the scale of the challenge ahead.
“Many of the very largest employers are ready. But there is still a great deal to be done to spread awareness and build understanding among small employers.”
For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
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( 3 / 682 )Figures released from the Office for National Statistics have revealed that the UK economy has shrunk by 0.7 percent in the second quarter of the year – a bigger contraction than was expected.
Economists had previously estimated that the economy would contract by roughly 0.2 percent; however the wettest April to June period on record combined with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations – which resulted in an extra days holiday – are said to have contributed to the bigger contraction.
It is the third successive period of contraction, after a 0.4 percent contraction in the final quarter of 2011 and a 0.3 percent contraction during the first quarter of this year; leaving the UK in its longest double-dip recession since 1975.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics are set to increase the pressure on the Chancellor George Osborne to ease his austerity measures and push for growth.
Yesterday, in a statement the Chancellor said that the deeper than expected contraction was disappointing, and he confirmed the country’s deep-rooted economic problems, before adding: “We're dealing with our debts at home and the debt crisis abroad. We've made progress over the last two years in cutting the deficit by 25 percent and businesses have created over 800,000 new jobs.
“But given what's happening in the world we need a relentless focus on the economy and recent announcements on infrastructure and lending show that's exactly what we're doing.”
The figures from the Office for National Statistics come a week after the International Monetary Fund called on the UK government to prepare a “plan B” to pump life into the economy.
For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
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