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Financial Services Bill enacted
The Financial Services Bill received Royal Assent on 19 December. It comes into force from 1 April 2013. The Act gives the Bank of England responsibility for protecting financial stability and abolishes the Financial Services Authority and creates a new regulatory architecture consisting of the Financial Policy Committee, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.
Taxing holiday
Some taxpayers resisted the lure of Christmas celebrations and instead took the opportunity to catch up with their 2011/12 self-assessment tax returns. HMRC provided the following statistics the number of returns filed over the holiday:
- Christmas Eve – 14,330, including 73 returns submitted between 11pm and midnight
- Christmas Day – 1,548
- Boxing Day – 4,685
Trusts and estates
The December edition of HMRC’s trusts and estates newsletter has been published. The articles cover a range of topics including excepted estates, the inheritance tax toolkit, paying inheritance tax by instalments, HMRC bereavement processes and the reduced rate of inheritance tax.
Machine games
Notice 452, relating to a duty of excise on takings from certain “machine games”, explains the machine games duty regime, how it is charged and who is liable to pay the duty.
ISA Bulletin 47
HMRC’s latest ISA Bulletin has been published. It contains articles on the investment allowance for 2013/14, changes resulting from the removal of the concept of ordinary residence and the latest (December 2012) version of the guidance notes.
