Ohio has become the first US state to allow citizens to pay their taxes in bitcoins, it was announced in November 2018. [18.11]Read More

Darlington Building Society is offering mortgages up to six times a person’s salary, according to Moneyfacts in November 2018. Lenders are typically lending up to 4.75 times salary. Heavily indebted borrowers are vulnerable to sharp rises in interest rates. Since 2014, lenders have not been allowed to agree more than 15% of a loan at a...Read More

The Chancellor has announced that the Treasury will make a donation equal to the VAT on the 2018 X Factor’s winning Christmas single. The single is a cover version of The Power of Love recorded by Dalton Harris. Proceeds go to Together for Short Lives and Shooting Star Chase. Various charity recordings have had similar treatment. [18.12]Read More

Arron Banks lost a case which held that he was liable to inheritance tax on £976,781 that he donated to the political party UKIP, and related bodies, between 7 October 2014 and 31 March 2015. A donation to a political party is exempt from inheritance tax, only if that party secures sufficient votes and at...Read More

The reinstatement of Crown preference in insolvency could lead to cashflow pressure for unsecured creditors, accoding to Nucleus Commercial Finance. The 2018 Budget announced a limited return of Crown preference, whereby a tax debt is given preference over other debts in an insolvency. This change is due from April 2020. This reverts to the pre-2003...Read More

Regulations have been issued on the approval of wharves and similar facilities once the UK has left the EU. The regulations can be downloaded from here. SI 2018 No 1265 [18.12]Read More

On 30 November 2018, the EU amended regulation 3199/93 on the mutual recognition of alcohol denaturing procedures for exemption from excise duty. The amendment can be downloaded from here. [18.12]Read More

A subcontractor was held liable to account for VAT when building work had wrongly been zero-rated and the contractor had gone into liquidation. The main contractor’s supply for a construction project was zero-rated because the end customer was a charity. A subcontractor incorrectly treated its services to the contractor as zero-rated. By the time this was...Read More

An appeal regarding interest and repayment failed in the upper tribunal as it did not disclose any grounds for appeal. HMRC failed to repay VAT on a return within the time limits. As a consequence, the business became entitled to repayment supplement and interest. The first tier tribunal ruled that: interest was payable at base...Read More

VAT law is amended from 1 August 2019 to continue the exemption for higher education, it was announced on 3 December 2018. The changes arise from provisions introduced under Higher Education and Research Act 2017. Details are given in HMRC Brief 11 (2018) which can be downloaded from here. [18.12]Read More