Category: Articles

From 6 April 2017 the taxation of cash or benefit agreements changed but speaking with clients it is clear that these rules are often not fully understood, or worse that employers are unaware of the new rules entirely! In general terms, if an employee has the option of being provided with a benefit in kind…

The government-backed change in the VAT treatment of certain digital publications from standard to zero rated has been brought forward from 1 December 2020 to 1 May 2020. A recent ruling in the Upper Tribunal could open the door to publishers of digital publications making historic claims for significant recoveries of VAT. Zero rating VAT…

Some financial statement items cannot be measured precisely but can only be estimated. This is called an accounting estimate. These accounting estimates come in all shapes and sizes and the overarching goal can vary between forecasting the outcome of an event to estimating the fair value of a financial statement item. Examples of accounting estimates…

The government has introduced a number of measures over the past few years to improve compliance and behaviour by UK businesses in relation to taxation. Chris Riley looks at three such initiatives. Finance teams have had to get used to more onerous compliance and reporting requirements across all of their activities in recent years –…

The 4 March 2020 saw the long awaited takeover of NEX by Aquis Exchange PLC (approved by the FCA) and rebranded as AQSE (Aquis Stock Exchange). Since the acquisition, PKF has acted as Reporting Accountant for the first two listings on the AQSE, British Honey Plc and Vulcan Industries Plc. Prior to the acquisition of…

We take a high-level look at and summarises the changes to the UK Corporate Governance Code, effective from 1 January 2019.

There continues to be a low number of issues on both AIM and the Main Market. This is reflected in the 6 months leading to 30 June 2020, with only 30 new issues compared to 43 in the same period in 2019. Similarly, there were 78 cancellations across both markets (6 months to 30 June…

The critical moment is approaching. From 1 January 2021, only an EU regulated insurance carrier or intermediary may undertake EU insurance work. It is perhaps surprising that a number of companies are not yet ready for the effects of Brexit. In the Lloyd’s market, from 1 October 2020, Lloyd’s Brussels will only accept new business…

Boris Johnson’s administration recently marked its first 12 months in government. While reviews of the Prime Minister’s performance have tended to focus on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, there has also been much to discuss from a tax perspective. In the past year, Boris Johnson has overseen a bitter General Election campaign, a Spring…

From 6 April 2020, changes were enforced by the HMRC requiring any sale of UK residential property to be reported with any capital gains tax (CGT) due being paid within 30 days of the completion of the sale. These new rules have accelerated the payment of CGT in some cases by up to 18 months.…

As predicted, on the 9 July, the FCA introduced the requirement for firms in the payment services and electronic money sectors to have an annual audit of compliance with safeguarding requirements. This was part of my webinar presentation, earlier this year on the 14th May, for the Association of UK Payment Institutions on Safeguarding. PKF…

It’s not about tax Many trustees will be aware that their trust is on a government Register. The trust was probably registered by their tax agent, as it may have been necessary to register in order to obtain a tax reference. The tax agent will be the one to tick the box on the Tax…