ICAEW's Tax Faculty provides a summary of the announcements on tax and related matters in the 2021 Budget on 3 March, covering: business tax, COVID support, duties, employment taxes, environment taxes, international taxes, MTD, personal tax, property tax, tax compliance and VAT.

With the end of the pandemic hopefully near, the Chancellor clearly set out the fiscal damage to the UK economy and that the road to recovery will be a long one. Frank Haskew, Head of the Tax Faculty, shares his thoughts on a Budget that aims to rebuild the economy.

The Chancellor has announced a range of measures designed to stimulate business investment, including reliefs for losses and a super deduction for qualifying capital expenditure but also confirmed corporation tax rates will increase for many companies.

On 3 March 2021, the Chancellor extended coronavirus support measures, confirmed changes to corporation tax rates and the freeze of personal allowances, and outlined a series of measures aimed at supporting the rebuilding of the economy post-COVID. On 23 March HM Treasury released more than 30 announcements and documents on tax. Read ICAEW's analysis.

The UK’s current research and development tax relief regime is popular with companies, but there are opportunities to provide support closer to spend, to prevent funding limit breaches and to bring it up to date for a digital world, confirms ICAEW.

Further development and clarity are needed if HMRC proposals for large businesses to report uncertain tax positions are to succeed, according to ICAEW’s Tax Faculty. Better results might be achieved by reducing uncertainty in legislation and encouraging greater communication.

A new paper adopted by the European Commission sets out plans to promote a robust, efficient and fair business tax system in the EU, supporting post-pandemic recovery and boosting public revenues in the future.

Finance ministers from the G7 have agreed a principle that would see multinationals pay tax of at least 15% in each country they operate, but clear, worldwide consensus will be needed if it is to deliver a fair and sustainable recovery, according to ICAEW.

On 19 January 2020, ICAEW's Tax Faculty is hosting a webinar on DAC 6. Jo Myers from EY UK's international tax and transaction services team and Ariana Kosyan, from EY's emerging technologies team, will join the Faculty in discussing how the recently announced changes will affect businesses.

4 January 2021: HMRC has confirmed that the UK will no longer be applying DAC 6 in its entirety following conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement with the EU. Only arrangements that would have fallen within Category D of DAC 6 will now need to be reported, in line with the OECD’s mandatory disclosure rules.

ICAEW’s Tax Faculty explains why all ICAEW members need to be alert to their potential reporting obligations. Highlighting common misconceptions and answering frequently asked questions about the regime.

In its latest Employer Bulletin, HMRC confirms that late filing and late payment penalties under PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) will remain ‘risk-assessed’ for 2021/22. ICAEW’s Tax Faculty outlines the update and other key reminders from the Bulletin.

HMRC has published two updates for insolvency practitioners.

HMRC has published new templates for making claims under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to simplify the process. It is now possible to submit claims using a template within the system for staff without national insurance numbers when grants cover fewer than 100 members of staff.

COVID-19 is likely to further spur the global trend towards tax digitalisation. David Lyford-Smith from ICAEW’s Tech Faculty considers changes that will help automate processes to make them more efficient and points to ongoing challenges, such as digital exclusion.

Edition 17 of HMRC’s MTD update for agents includes details of how the functionality of the agent services account is developing and includes screenshots of some of the available services. ICAEW’s Tax Faculty highlights what has changed.

HMRC is writing to more than 150,000 VAT-registered businesses where it doesn’t hold a valid email address, explaining what they need to do to continue paying their VAT by direct debit. ICAEW’s Tax Faculty explains that this relates to the transfer of VAT records to a new database.

HMRC has published two updates for insolvency practitioners.

HMRC reports that it has been unable to automatically process a significant number of 2020/21 self assessment tax returns because of apparent inconsistencies in the reporting of SEISS grants. ICAEW’s Tax Faculty explains how to avoid the problem.

HMRC has published new templates for making claims under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to simplify the process. It is now possible to submit claims using a template within the system for staff without national insurance numbers when grants cover fewer than 100 members of staff.

28 July: Fewer trusts will be within the scope of the expansion of the Trust Registration Service (TRS) than originally proposed, but the 30-day deadline for new trust registrations and rules granting third-party access to data remain unchanged.

In March 2018, CCAB (The Consultative Committee of Accounting Bodies) published Anti-Money Laundering Guidance for the Accountancy Sector. It is aimed at all entities providing audit, accountancy, tax advisory, insolvency or related services such as trust and company services, by way of business.

Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation (PCRT) has been updated making it easier to navigate with a new digital structure. This edition is effective from 1 March 2019.

Reduced rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) will apply for residential properties purchased from 8 July 2020 until 30 June 2021 and from 1 July 2021 to 30 September 2021 inclusive.

Check if you have to pay the higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) when you buy a residential property in England or Northern Ireland.

Reduced rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) will apply for residential properties purchased from 8 July 2020 until 30 June 2021 and from 1 July 2021 to 30 September 2021 inclusive.

Check if you have to pay the higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) when you buy a residential property in England or Northern Ireland.

HMRC contact information, including telephone numbers, online options and postal addresses, together with tips.

Highlights from the broader tax news week ending 16 June, which includes: G7 leaders backing global tax commitment; a word of caution on deeds of assignment; guidance on tax avoidance using unfunded pension arrangements; VAT liability of daycare services; and more support on heritage assets.

In its latest Employer Bulletin, HMRC confirms that late filing and late payment penalties under PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) will remain ‘risk-assessed’ for 2021/22. ICAEW’s Tax Faculty outlines the update and other key reminders from the Bulletin.

It had been anticipated that Finance Act 2021 would receive Royal Assent in July, but it took place on 10 June. Extended loss carry-back, super deduction and many other measures come into force.

Multifactor authentication is already in place for most HMRC online services and will now be extended to all government gateway accounts other than those used by agents. ICAEW’s Tax Faculty explains what is changing.

Taxing business properties form an important part of the tax base for many countries, but they are often complex and in an increasingly online world can be irrelevant to an organisation’s turnover. The time has come to overhaul business property tax systems and here ICAEW outlines the options.

Is hypothecation - assigning particular tax revenues to a specific public policy goal - a good thing? Read Ian Young's article presenting the facts and then decide.

Anita Monteith of ICAEW’s Tax Faculty explains how to account for trades in the sharing economy, specifically how tax and national insurance work in the gig economy

Highlights from the broader tax news week ending 16 June, which includes: G7 leaders backing global tax commitment; a word of caution on deeds of assignment; guidance on tax avoidance using unfunded pension arrangements; VAT liability of daycare services; and more support on heritage assets.

Brought to you by the Tax Faculty, this webinar covers the capital allowances landscape following the provisions in the 2021 Finance Act.

From 1 July 2021, the existing Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS) scheme transitions to a new framework. This is the 2021 EU e-commerce VAT package. This webinar will provide an explanation of the new EU -ecommerce VAT regime.