HMRC pledges £5.5m in partnership funding
HMRC is awarding £5.5 million to voluntary and community organisations to support customers who may need extra help with their tax affairs.
HMRC is inviting eligible organisations to bid for the funding, worth £1.8 million a year from 2024 until 2027, through HMRC’s Voluntary and Community Sector
HMRC increases interest rates
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met on 21 June 2023 and voted 7-2 in favour of raising interest rates by 50 basis points to 5% to continue to tackle inflation. The 2 remaining members voted to keep the rate at 4.5%. This is the thirteenth consecutive time that the MPC has
Duty free limits if you are travelling abroad
If you are travelling from outside the UK and arriving home in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland), you are allowed to bring back the following goods for your own use without any UK tax or duty liabilities.
200 cigarettes or 100 cigarillos or 50 cigars or 250g of tobacco or 200 sticks of
Check when to expect reply from HMRC
HMRC has a useful online tool to help agents and taxpayers know when they can expect to receive a reply from HMRC regarding a query or request that they have made. The online tool is updated weekly.
The online tool has recently been extended to include information about employers’ PAYE and National
Passport delays and applications
A recent investigation by the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts, in connection with the UK passport office, has found that hundreds of thousands of applicants faced unacceptable delays in receiving their passports.
Following the removal of COVID-19 travel restrictions, His Majesty’s
Complexity may be double-edged sword
There does seem to be a trend to replace human interactions with automated AI systems. This is especially evident in the management of our tax system.
There was a time, many years ago, when each taxpayer’s tax affairs would be managed by a local tax inspector and all records were kept in paper
New patents service
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is the official UK government body responsible for intellectual property (IP) rights including patents, designs, trade marks and copyright.
The process of applying for a patent is set to change significantly over the next 12 months. The IPO has published a
Action to contain cost of living pressures – groceries
The Competition & Markets Authority has issued an update on the action it is taking to ease price rises in grocery bills. In their press release issued on 15 May 2023, the CMA said:
As cost of living pressures have grown, the CMA has been working to understand how well markets in essential
HMRC interest rates increase again
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met on 10 May 2023 and voted 7-2 in favour of raising interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.5% in a move to try and continue to tackle continued inflation. This is the twelfth consecutive time that the MPC has increased interest rates with rates
Simplified tax system for savers
The government has announced a number of new measures to help millions of people boost their future savings. One of these measures is a simplification of the Help to Save scheme.
The Help to Save scheme was launched by the government in September 2018 to help those on low incomes to boost their