News - Revenue news

More on disclosure

HMRC have published draft regulations and a partial regulatory impact assessment in relation to the extension and modification of the disclosure regime:

• Draft SI - Tax Avoidance Schemes (Prescribed Descriptions of Arrangements) Regulations 2006
• Draft SI - The Tax Avoidance Schemes (Information) (Amendment) Regulations 2006
• Partial regulatory impact assessment - Tax Avoidance Schemes (Prescribed Descriptions of Arrangements) Regulations 2006

The closing date for comments is 31 May 2006, and these should be sent to: Yvonne DeNetto, HMRC, Room 3/45, 100 Parliament Street, London SW1A 2BQ, tel: 0207 147 2536.
www.hmrc.gov.uk

Stamp on the move

Stamp Taxes is being re-organised, with work undertaken in the Worthing and London offices being moved to Birmingham Stamp Office. The work done in the Worthing stamp duty land tax office (including the Stamp Taxes Helpline) has been successfully moved to the Birmingham office. Stamp duty reserve tax operations continue for the time being to be mainly dealt with in Worthing. The movement of the London office work to Birmingham is also under way. The London counter service closed to the public on 31 March 2006 and taxpayers are now required to post/DX all documents to the London Stamp Office. Courier delivery of items to the London Office will be accepted.
The movement of work is hoped to be completed by March 2007.
www.hmrc.gov.uk

Charities compliance

HMRC Charities will be looking at better ways of conducting compliance enquiries over the next six months, to help improve efficiency and reduce the costs of compliance for charities and their subsidiary companies. The exercise will explore different ways of working such as handling minor queries by telephone, or carrying out 'real time' reviews of direct and indirect tax (VAT) issues rather than enquiries based on return entries relating to past events.
Charities helpline number: 08453 02 02 03 will deal with any concerns or questions.
www.hmrc.gov.uk

Group relief and the Bill

The Government has tabled two amendments to Sch 1 to the Finance Bill, in new Sch 18A to TA 1988, concerning the group relief changes arising from the Marks & Spencer plc v Halsey case. The amendments insert a reference to 'the relevant proportion' of the UK recomputed amount, to prevent giving relief for foreign losses relievable elsewhere. See also 'Loss relief change', Update, Taxation, 2 March 2006, page 552.
Schedule 1 as currently drafted could result in some cases in the UK giving relief for foreign losses that are relievable elsewhere. The proposed amendments will prevent this.

Responsible HMRC

HMRC is the first and only Government department to appear on the corporate social responsibility index, run by Business in the Community. This index is essentially a league table, measuring an organisation's corporate social responsibility and is highly rated in the private sector.
This year's index was published in The Sunday Times on 7 May and shows that HMRC have risen up ten places since last year from 97 to 87.

Facts and figures

Tax deposit certificates
Rates of interest on and after 5 Aug 2005

 Applied  Cashed
 for tax
Deposit of under
£100,000 1.00% 0.50%
£100,000 or over:
months held
(a) under 1 1.00% 0.50%
(b) 1 but less than 3 3.50% 1.75%
(c) 3 but less than 6 3.25% 1.50%
(d) 6 but less than 9 3.00% 1.50%
(e) 9 to 12 months 3.00% 1.50%

UK bank base rates
From                  To                     p.a.
6 May 2004 9 Jun 2004 4.25%
10 Jun 2004 4 Aug 2004 4.50%
5 Aug 2004 3 Aug 2005 4.75%
4 Aug 2005 current 4.50%

Repayment supplement and interest on tax
From 6 Sept 2005:
Customs: Pay 6.50%; Receive 3.00%
From 6 Sept 2005:
Income tax, CGT and NIC:
 Interest on tax 6.50%
 Repayment supplement 2.25%
Inheritance tax  3.00%
Corporation tax:
Accounting periods 30.9.93-30.6.99
 Pay 5.25%; Receive 2.00%
Accounting periods ending after 30.6.99
 Pay 6.50%; Receive 3.00%
From 15.08.05 on instalments:
 Pay 5.50%; Receive 4.25%

Official rate of interest
From 6 Jan 2002 5.00%

State retirement pensions
Taxable amount             2006-07    2005-06
Single 4,381.00 4,266.60
Wife (non-contrib.) 2,626.00 2,555.80

Foreign exchange
                             

               Spot rates to sterling
    31.12.04     31.3.05

 Australia A$2.4491 A$2.4428
 Canada C$2.3003 C$2.2861
 Denmark DKr10.5068 DKr10.8316
 Euro zone €1.4125 €1.454
 Hong Kong HK$14.9229 HK$14.7377
 Japan Yen196.732 Yen202.112
 Norway NKr11.6281 NKr11.9316
 South Africa Rand10.8163 Rand11.7604
 Sweden SwKr12.7584 SwKr13.3089
 Switzerland SwF2.1832 SwF2.2523
 USA US$1.9199 US$1.8896

                                Average rates to sterling
  31.12.04 31.3.05

 Australia A$2.4912 A$2.4986
 Canada C$2.384 C$2.3573
 Denmark DKr10.9655 DKr10.9121
 Euro zone €1.474 €1.467
 Hong Kong HK$14.268 HK$14.3762
 Japan Yen198.065 Yen198.171
 Norway NKr12.347 NKr12.1438
 South Africa Rand11.81 Rand11.5364
 Sweden SwKr13.4526 SwKr13.3494
 Switzerland SwF2.2757 SwF2.2596
 USA US$1.8318 US$1.8445

Categories: News , Admin