Tax
Capital Gains Tax: Boost for thousands of people with second homes
Published: 10 October 2007
Thousands of second-home owners and wealthier individuals were among the winners from yesterday's pre-Budget report, after the Government unveiled plans to slash the rate of capital gains tax from 40 to 18 per cent.
Inheritance Tax: Darling's promise: no inheritance tax on family estates worth less than £700,000
Published: 10 October 2007
The Government moved to regain the initiative in the debate over inheritance tax yesterday, by doubling the threshold beyond which families will have to start paying the tax when their relatives die.
Julian Knight: Don't leave inheritance tax to our honourable friends
Published: 07 October 2007
Opinion polls suggest the Tories may have played a bit of a blinder by promising to up the threshold at which inheritance tax (IHT) is paid from £300,000 to £1m.
Stamp duty and IHT on Tory hit list
Published: 07 October 2007
As election fever mounts, the Tories have laid out radical plans to cut taxes.
The Big Question: How did inheritance tax become such a contentious political issue?
Published: 02 October 2007
Why are we talking about it now?
'We will catch up with you' - offshore account holders warned
Published: 30 September 2007
HM Revenue & Customs is upping its efforts to track down untaxed cash held in offshore accounts.
Self-assessment deadline looms
Published: 23 September 2007
Self-assessment taxpayers have just seven days to file their paper returns if they want HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to work out their bills for them. If they fail to meet the deadline, they will either have to do the calculations themselves or file their returns online through HMRC's website.
Beware of bogus messages from the 'Revenue': it's harvest time for tax gangs
Published: 16 September 2007
Tax credits blunder leaves 250,000 eligible for refund
Published: 09 September 2007
Up to a quarter of a million families forced to repay their tax credits are in line for a refund due to an error by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
Husband-and-wife team enjoy transient victory on dividends
Published: 29 July 2007
Small businesses tasted a short-lived victory last Wednesday when the House of Lords gave the legal all-clear to a tax-saving arrangement used by thousands of husband-and-wife operations.
500,000 face tax penalties if they don't pay up by Tuesday
Published: 29 July 2007
Taxpayers who didn't file their returns in January face another £100 fine and a further penalty based on how much they already owe if they miss this week's 31 July deadline.
£1bn lost to mistakes and crime as tax credits payment problems mount up
Published: 15 July 2007
The tax credit system lost over £1bn in 2004-05 because of fraud and error - an "unacceptably high" level - according to estimates from the National Audit Office for the last year for which figures are available.
Tax: Calls for consumer rights if Revenue raids accounts of late payers
Published: 08 July 2007
Stringent safeguards will be needed to protect consumers if the taxman is allowed to raid bank accounts for overdue money without recourse to a court order, critics have warned.
Tax: 1 million pay too much or too little
Published: 08 July 2007
Changes in the way we work are behind more than one million people paying the wrong amount of income tax, a report has revealed.
Unpaid tax 'could be taken from bank accounts'
Published: 05 July 2007
People who do not pay their tax bills could have the cash taken directly from their bank account under proposals unveiled by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Majority of super-rich pay no income tax
Published: 22 June 2007
The dispute over the exploitation of tax loopholes by the super-rich deepened yesterday with the release of figures which suggest that only a fraction of those earning £10m or more in Britain pay income tax.
Private equity bosses claim tax breaks keep Britain competitive
Published: 21 June 2007
Private equity bosses claimed yesterday that Britain would lose out if tax breaks that can see them pay as little as 10 per cent on multi-million pound profits after as little as two years were removed.
Tax and the City: Private equity chiefs appear before angry MPs
Published: 20 June 2007
Private Equity: MPs head for showdown with buy-out bosses
Published: 20 June 2007
Senior Labour MPs and union leaders joined the growing chorus of protest over tax breaks worth hundreds of millions of pounds to leaders of the private equity industry. Candidates for Labour's deputy leadership criticised the controversial corporation taper relief, which can cut tax bills for private equity firms to as low as 10 per cent.
Phone Companies berated over premium-rate 'stealth tax'
Published: 10 June 2007
Companies have come under fire for using premium-rate numbers costing up to 15p a minute for helplines.
Sam Dunn: Tax breaks worth waiting for
Published: 03 June 2007
Amid judges ganging up on consumers over bank charges, reports of falls (or otherwise) in the housing market, and the growing number of people being taken to court over their debts, one small piece of personal finance news that slipped out last week could easily have been overlooked. It appears that the sums we're carefully putting into tax-free equity individual savings accounts (ISAs) are continuing to wane.
If tax credits are your salvation, what about the families they've damned?
Published: 01 April 2007
Brown exits amid smoke and mirrors
Published: 25 March 2007
Sam Dunn: A fog of confusion obscured the Chancellor's red box
Published: 25 March 2007
Money News: Wealthy homes targeted in official report on council tax
Published: 25 March 2007
Homeowners in the biggest properties should subsidise council tax bills for those in small homes, an inquiry commissioned by the Government has recommended.
