The UK Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has urged a ban on external accountants working temporarily inside government, as well as calling for tax code simplification, in its latest report Tax avoidance: The role of large accountancy firms.
The French government has performed a U-turn which sees a reversal of the planned increase in capital gains tax (CGT). President Francois Hollande said he is correcting a “misunderstanding”.
HMRC has tried to provide greater clarity around the GAAR HM Revenue & Customs has released new guidance on the UK's General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR), which is scheduled to come into effect in July, after the Finance Bill 2013 becomes law. While the GAAR was always intended to apply to income tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, petroleum revenue tax, stamp duty land tax and annual tax on enveloped dwellings, the new guidance indicates it will also apply to national insurance contributions (NICs), subject to separate legislation being passed.
According to a recent report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the end of the double taxation avoidance agreement between India and Mauritius is a high risk that would have a drastic impact on the Mauritian economy.
Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman, has publicly defended his company’s corporation tax payments in the UK, but his comments are likely to rile subscribers to the Margaret Hodge (Labour MP) viewpoint that business obligations extend beyond compliance with the letter of the law.
