Population needs

Corporations did not vote in the EU referendum, if they had we probably wouldn’t be in the mess we are. People voted, and the Government should listen to what those people are asking for, such as:

• long term jobs
• decent housing
• inspiring education
• reliable transport systems
• fast broadband
• well-funded health service and social care

If the rate of corporation tax is reduced, the government funding required to satisfy the above needs must come from individuals either as tax rises or benefit cuts.

 

How to fund

I believe the money needed for investing in communities should come from corporation tax on large companies, taking the rate back up to a reasonable 25%. The lower rate of 20% could be maintained for small companies, but it should be linked to the number of employees on the payroll rather than to the level of the company’s profits.

All companies (or groups) with less than 50 employees would pay CT at the lower rate of 20%. HMRC can easily determine which companies have 50 or more employees as that information is instantly available through RTI reports. The cut-off point of 50 employees is also the boundary used for RTI penalties, and for tests to establish whether a business is a small company for R&D and other tax reliefs.  

 

Stimulate investment

The results of the EU referendum shone a spotlight on the inequalities across the UK in terms of industry and opportunities for the local population. Investment by business and government needs to be targeted in areas where it is needed most, eg outside the greater London area.

Here are some ideas for stimulating investment:

• Business grants conditional on the creation of long-term jobs in a specific area.
• Scrap the apprenticeship levy (due to come into effect from 6 April 2017), which will only add to the burden of employing people and complicate the tax reporting for all employers.
• Allow employers to claim tax allowances on providing decent housing and schools for their workers, to emulate the Victorian industrialists such the Cadbury family who built Bourneville village near Birmingham and Sir Titus Salt who founded Saltaire Village near Bradford.
• Bring back capital allowances for investment in factories and warehouses.
• Fund improvements in transport systems between towns in the North of England.
• Scrap the HS2 rail project – it will only pull more people into over-heated London.
• Improve the ports in the north east and transport links to them.
• Build support areas for lorry drivers up and down the country – safe and secure overnight parking for drivers.
• Pay teachers premiums to teach in lower performing state schools, to inspire the young to create the educated workers the knowledge-based economy needs .
• Make sure every town, village and hamlet has high speed broadband.

 

Business rates

This is a significant tax for many businesses, which has been devolved to the regions. So Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland make their own decisions on the rates and reliefs.

In the March 2016 Budget the government proposed a major reform to English business rates to allow local authorities to retain 100% of the money raised. Those funds could be used to spend on urgent local needs such as social housing. Unfortunately, the reform of business rates in England has also been stalled due to political turmoil.

What do you think? Should modest tax rises be used to fund vital investment? Or do you agree with George Osborne that our top priority as a country should be to attract outside investors?

 

 

• How tax can help heal our country

 

 

---

Friday 24th June 2016
Brexit: Five questions accountants should be asking

AS the nation digests the reality of an EU exit, accountants and practices across the UK will be looking to come up with answers to their clients’ concerns. But what exactly should the accountancy profession be asking now that the future involves no longer being part of a collective that’s had a large stake in both British tax and accountancy for the past 40 years?

ICAS has composed a list of questions breaking down exactly what the profession should be asking following the historic vote:

Break tax ties completely?

The UK has always had primary control over direct taxation, but will it be more inclined to “go its own way” and ignore European and international convention and initiatives outside the EU?

VAT

Will the UK government change its approach to VAT and VAT rates, freed from the restrictions imposed by the EU and, if so, what changes will occur?

What will happen if there is an emergency Budget?

If there is an emergency Budget, which taxes will increase and if significant sums are required does this mean the end of the triple lock on income tax, VAT and national insurance?

Policy changes

What will be the impact of Brexit on UK government policy in other areas which impact British business and the accountancy profession such as: anti-money laundering; data protection; competition; financial services; harmonisation of product standards; consumer rights; pensions?

What next for accountancy?

In areas of accountancy, what new policies will follow? Will the UK be inclined or persuaded to depart from International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and re-establish UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (UK GAAP)? Will the EU Audit Directive and regulations continue to be implemented as planned, or will some aspects be reversed?

ICAS’ full list of questions can be found here

 

 

• Brexit: Five questions accountants should be asking

 

 

---

Monday 06th June 2016
Customer service better than ever, claims HMRC

Responding to criticism from the National Audit Office (NAO), HMRC says it is currently offering its best customer service in years.

In a recent report, the NAO said the quality of service at HMRC “collapsed” over an 18-month period covering 2014 and 2015. During this time, some customers were kept on hold for up to an hour as average call waiting times tripled. According to the report, the poor standard of service cost taxpayers the equivalent of £97m last year.

However, HMRC says its services have now “fully recovered”.

Ruth Owen (pictured), HMRC’s director general for customer services, said: “Over the past six months we’ve consistently answered calls in an average of six minutes, and have launched new online tax accounts and webchat for everyone, enabling customers to manage their tax affairs wherever and whenever they want.

“There’s never been a better or more convenient service for our customers.”

HMRC says it has achieved improvements to customer service by:

• recruiting more than 3,000 additional advisers who can work outside normal office hours;

• introducing more flexible working to deal with large fluctuations in customer demand throughout the year, underpinned by a new telephone system that enables HMRC to move calls around the country in response to demand;

• launching online services that enable customers to manage their tax affairs when and where they want, including by smartphone, with online support such as webchats.

HMRC also points to planned improvements announced in chancellor George Osborne’s 2016 budget, including:

• the introduction of a seven-day service by April 2017, with extended hours and Sunday opening on main phone lines, as well as online support services such as webchats;

• the recruitment of more than 800 new staff into the customer services teams, to reduce call answering times and further increase the flexibility to respond to demand;

• a new secure email service – operated through customers’ online tax accounts.

Helen Hargreaves, associate director of policy and research for the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP), commented: “While our own research does not show the dramatic increase in performance suggested by HMRC, it is clear that HMRC’s response times have improved in recent months.

“However, there is definitely room for further improvement and we will be conducting further research in 12 months to establish the impact on performance of the investment announced by the chancellor in the 2016 budget.”

• Customer service better than ever, claims HMRC

 

 

---

Wednesday 25th May 2016
Hanging on line to HMRC cost taxpayers £97m, NAO finds

Taxpayers forced to hang on the phone while calling HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) lost the equivalent of £97m last year, a spending watchdog has said.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said the quality of service at HMRC "collapsed" over an 18-month period between 2014 and 2015.

Call waiting times tripled during that time, as some customers were kept on hold for up to an hour.

In response, HMRC said most calls were now being answered in just six minutes.

As part of its most recent study, the NAO worked out how much money callers would have notionally lost, while waiting for a reply.

Using HMRC's own criteria, it valued people's time at an average of £17 an hour.

As a result it claimed callers would have wasted the following sums:

• £66m while waiting on the phone
• £21m while actually talking to HMRC
• £10m on the cost of the call

Headcount

The NAO blamed HMRC's poor performance on its decision to cut 11,000 staff between 2010 and 2014.

As part of its strategy to persuade people to do their tax returns online, it had anticipated needing fewer employees to answer the phone.

But after call waiting times for self-assessment tax returns peaked at 47 minutes last autumn, HMRC was forced to bring in 2,400 staff to its tax helpline.

Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said he accepted that HMRC's overall plan did make sense.

"This does not change the fact that they got their timing badly wrong in 2014, letting significant numbers of call handling staff go before their new approach was working reliably," he said.

Citizens Advice said some people might fall into debt as a result of the problems - if they missed a tax deadline as a result.

"Long waiting times not only cause frustration and increase the cost of the call, but can also mean people miss important deadlines," said Gillian Guy, the chief executive of Citizens Advice.

"For example if you don't return your tax form on time you face a fine - which for some households can be an additional cost they can't afford to pay.

Wrong tax

HMRC said its service levels had improved since the period in question. Over the last six months it said call waiting times had averaged six minutes.

"We recognise that early in 2015 we didn't provide the standard of service that people are entitled to expect and we apologised at the time," said Ruth Owen, HMRC's director general for customer services.

We have since fully recovered and are now offering our best service levels in years," she said.

However the NAO said it was also concerned that, because many taxpayers never got through to HMRC on the phone, they may have paid the wrong amount of tax.

In March this year there were 3.2m outstanding high priority cases that still required investigation.

MPs on the Public Accounts Committee will take further evidence on the issue on 13 June.

• Hanging on line to HMRC cost taxpayers £97m, NAO finds

 

 

---

Wednesday 04th May 2016
Brexit worries top SME agenda

The impact of a potential Brexit tops the list of business owner concerns, according to the latest research from accountancy and tax group Smith & Williamson.

Some 81% of respondents to the Smith & Williamson Enterprise Index survey felt that Britain leaving the EU would negatively impact their business, up 13% from June 2015.

Expectations for growth fell by 9%, with Brexit worries and fears around the state of the UK and global economy cited as major concerns.

The Smith & Williamson Enterprise Index, designed to measures the confidence of UK SMEs, fell by four points to 111.4, its lowest point for 12 months.

Commenting on the latest figures Guy Rigby, head of entrepreneurial services at Smith & Williamson, said: “When we first sought business owners’ thoughts on Brexit, the Conservative Party had just been elected and a potential Brexit felt quite remote. However, as we approach the referendum date, business leaders are seemingly more apprehensive about the prospect of leaving the EU.”

There were reasons to be cheerful however, with 80% of respondents stating that their own prospects for the next 12 months had increased over the past quarter, up 5% from the last survey.

“This improvement potentially highlights an entrepreneurial self-belief in spite of broader market headwinds,” said Rigby

“Overall, business owners appear quite confident in their own ability to grow, with 74% anticipating growth (or an acquisition) in the next 12 months. In addition, a record 50% thought that access to funding had improved over the past quarter, despite only 38% having an appetite to borrow.”

Trade expectations down

One area highlighted by the survey centred on export businesses. Those who expected their turnover to increase over the coming year declined 12% from the end of the last quarter. There was also concern around the financial health of trading partners, with only 55% believing their health was improving, a seven point decline from the previous quarter.

On this issue Rigby commented: “This is not supportive of the government’s aspirations to increase UK exports. If this sentiment becomes reality, it could have huge ramifications for future growth.”

• Brexit worries top SME agenda

 

 

---

Monday 25th April 2016
Government opens consultation into Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme

HMRC has published its formal consultation on the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme, with a deadline for responses of 1st July.

At Budget 2015, the Government announced an increase in the annual donations limit on which a charity can claim – from £5,000 to £8,000 from April 2016, and then brought forward a planned review into the scheme with a call for evidence launched last December.

It has now examined the responses and published its proposals. The key ones are as follows:

• A proposal to relax the Gift Aid history requirement so a charity would only need one year of successful Gift Aid claims (including in the previous tax year)


• A willingness to explore extension of GASDS to contactless payments (but not cheque/direct debit etc)


• Proposal to amend the community buildings rules to allow charities or a ‘group’ of charities to claim either under the main GASDS allowance or under the community buildings allowance, but not both. Charities receiving donations in multiple community buildings could make multiple claims under community buildings rules but not in addition to the main allowance


• Consideration of a relaxation in the definition of a community building to allow collections received outside of the building (in the community) to be included


• The Government is not minded to relax the 10 person element in the community buildings rules, because of concerns about fraud


• The £8,000 cap seems likely to remain for the time being and eligible donations will continue to be capped at £20


• Statistics that show that GASDS take-up has mainly related to Community Buildings so far (reflecting the high usage by churches) and that £23,475,000 was paid out in the tax year 2013-14.

The Government is inviting responses on a number of consultation questions:

Consultation questions

1. What would the impact on your charity be of the removal of the current legislative requirement that a charity must have been registered for at least two tax years (the two-year rule) before it can access GASDS? Would this change represent a meaningful simplification of the scheme?

2. What would the impact on charities be if the requirement that a charity must have made a successful Gift Aid claim in at least two out of the previous four tax years (the two-in-four rule) was changed to a requirement that a charity must have made a successful Gift Aid claim in the previous tax year only?

3. Does your charity currently collect donations using contactless payment technology, or are you currently considering doing so in future?

4. Would the expansion of GASDS to include donations received via contactless credit and debit cards present any challenges to charities, particularly in terms of record keeping or other administrative requirements?

5. Would the Government’s proposal to allow charities to claim either under the main GASDS allowance or under the community buildings allowance, but not both, present any specific equality issues or generate any obviously unfair outcomes?

6. What impact would this proposal have on your charity?

7. Would relaxing the community buildings rules to allow donations to be received outside of the building itself allow more charities to claim under GASDS?

8. What reasonable requirements could be included to ensure that the relaxed community buildings rules still only benefit donations received in a specific local community?

9. Are there any other reforms that you would like the Government to consider?

The Charity Tax Group has welcomed the proposals. CTG chairman, John Hemming, said:

“We welcome the proposals in this consultation on GASDS reform, which take forward a number of the key recommendations in CTG’s response to the Call for Evidence, including: a partial relaxation of the Gift Aid history requirement; clarification of the community buildings rules; and steps to future-proof the Scheme to accommodate new types of small donations.

“While the Scheme provides very useful relief – particularly for smaller charities – positive changes are required to improve uptake, which is still too low, and improve accessibility. We will continue to work with officials to improve guidance and ensure that there is less complexity for charities in the administration of the Scheme.”

The consultation document can read in full here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/517377/Gift_Aid_Small_Donations_Scheme-consultation.pdf

Responses should be sent by 1 July to charitypolicy.taxteam@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk or by post to: GASDS Consultation, Room G/45, 100 Parliament Street, London, SW1A 2BQ.

• Government opens consultation into Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme

 

 

---

Thursday 14th April 2016
Entrepreneurs’ relief changes lead to retrospective taxation

The last few Budgets have not been kind to owner managed businesses, with a series of measures being enacted to curtail perceived abuses of the rules for entrepreneurs’ relief.

So it was a welcome change this year to see the Government announcing a relaxation of some of the restrictions that they introduced in 2015.

Unfortunately, in their haste to put matters right, they’ve actually made matters very wrong.

It all comes about as a result of proposals to backdate the amendments to 18 March 2015 when the rules were first changed. If the legislation is passed in its current format, some people who lawfully claimed the 10% rate under the associated disposals rules will find that they didn’t qualify after all. As a consequence, the higher 18%/28% rates should have applied, which means that there is some tax still owing. Will these people be asked to make good the shortfall?

New rules for entrepreneurs’ relief and associated disposals?

The purpose of entrepreneurs' relief is to encourage individuals to set up and grow their own business. If the relevant conditions are satisfied, capital gains arising on the sale of the business are taxed at a rate of 10%.

The relief applies to a disposal of business assets consisting of either:

· Shares or securities in a trading company, including the holding company of a trading group. The company must be the individual’s personal company in which he holds at least 5% of the ordinary share capital, together with the associated voting rights

· Assets of a trade, where the individual operates either as a sole trader or member of a partnership. The assets disposed of must constitute all or part of a business.

There is a one year holding period for which the assets must have been owned up till the date of disposal. There are further provisions that permit relief if the assets are disposed of within three years of the business ceasing to trade.

Relief is also possible for an associated disposal where a business owner personally provides an asset for use in the trade (TCGA 1992 s169K). The 10% rate will apply to a disposal of the asset provided that:

· The asset has been used in the trade for at least one year, ending on the date of the disposal, or (if relevant) when the business ceases

· The asset disposal is linked to the individual withdrawing from the business by disposing of all or part of his shares or partnership interest as the case may be. This disposal must also satisfy the conditions for entrepreneurs’ relief.

In short, there must be two disposals: The asset used in the trade, together with the individual’s personal share of the business.

For example, consider the case of a partnership that trades from premises owned by one of the partners in his personal capacity...

Register for free and log in to AccountingWEB to see the full article, which also covers:

· What are the new rules?

· Issues relating to the backdating of the changes

· Clawback of relief

 

 

---

Thursday 16th March 2016
Rebecca Cave believes the 2016/17 income tax rates are far too complex to explain easily.

It should be possible to explain to an ordinary taxpayer what tax rate they will pay without resorting to detailed questionnaires and calculators. That won’t be possible following the changes introduced by the Finance Bill 2016.

The changes to personal tax rates are so convoluted that people drafting the Finance Bill felt it necessary to include this table to summarise them:

	Rates payable on:
Type of taxpayer:	Savings income	Most dividend income	Other income
UK resident who is neither Scottish nor Welsh taxpayer	Savings rates	Dividend rates	Main rates
Scottish taxpayer	Savings rates	Dividend rates	Scottish rates
Welsh taxpayer	Savings rates	Dividend rates	Main rates while s11B is not in force; Welsh rates if so
Non-UK resident individual	Savings rates	Dividend rates	Default rates
Non-individual, except trustees in some circumstances, who are subject to trust rate or dividend trust rate	Default basic rate	Dividend ordinary rate	Default basic rates

Type of taxpayer

Before you can tell the taxpayer what tax rate they will pay, you need to know what type of taxpayer they are. This leads to questions about where the taxpayer’s main home is, and (for instance) if they are a member of the Scottish Parliament. If the taxpayer lives outside the UK they may be non-resident, in which case you need to use the statutory residence test to determine whether the taxpayer is resident in the UK for the particular tax year.

By “Scottish rates” the drafter means the Scottish rate of income tax (SRIT) plus the balance of UK default rates. To determine the Scottish rates you take the default rates, deduct 10% points then add on the SRIT, which also happens to be 10% for 2016/17. However, in 2017/18 the SRIT may not be 10%, and it may vary for each tax rate band.

The Welsh rates of income tax are not in force, but ITA 2007, s11B makes provision for them when they do come into being. From that point you will need to question the taxpayer as to whether they consider their main home to be in Wales, or whether they hold a position in the Welsh Assembly; other conditions may apply.

Type of income

The next batch of questions concerns taxpayer’s type of income. Many taxpayers will require an explanation of the difference between savings income and dividend income, and what falls into the catch-all “other income”. Of-course the journey to reach taxable profits from cash received is not straightforward, but perhaps some magic app will soon solve that for us.  

Amount of income

The next step is to add up all the taxpayer’s income to see which type of income falls in which tax band (see 2016/17 table). To do that you need to know what order the income is taxed in. This is not immediately obvious (see HMRC guidance in SAIM1090). In brief savings income and dividend income are treated as the top slice of income, but dividends sit on top of any savings.  

2016/17 Savings band: 0-£5,000 0–£32,000 £32,001–150,000 Over £150,000

Default rates 0% 20% 40% 45%

Savings rates 0% 20% 40% 45%

Dividend rates N/A 7.5% 32.5% 38.1%

Allowances

Don’t forget to deduct the relevant allowances from the relevant income. The personal allowance and blind person’s allowance can be set against any type of income, but the dividend allowance (£5,000) can only be set against dividends and the savings allowance (£1,000 or £500) only goes against savings income. Remember the savings rate band in the table above applies in addition to the savings allowance, if “other income” hasn’t already covered it.

Non-individual taxpayers (ie trusts) are not eligible for personal allowances, savings allowance or dividend allowance. This means a trust will pay at least 7.5% (possibly higher rates) on all of their dividend income, with no tax credit or allowance to reduce the tax due. In general trusts don’t benefit from the lower tax bands which are available to other taxpayers.    

All clear now?

Personal tax is now too complicated to be easily grasped by an ordinary taxpayer. We need help from tax software just to work out what tax rate will apply. But who is checking that the software delivers the right answer?  

• Income tax rates are too complex

 

 

---

Thursday 16th March 2016
Budget 2016 – Highlights

George Osborne delivered his 2016 Budget this afternoon – ‘a Budget for the next generation’. The announcements today will impact on advisers and their clients. There is a lot of detail behind the announcements, but here are some highlights:

Capital gains tax

From 6 April 2016 the higher rate of capital gains tax will be reduced from 28% to 20% and the basic rate will be reduced from 18% to 10%. The reduced rates will not be available on disposals of carried interest and gains on residential properties. These will be subject to an 8% surcharge on the new rates.

Entrepreneurs’ relief (ER) will be extended to include an investors’ relief. This will be available to investors (not employees) who subscribe for new shares in an unlisted trading company on or after 17 March 2016. The shares need to have been held continually for a period of three years before disposal

ER and Goodwill U-turn – where an individual transferred a business to a limited company on or after 3 December 2014 FA 2015 denied ER. It seems that this is now reversed from 3 December 2014 where certain conditions are met.

ER and trading company – there are plans to review the definition of a trading company for ER purposes. This could result in a list of ‘excluded activities’.

Business

From 2018 Class 2 NIC for self-employed individuals will be abolished.

From 6 April 2016 the rate of tax payable by close companies on loans to participators will increase from 25% to 32.5%. This applies to loans made on or after 6 April 2016.

The corporation tax rate will be cut to 17% in 2020 (originally planned to drop to 18%).

Employment

From April 2018 national insurance contributions will be payable on termination payments over £30,000. A technical consultation will be undertaken before the measures come into effect.

Changes to the disguised remuneration regime have been introduced with immediate effect, to restrict the effect of rules that allow employees to escape tax charges by paying for assets held in trusts by introducing a targeted anti-avoidance rule – if there is a tax avoidance motive underlying the transaction, it will be treated as giving rise to income tax and NIC charges immediately.

In addition, to give companies and EBT participants an additional impetus to settle their cases, the rules exempting capital growth in EBTs from employment taxes have been given a “sunset” provision – cases must be finalised and tax paid before 1 December 2016 to benefit from the relief.

The generous relief, that completely exempted shares acquired under an Employee Shareholder Status (ESS) agreement from CGT, which was introduced in Finance Act 2013, has been very significantly curtailed.

Shares issued pursuant to such agreements after midnight tonight will be subject to a lifetime limit of £100,000 – only the first £100,000 of gains will be exempt from tax, anything in excess of that number will be subject to CGT in the normal manner.

Gains arising on shares that were issued before midnight 16 March 2016 do not count towards the limit and the employees will continue to enjoy the exemption.

Savings

From April 2017 a new Lifetime ISA will be introduced for adults under 40. Savers will be able to pay in £4,000 per year and receive a 25% bonus up to their fiftieth birthday. The funds can be withdrawn from age 60 or at any time after the first 12 months if the funds are used to purchase a first home up to £450,000.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

From midnight tonight, SDLT payable on non-residential properties will be replaced with a progressive rate system, rather than the current slab rate, so that SDLT is charged paid on the portion of the purchase price in each band. The bands will be £0-£150,000 – 0%, £150,001-£250,000 – 2% and above £250,000 5%. There will be transactional rules for those acquisitions where exchange has taken place before 17 March 2016. For larger commercial property acquisitions this change will represent a significant increase in the SDLT cost.

Following recent consultation, the additional 3% SDLT payable on the purchase of further residential properties will come into force from 1 April 2016. No portfolio exemption will be in place from this additional charge. In response to the consultation process, the Government have proposed that, to qualify for relief from the additional 3% charge, the time limit for an individual to replace their main residence will be extended to 36 months (rather than 18 months as outlined in the consultation). Married couples will no longer be treated as a single unit where the separation is likely to be permanent. Where a small interest in a property is inherited within the last 3 years, this will not be considered to be an additional property for the purposes of the test.

 

 

---

Thursday 25th February 2016

• New Dividend Tax HOW TO MAXIMISE YOUR TAKE HOME AMOUNT?

 

 

---

Thursday 07th January 2016
Proposed changes to entrepreneurs’ relief

As you may be aware, in a broad attempt to reduce perceived imbalances in the UK tax system, HMRC released a consultation document in December governing distributions made by a company.

Part of the proposed change is the introduction of a new Targeted Anti-Avoidance Rule (TAAR) that would apply to certain distributions to shareholders following the Members’ Voluntary Liquidation (MVL) of a company, which subject to the consultation, could become effective from 6 April 2016. This TAAR would treat such distributions as income not capital where:

• • An individual who is a shareholder in a close company receives from the close company a distribution in respect of shares in a winding-up;
• • Within a period of two years after the winding-up, the shareholder continues to be involved in a similar trade or activity; and
• • The arrangements have a main purpose, or one of the main purposes, of obtaining a tax advantage.

In view of the consultation, if you have a client who is considering implementing a MVL to make a capital distribution and possibly take advantage of entrepreneurs’ relief, it may be sensible to implement the MVL as soon as possible.

We at Bailey Ahmad Business Recovery specialise in supporting directors, shareholders and their advisors in implementing low cost MVL solutions.

If you have a client that needs advice or would like further information, please contact us at mvl@baileyahmad.co.uk or give us a call on 0208 662 6070.

 

• Proposed changes to entrepreneurs’ relief

 

---

Thursday 17th December 2015
Tax Calculation (SA302) to support loan and mortgage applications

HMRC will no longer be able to provide copies of SA302 (otherwise known as the Tax Calculation) or the Tax Year Overview by fax, due to the type and level of customer information they include. This follows changes to the Government Security Classifications stating that fax is no longer considered a secure means of communication for certain documents.

HMRC have notified the Council of Mortgage Lenders members who will be cascading this message to other lenders and brokers so they should no longer be requesting faxed information.

HMRC will continue to provide copies of the SA302 by post if requested, but it would be appreciated if you use the self-serve option: SA302-tax-calculation for mortgage applications

 

• Tax Calculation (SA302) to support loan and mortgage applications

 

---

Friday 11th December 2015
Fill in your tax returns FOUR TIMES every year: Self-employed workers, landlords and small business owners faced with 'strangling' quarterly returns

 

Financial experts say move will add more red tape for small businesses

Plans to change were slipped out in George Osborne’s autumn statement

Government expects most self-employed people to file quarterly by 2020

Mllions of earners are to be forced to file tax returns four times a year.

Self-employed workers, landlords and small business owners currently have to submit their figures just once every 12 months.

Switching them to quarterly returns will bring them into line with big corporations. But financial experts say the move will simply add to the reams of red tape already strangling small firms.

‘These changes are going to be very onerous,’ said Chas Roy-Chowdhury, of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

‘It is not just about filling in a form, it is going to be a real burden.

‘Workers will have to make sure their books and records are up to date at least four times a year in case the taxman decides something is amiss and investigates them.’

Initially workers will not have to pay tax four times a year. But accountants suspect quarterly returns are a step toward this.

The plans were slipped out in the small print of George Osborne’s autumn statement. Around four million people will be affected: the self employed, small business owners and landlords who make more than £10,000 a year profit.

The Government expects most self-employed workers to be filing quarterly and online by 2020. It will thrash out the details over the next year when the plans go out to consultation.

The first stage of the £1.3billion digital revolution at HMRC is expected soon with the launch of personal tax accounts for a million workers. These will act like an internet bank account, and keep an up-to-the-minute record of tax paid.

At present every self-employed worker or small business owner needs to file a paper return by October 31, or an online one by January 31. Tax must be paid by January 31.

Under the new system however, they will have to file online every three months – like big firms that report their financial results quarterly. They face having to use a complicated and lengthy online form each time.

As well as adding to the burdern of red tape, there are concerns that many small business owners could be fined for missing deadlines. Two in every five self-employed workers are either unable to use the internet or need help using Government online services, according to HMRC figures.

Fines of up to £100 are imposed for being a day late in filing.

Given its track record for poor customer service, there are also doubts as to whether HMRC will be able to roll out a system efficiently and with proper support for taxpayers. In June it emerged that the taxman had failed to answer 18million phone calls from the public in 12 months.

Small firms are already under pressure from the burden of setting up and paying into employee pension schemes.

And owners of small shops have complained of being forced to close by soaring business rates.

John Allan, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said he was deeply concerned about quarterly filing. ‘The annual tax return can be a major challenge and many smaller businesses still complete theirs manually,’ he said. ‘We believe the policy needs to be rethought. The push towards digital must be introduced alongside tax simplification and businesses should have a choice around the tax reporting process appropriate to them.’

Michelle Partington, 42, owner of small food business Lakeland Picnic, which is based near Kendal, Cumbria, said: ‘I could easily see how this could be a nightmare for some small business owners – especially one-man bands like plumbers.

‘When the Government first came to power it seemed to be very supportive of small business but it seems to have changed its approach. It is putting more and more things on us and putting barriers in the way of people who want to set one up.’

In their election manifesto, the Conservatives promised to cut £10billion of red tape and make Britain the best place in Europe to do business. In a recent speech to entrepreneurs, David Cameron hailed small business owners as ‘heroes and heroines’ and as Britain’s ‘life blood’.

A HMRC spokesman said: ‘Many taxpayers have told us they would like more certainty over their tax bill and we acknowledge that they shouldn’t have to wait until after the end of the year before being landed with an unexpected tax bill. That’s why we’re making it easier for them to update their tax information more regularly from 2018. We will ensure people have access to guidance and support where needed, including access to telephone filing.

‘Ninety-nine per cent of businesses already file their corporation tax online and 98 per cent of VAT returns are filed online. The new digital accounts simply integrate the different information businesses provide to HMRC into a simple, streamlined system.

‘We are focussed on creating a tax system that is more effective, more efficient and easier for taxpayers.’

 

• Fill in your tax returns FOUR TIMES every year

 

---

Thursday 03rd December 2015
Financial carelessness is harming startup growth, finds KPMG

START-UPS are failing to see the importance in managing their financial affairs, with the majority of bosses failing to consult with a finance professional, according to a study by KPMG.

KPMG interviewed 1,000 small business owners, ranging from owner managers to managerial level directors, all of whom are running a business with two to thirty two employees, writes sister title SME Insider.

Relying on outdated information

For businesses that are less than a year old, KPMG found that they are relying on management accounts that are, on average, four months out of date.

There also seems to be minimum thinking behind important financial decisions, with the interviews revealing that many decisions such as hiring and firing, are based on gut instinct and mental arithmetic.

Over a third of startup bosses are making vital decisions based on quick calculations of available funds, with some execs simply looking at how much money is in their bank account before signing off on big decisions. Out of all the startups KPMG spoke with, none of them said that they consulted a financial professional.

‘Frightening position to be in'

"Getting a business off the ground is a bumpy ride at the best of times, but having to make decisions based on what happened four months ago when your business is barely a year old is a frightening position to be in,' said Bivek Sharma, head of KPMG Small Business Accounting.

"Great businesses are built on great decisions, but owners really need to know where they stand today to make the right ones."

KPMG's research also found that more than two thirds (69%) of entrepreneurs are entirely self-taught when it comes to finances and 63% prepare their own accounts; Two thirds (63%) are neglecting to plan ahead and prepare fee or income forecasts; A quarter of startup owners admit they have no idea how much money they can safely invest in their business; A third of start-ups (31 per cent) are still concerned about financial uncertainty, despite the country's relatively stable economic condition.

Sharma concluded: "Many start-up owner managers have fought hard for the financial skills they need to be successful. But too many are lacking the data and insights to help them make truly informed decisions.

"Combining current data and real insights with small business smarts is the key to helping these firms supercharge their growth."

 

• Financial carelessness is harming startup growth, finds KPMG

 

---

Thursday 26th November 2015
HMRC announces next step in its ten-year modernisation programme to become a tax authority fit for the future

Fewer, more modern regional centres and highly skilled staff will provide customers with better services

HMRC has today announced the next step in its ten-year modernisation programme to create a tax authority fit for the future, committing to high-quality jobs and the creation of 13 new regional centres over the next five years, serving every nation and region in the UK.

The modernisation programme, now at the halfway point, includes investment in new online services, data analytics, new compliance techniques, new skills and new ways of working, to make it easier for the honest majority of customers to pay their tax, including by improving customer service, and harder for the dishonest minority to cheat the system. The changes have already resulted in over 80% of people filing their Self Assessment returns online and given customers new, simple ways to check their payments, make changes or find answers to questions.

The tax authority, which raised a record £517 billion for public services last year, will open its first new regional centre in 2016-17, with others following between 2017 and 2021.

HMRC’s 58,000 full-time equivalent employees are currently spread across 170 offices around the country, many of which are a legacy of the 1960s and 1970s, which range in size from around 6,000 people to fewer than ten. HMRC will bring its employees together in 13 large, modern regional centres, equipped with the digital infrastructure and training facilities needed to build a more highly-skilled workforce to meet the challenges of bringing in more revenue from those evading tax and improving its customer service to the honest majority.

The transformation supports the Government’s commitment to locate jobs throughout the country. Bringing staff together in large centres will enable people to develop careers up to senior levels, with less need to move around the country, and will support the growth of specialist teams and links with universities and other sources of skilled recruits.

Lin Homer, HMRC’s Chief Executive, said:

"HMRC is committed to modern, regional centres serving every region and nation in the UK, with skilled and varied jobs and development opportunities, while also ensuring jobs are spread throughout the UK and not concentrated in the capital.

"HMRC has too many expensive, isolated and outdated offices. This makes it difficult for us to collaborate, modernise our ways of working, and make the changes we need to transform our service to customers and clamp down further on the minority who try to cheat the system.

"The new regional centres will bring our staff together in more modern and cost-effective buildings in areas with lower rents. They will also make a big contribution to the cities where they are based, providing high-quality, skilled jobs and supporting the Government’s commitment for a national recovery that benefits all parts of the UK."

The changes will enable HMRC to give customers the modern services they now expect at a lower cost to the taxpayer, meeting the Government’s challenge for all departments to do more with less.

HMRC expects the majority of staff to be able to move from their current offices to a regional centre, and is phasing the moves over ten years in order to minimise redundancies. But HMRC will aim to have fewer staff in the future as it streamlines how it works and uses the best of modern technology to reduce costs.

Note to editors

1.The high-level plans for transforming HMRC were first shared with its staff 18 months ago. Since then, HMRC has held around 2,000 events across the UK, talking to its employees about how it is changing and involving them in the discussions.

2.The plans announced today will mean HMRC will be able to create better workplaces and generate estate savings of £100 million a year by 2025.

3.Moving more of HMRC’s work out of central London, which has some of the world’s most expensive office space, will enable HMRC to make substantial savings.

4.Regional centres will vary in size and in the mix of operational, tax professional and corporate services work that they contain. The smallest will hold 1,200 to 1,300 full-time equivalent members of staff and the largest, operationally-focused centres will hold more than 6,000.

5.HMRC will have four specialist sites for work that cannot be done elsewhere, notably where HMRC needs to work with its IT suppliers or other government agencies or departments. These will be in Telford, Worthing, Dover and at the Scottish Crime Campus in Gartcosh.

6.The 13 new regional centres will be in: North East (Newcastle); North West (Manchester and Liverpool); Yorkshire and the Humber (Leeds); East Midlands (Nottingham); West Midlands (Birmingham); Wales (Cardiff); Northern Ireland (Belfast); Scotland (Glasgow and Edinburgh); South West (Bristol); and London, South East and East of England (Stratford and Croydon). We cannot currently say more about the exact locations, because we need to negotiate with landlords and contractors, but they will be locations in the cities we have named with good transport links

7.Ultimately, these changes will involve the closure of 137 offices by 2027. Offices will be released, for instance, as lease breaks arise or at the end of the PFI contract with Mapeley in 2021. HMRC shared the broad outline of the transition with its staff on 12 November – including potential office closure dates and the likely outcomes for individuals working in each office.

8.HMRC will consult staff and other interested groups on the best way to carry out this transition. Where staff are not based in or near a proposed or existing regional centre, they will be given a range of options and will have time to consider and discuss their future with HMRC.

9.Much modern compliance work can be done from any location but HMRC’s investigators and field force remain a mobile workforce able to cover the entire country as and when we need to make contact face-to-face or at people’s premises. There will also continue to be mobile customer services for vulnerable individuals or those with additional needs.

 

• HMRC announces next step in its ten-year modernisation programme to become a tax authority fit for the future

 

---

"THAT IS WHY IT IS WISE TO SEEK THE SERVICES OF A PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANT OR TAX ADVISOR"

Thursday 05th November 2015
Millions could have filled out tax returns wrong due to HMRC phone failures, MPs warn

Half of all calls to the taxman in the first six months of 2015 were not picked up, report from Public Accounts Committee finds

Millions of people may have filled in their tax returns incorrectly because HMRC is failing to answer their calls, MPs have warned as they condemned its its "abysmal" customer service.

Half of all calls to the taxman in the first six months of this year were not picked up, equivalent to 12 million unanswered calls.

MPs on the Public Accounts Committee said that despite the fact its performance has got worse, HMRC has failed to produce a plan detailing how it plans to improve matters.

There are fears pensioners are particularly impacted because fewer of them are on the internet and they often have complicated tax arrangements.

Meg Hillier, the Labour MP who chairs the PAC, said: “HMRC must rapidly improve its customer service, previously described by the PAC as abysmal and now even worse – to the extent it could be considered a genuine threat to tax collection.”

“It beggars belief that, having made disappointing progress on tax evasion and avoidance, the taxman also seems incapable of running a satisfactory service for people trying to pay their fair share.”

The committee’s report reveals the scale of HMRC’s struggle to answer the 50 million calls it receives every year.

In the first six months of 2015 just half of calls were answered – worse than in 2011/12 when around three is four calls were picked up. It also failed to answer six in 10 calls within five minutes.

• 'My £10,459 shock tax bill': the HMRC blunders blighting taxpayers

The report warns that HMRC's customer service failings are creating a "genuine threat to tax collection" amid fears that people are paying the wrong amount.

It says: “HMRC did not provide us with any indication of when or by how much its customer service would improve, beyond a vague aim to improve year on year

“It acknowledged that people are more likely to pay the right tax when they find HMRC easy to deal with, but, in the words of its own Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary, 'we are still struggling'.

“We are concerned that customer service levels are so bad that they are having an adverse impact on the collection of tax revenues.”

There are concerns that people calling with questions about their tax returns, PAYE slips and other financial documents are being left in the dark.

John Pugh, a Lib Dem MP and long-standing member of the PAC, said he feared millions of people could be making errors in their tax returns because of the failures.

“Apart from the sheer inefficiency involved, there is an underlying anxiety that millions of people are paying the wrong tax because they can’t get through to HMRC on the phone,” he told The Telegraph.

“Online tax returns have their place, but at the end of the day people do have problems and queries that they need answered. The tax system is very complicated and they need help.”

The report also criticised HMRC for its failure to clamp down on offshore tax evasion, calling the number of prosecutions “woefully inadequate”.

An HMRC spokesperson admitted there had been inconsistencies in handling calls earlier this year but said the problems did not impact its ability to collect tax.

"We explained to the committee that we hadn’t provided a consistent level of customer service in the first half of the year and we had recruited around 3,000 new staff to improve service levels. But these customer service issues did not affect our ability to collect tax," the spokesman said.

 

• Millions could have filled out tax returns wrong due to HMRC phone failures, MPs warn

 

---

Wednesday 28th October 2015
Sage unveils new payments service

Sage has launched a new service called Sage Payments that enables small and medium sized businesses to make domestic and international payments directly from their accounts or payroll software.

According to Sage the end-to-end payments solution will allow customers to make payments straight from their Sage 50 Accounts and Sage 50 Payroll software.

The software giant said the “strategically significant” service aims to transform the future of business payments by eliminating the need to extract information and put it into a separate payment channel or bank.

Lee Perkins, EVP and managing director of Sage UK, said: “Money management has throttled growth for too many businesses who struggle to handle flow of cash in and out of their organisation.

“With Sage Payments, we are empowering businesses by breaking down age-old financial processes revolutionising the way they make payments and enabling them to take greater control of their cash flow,” he said.

Sage Payments also:

• Automates reconciliation, funding and exchange rate calculation processes to save time and improve accuracy
  
• Sets future dated payments to help monitor cash flow and create a full digital audit trail to provide control over authorization
  
• Offers competitive and transparent domestic and FX pricing through a choice of tiered plans
  
• Allows customers to make payments to the UK and 23 other countries worldwide with support for 11 different currencies through Sage’s Foreign Trader module
  
• Is mobile and tablet friendly
  

Sage told AccountingWEB that cash flow was the life blood for small businesses, yet money management has throttled growth for too many businesses:

“Businesses, like consumers, are seeking more secure, transparent, automated payments processes to gain greater accuracy, efficiency and control of their money. This has been reaffirmed through extensive research across our customer base and the small & medium business market more widely; Sage Payments is a direct response to these needs.

“By reliably automating key stages of the payments processes, Sage Payments saves businesses considerable time. Information a customer already has in their accounts or payroll software can be extracted to facilitate making a payment and the customer is put in control of when that payment can be made. Automated capabilities such as reconciliation, funding and calculation of exchange rate gains or losses reduces the need for re-keying to save time and improve accuracy,” Sage sai

 

• Sage unveils new payments service

 

---

Tuesday 06th October 2015
HMRC wins £200m from tax avoidance scheme

A complex tax avoidance scheme used mainly by property developers and IT contractors has been defeated at Tribunal by HM Revenue and Customs, meaning the investors now collectively owe the taxman up to £200m in unpaid tax.

Yesterday (5 October) HMRC confirmed it defeated an avoidance scheme at a tribunal.

The scheme aimed to exploit the UK’s double-taxation agreement with the Isle of Man. Over 2,000 people used the complex and artificial arrangement, believing it would reduce their rate of income tax to typically less than 5 per cent.

The complex and artificial scheme used a trust and a partnership in the Isle of Man to try to claim exemption from UK taxation via the Isle of Man Double-Taxation Arrangement (DTA).

Over 2,000 people signed up to such an arrangement from 2001-02 to 2007-08, before it was blocked by targeted anti-avoidance legislation in Finance Act 2008, which put the meaning of the existing legislation beyond doubt.

The scheme was blocked by parliament in 2008 but a scheme user, Robert Huitson, challenged the amending legislation, taking the case to tribunal, despite the legislation being applied retrospectively.

In April 2001 Mr Huitson entered into a scheme marketed by a firm of tax consultants called Montpelier Tax Consultants (Isle of Man) Limited.

The scheme involved setting up an Isle of Man trust of which Mr Huitson was the settlor and in which he had an interest in possession, or a right to income. The trust became a partner in an Isle of Man partnership which in turn entered into a contract with Mr Huitson to provide his services.

Under his contract with the partnership Mr Huitson was entitled to an annual fee of £15,000, as well as a share of the partnership profits as a beneficiary under the trust.

If the scheme operated as Montpelier intended, Mr Huitson would pay income tax and national insurance on his annual fee of £15,000.

However he would pay no income tax or national insurance on sums paid to him as beneficiary of the trust.

The retrospective 2008 legislation was also challenged via two Judicial Reviews, both of which failed. In February 2012, the Supreme Court refused an application to hear appeals against the Court of Appeal’s judgments in these two cases.

Jim Harra, director general of business tax at HMRC, said: “This is yet another example where some people try to abuse the tax system to deprive the UK of money for vital public services.

“This is unfair on the majority who pay their fair share.”

emma.hughes@ft.com

 

• HMRC wins £200m from tax avoidance scheme

 

---

Monday 05th October 2015
The future is written in carrier bags

Rebecca Cave explains how the new carrier bag charge is just the beginning of the tax strife. It’s all due to the devolution of tax powers.

From 5 October 2015, shoppers in England have to pay at least 5p for each new plastic carrier bag they acquire. This apparently puts them in the same position as shoppers in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, who have being paying for their carrier bags for some years (just under 12 months in Scotland).

However, as the rules concerning carrier bag charges were drawn-up by the devolved administrations, those rules differ in every country within the UK, even the VAT treatment of the charge is not the same!

In England the carrier bag charge applies to “single-use” plastic carrier bags which are 70 microns thick or less. In Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland the charge applies to all single-use carrier bags, including those made of paper. In Scotland the charge includes bags made of other materials such as hessian, but in Wales bags made of hessian, cloth, jute and cotton are exempt from the charge.

In England only retailers who have 250 or more full-time employees (or equivalent) are required to charge customers for each bag, but in the other countries all retailers must levy the charge for new carrier bags.

There are circumstances in which the carrier bag charge does not have to be levied, such as when buying loose fruit, potted plants or medications, but only when the contents of the bag consists entirely of the exempt items. Of-course the list of exempt items is slightly different for each country. For example in Northern Ireland the charge doesn’t apply when buying take-away hot food and drinks.

Note that it is a “charge” not a “tax”. The levy is there to encourage customers to reuse bags they already have and hence reduce the number of discarded bags in the environment. So where does the money go?

In Scotland, Wales and England retailers can keep the carrier bag charge if they wish, having paid over the VAT portion of the charge (0.83p) to HMRC. They are encouraged to donate the net amount to charities or good causes, but they are not obliged to. In Northern Ireland the retailer must pay 5p of each bag charge to the Department of Environment, but there is no VAT to account for.

So there you have it; the same charge per bag in every country, but not on the same type of bags, in the same circumstances, or even with the same VAT implications.

Just imagine what will happen when further tax powers are devolved to the regional administrations. Scotland already has its own land taxes: LBTT and landfill tax. From April 2016 it will impose the Scottish rate of income tax (SRIT) on Scottish residents.

The Corporation Tax (Northern Ireland) Act 2015 gave the Northern Irish Assembly the power to set a different rate of corporation tax on trading income. Wales is drawing up plans for its own SDLT and landfill tax – as proposed in the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Bill.

 

• The future is written in carrier bags

 

---

Monday 28th September 2015
McDonnell: HMRC review and ‘Robin Hood’ tax on Labour agenda

JOHN MCDONNELL is set to use his first speech as Labour's shadow chancellor to push for a review of HM Revenue & Customs and a ‘Robin Hood' tax on stock market transactions.

The coalition government fought hard against moves to introduce such a tax during the last parliament, including mounting a legal challenge to the so-called Tobin Tax.

The 0.01% levy proposed last term aimed at shares, bonds and derivatives across the whole EU, is intended to prevent speculative trading and prompt the financial sector to pay back some of what it received from governments during the financial crisis.

McDonnell is to consult with shadow business secretary Angela Eagle on the tax, but believes it could rein in the excesses of the City and help pay for improvements to the NHS and other public services.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Robin Hood tax at the moment is Labour Party policy on the basis of if we can introduce it globally, and that's been Labour Party policy for some time now.

"However, what we are saying is today we are going to launch a review of our taxation system, we are going to bring the greatest economic minds in the world to bear on that issue, we are going to consult with the British people and then we will arrive at a decision on the way forward."

McDonnell will also announce a review of HMRC to establish how the tax authority can be bolstered in its efforts to collect taxes, particularly the billions lost through avoidance, evasion, fraud and error every year.

He intends to examine its "operations, effectiveness and also look at its range of policies and the instruments that it has available to it to ensure that we maximise our tax take and at the same time it's done on a fair and just basis".

During his Labour leadership campaign, Jeremy Corbyn claimed the tax gap - the shortfall between tax due and tax collected - stands at £120bn, enough to wipe out the country's deficit without cutting welfare or spending.

 

• McDonnell: HMRC review and ‘Robin Hood’ tax on Labour agenda

 

---

Thusday 03rd September 2015
ACCA ‘needs to be more open’ as members suggest governance changes

ACCA must overhaul its governance in order to be more equitable with its members. That's the message from institute member Tony Thorne, who is seeking to push through numerous changes to the way the body is run at its upcoming AGM.

The eight motions put forward by Thorne and 50 other members include calls for ACCA's senior management team to be subject to the same disciplinary rules as its members; for the institute's CEO and executive team to hold ACCA membership having qualified through examinations; and for the practice of delegated proxy voting to cease.

The group also proposes that all senior named council officers be appointed by the members at the AGM and that members of council are given the right of free speech, but ACCA has called on members to knock back the proposals.

The institute has issued explanations for its staunch opposition to all the plans, and why members should vote against them.

But Thorne told Accountancy Age: "We believe it's the members who are the body and the members should be made aware of what's going on."

He cited the example of seeking to call an EGM, which he says would require 1% of the membership – an ever-moving piece because "they're always signing up new members; members are dying," he said.

"It's one of the reasons we put a resolution forward on that because council only need ten members to call an EGM. Council members are no more equal than any other member, so it should be exactly the same. It's about what's fair and reasonable and it doesn't show good corporate governance – that's what we're suggesting."

One of Thorne's biggest bugbears has been the body's disciplinary policy, which he would like to see applied more evenly, citing a £100,000 provision made by ACCA in last year's accounts after some audit qualifications were erroneously awarded.

"It cost the ACCA's members £100,000 – for an error they made – and as far as we know, there has been no disciplinary action taken against anybody," he said. "If a member had done something similar, their feet wouldn't have touched the ground and there would have been publicity regarding their disciplinary. We need to show that we practice what we preach."

Another area of concern has been the institute's insistence on charging members' subscriptions in sterling even when they live overseas.

"Why are we not accepting subscriptions in the currencies in which we operate? We've got members in other jurisdictions paying their subscriptions in sterling and having to covert it back into whatever currency it is – for example Malaysian ringgits to run the Malaysian office," Thorne said.

"Some of our subscriptions are equivalent to a month's take-home pay in some areas of the world. And they're having to pay a little bit more for all the conversions.

"We're told that if they want the quality, that's the cost of it, but it should be what the cost is to them in that country and we should be more supportive to our members."

He added, too, that decisions from the top of the institute can affect the wider membership profoundly, and claimed that the institute had commited millions of pounds towards rent for its new Adelphi office.

"It's the members who pick up the tab and we're jointly and severally liable. It's the membership that is the body and they should listen to us all."

An ACCA spokeswoman told Accountancy Age: "ACCA's Council has responded in full to the AGM resolutions put forward, as can be seen from the AGM handbook.

"ACCA always works in the best interests of its members and its students.

"ACCA's move to the Adelphi has been properly costed to ensure that it represents value for the long term for a growing organisation. The relocation has also been necessary because a lease on one building is coming to an end. This is good estates planning, so that all of ACCA's London employees will be in one location, reflecting our influence as a world class professional membership organisation.

"Council has also rejected the resolution about staff being subject to the same disciplinary rules as members because ACCA has strong disciplinary policies in place for its entire global staff that reflect local laws regarding disciplinary and staff conduct."

 

• ACCA ‘needs to be more open’ as members suggest governance changes

 

---

New articles 2014

---

New articles 2013

---