NIC Bill: employment allowance & UK continental shelf
In connection with the NIC Bill introduced into Parliament on 14 October 2013, the following documents have now been published on which comments are invited:
draft HMRC arrangements (and overview) for claiming the NIC employment allowance, which will give employers a £2,000 reduction in NICs from April 2014 (which was not included in the draft version of the Bill published for comment in July 2013); and
draft Social Security (Categorisation of Earners) (Contributions) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, which introduce a certification scheme for workers on the UK continental shelf where someone other than the secondary contributor pays the NI liability.
CRD 4: country by country reporting
Following a consultation on the government’s proposed approach for implementing the EU country by country reporting provisions in the Capital Requirements Directive 4 (CRD 4), which apply to financial institutions only, HM Treasury has published a summary of responses, together with draft legislation and guidance. The reporting requirements oblige financial institutions to disclose detailed information, including pre-tax profit/loss and taxes paid, on a country by country basis from July 2014. The one-week consultation period ran until 26 November to gather final views on the draft legislation and guidance. The regulations are intended to apply from 1 January 2014.
VAT recovery on leased cars
ECOFIN, at its November meeting, has agreed to an extension until December 2016 of the UK’s derogation from the VAT Directive allowing:
a 50% input tax recovery restriction for hirers or lessees of a car not used entirely for business purposes; and
the private use of a car hired or leased by a taxable person for his business purposes not to be a supply of services for consideration for VAT purposes.
HMRC has published details of updates to its Venture Capital Schemes Manual (concerning the share loss relief section) and Corporate Finance Manual (concerning manufactured payments and the worldwide debt cap).
New QROPS list
HMRC has published an updated list of qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes (QROPS). This is a list of non-UK pension schemes that have notified HMRC they meet the conditions to be a QROPS and have asked to be publicly listed.
Exchange of information
Members of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes have met to discuss ways to strengthen transparency and boost comprehensive exchange of information between governments worldwide. The Global Forum is an international forum of 121 countries and jurisdictions which aims to ensure the implementation of internationally agreed standards of transparency and exchange of information on request.
People and firms
As part of the restructuring of its tax practice, Mishcon de Reya has recruited partner John Skoulding (from SJ Berwin) and solicitor Charlie Sosna (from Berkeley Law). Speechly Bircham has opened an office in Paris, following its expansion into Geneva, Zurich and Luxembourg. The offering will focus on tax planning for wealthy families and entrepreneurs as well as corporate and litigation services to these clients, private equity investors and corporates.
NIC Bill: employment allowance & UK continental shelf
In connection with the NIC Bill introduced into Parliament on 14 October 2013, the following documents have now been published on which comments are invited:
draft HMRC arrangements (and overview) for claiming the NIC employment allowance, which will give employers a £2,000 reduction in NICs from April 2014 (which was not included in the draft version of the Bill published for comment in July 2013); and
draft Social Security (Categorisation of Earners) (Contributions) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, which introduce a certification scheme for workers on the UK continental shelf where someone other than the secondary contributor pays the NI liability.
CRD 4: country by country reporting
Following a consultation on the government’s proposed approach for implementing the EU country by country reporting provisions in the Capital Requirements Directive 4 (CRD 4), which apply to financial institutions only, HM Treasury has published a summary of responses, together with draft legislation and guidance. The reporting requirements oblige financial institutions to disclose detailed information, including pre-tax profit/loss and taxes paid, on a country by country basis from July 2014. The one-week consultation period ran until 26 November to gather final views on the draft legislation and guidance. The regulations are intended to apply from 1 January 2014.
VAT recovery on leased cars
ECOFIN, at its November meeting, has agreed to an extension until December 2016 of the UK’s derogation from the VAT Directive allowing:
a 50% input tax recovery restriction for hirers or lessees of a car not used entirely for business purposes; and
the private use of a car hired or leased by a taxable person for his business purposes not to be a supply of services for consideration for VAT purposes.
HMRC has published details of updates to its Venture Capital Schemes Manual (concerning the share loss relief section) and Corporate Finance Manual (concerning manufactured payments and the worldwide debt cap).
New QROPS list
HMRC has published an updated list of qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes (QROPS). This is a list of non-UK pension schemes that have notified HMRC they meet the conditions to be a QROPS and have asked to be publicly listed.
Exchange of information
Members of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes have met to discuss ways to strengthen transparency and boost comprehensive exchange of information between governments worldwide. The Global Forum is an international forum of 121 countries and jurisdictions which aims to ensure the implementation of internationally agreed standards of transparency and exchange of information on request.
People and firms
As part of the restructuring of its tax practice, Mishcon de Reya has recruited partner John Skoulding (from SJ Berwin) and solicitor Charlie Sosna (from Berkeley Law). Speechly Bircham has opened an office in Paris, following its expansion into Geneva, Zurich and Luxembourg. The offering will focus on tax planning for wealthy families and entrepreneurs as well as corporate and litigation services to these clients, private equity investors and corporates.
