Beware tax deadline scammers
Fraudsters are continuing to target taxpayers with scam emails in advance of the 31 January deadline for submission of Self-Assessment returns. In fact, over the last year, HMRC received more than 846,000 reports about suspicious HMRC contact.
A number of these scams purport to tell taxpayers
Scottish Budget 2021
Scotland’s Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes, has announced that the Scottish Government’s Budget will be published for 2021-22 on 28 January 2021. The date has been selected in order to allow the Scottish Government time to prepare for the new tax year.
This is the second time that Scotland has held
Protection for landlords and tenants
The government guidance for landlords and tenants as a result of the coronavirus pandemic has been updated. The Coronavirus Act 2020 provides protection to social and private tenants by delaying when landlords can start proceedings to evict tenants.
To give tenants greater protection from
Further support for mortgage borrowers
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced new proposals to ensure that lenders provide tailored support to mortgage borrowers who continue to face payment difficulties due to the COVID-19 crisis. This follows the additional government measures announced over recent weeks to control the
Temporary extension to the Help to Buy scheme
The Help to Buy equity loans scheme is open to both first-time buyers and home movers on new-build homes in England with a purchase price up to £600,000. The Help to Buy equity loans provide a low-interest loan towards the deposit. The loan is interest free for the first 5 years. New home buyers
Venues required to enforce rule of six
Since 18 September 2020, many designated venues in England have been required to enforce the rule of 6. The ‘rule of 6’ bans any social gathering of more than 6 people, except under limited circumstances such as if a single household or support bubble includes more than 6 people.
Services included
New cashback scheme proposed
The government has announced plans to allow customers to get cashback from shops without needing to make a purchase. At the moment, cashback is only available to those who buy goods. The new proposals have been put in place to help protect the UK’s cash system following a steady decline in the use
Students warned of tax scams
HMRC is warning new students starting university that they could be targeted by scammers trying to steal their money and personal details.
As new students start the academic year they can be particularly vulnerable to tax scams. Coupled with an increase in remote working due to the pandemic can
New three-tier COVID-19 alert levels
On 12 October, the Prime Minister announced the introduction of a new three-tier system of local COVID-19 alert levels across England. The new system sets the levels at medium, high and very high based on local transmission rates. The legislation to write the new three-tier system into law was
Levelling up or levelling down?
Our government has introduced a three-tier system for determining the local state of COVID infection and how restrictions in each area of England are to be applied. The grades are instructive.
The three categories are:
Medium alert level – This will cover most of the country and will consist of