The Forum of Private Business (FPB) has welcomed the announcement from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) that late payment of small business invoices is to be a focus of the Minister for Business. They claim that the issuance of guidance to large businesses on how to pay on time is probably…
Read moreThe HMRC collected £178 million via its Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) last year. This is up by £62 million (53%) on the amount collected the previous year, says Collyer Bristow, a leading private client law firm. Collyer Bristow explains that ATED was first introduced in April 2013 and is payable on high-value UK residential property…
Read moreThe Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) has called for a more user-friendly regulatory system from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), in its response to the regulator’s ‘Future Mission’ consultation. Fiona Hoyle, head of Consumer and Mortgage Finance at the FLA, said: “Consumer credit firms now account for at least 35,000 of the 56,000 regulated by…
Read moreOfgem has announced that British Gas Business is to pay £9.5 million in redress, following failings in its registrations, complaints handling and billing processes for business customers. British Gas Business implemented a new IT billing system in March 2014 which left tens of thousands of its business customers with delayed and inaccurate bills. Over 6,000…
Read moreHMRC recovered an extra £3.17billion in underpaid VAT from large businesses as a result compliance investigations undertaken by the Large Business Directorate over the last year* says Pinsent Masons. Pinsent Masons says that although this is slightly less than the £3.38billion it collected the previous year, VAT enquiries are by far the highest yielding area…
Read moreThe Competition and Market’s Authority, (CMA) has conducted a market study into legal services and found that businesses looking to employ legal help often don’t have all the information they need to make an informed choice. This can lead to poor quality service or consumers paying over the odds. Small businesses are disproportionately affected by…
Read moreThe Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM) has welcomed draft regulations that will require large companies to publish details on their payment practices, and the recognition of the Prompt Payment Code (PPC) as the ‘gold standard’ in the fair treatment of suppliers. Philip King, Chief Executive of the CICM, believes that Government has clearly listened…
Read moreScottish laws on insolvency have been brought together for the first time in a generation as the new Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 comes into force. The Act captures all of the amendments made to the primary legislation governing bankruptcy in Scotland, the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985, including the wide-ranging reforms introduced in April 2015 through…
Read moreThe European Commission’s new Directive on corporate insolvency reform is a welcome step towards improving business rescue procedures across Europe, says insolvency and restructuring trade body R3. R3 adds that the UK’s world-class insolvency and restructuring regime already meets many of the standards in the new Directive, while the government is currently carrying out its own…
Read moreNew proposals made by HMRC risk innocent businesses that unknowingly get caught up in VAT frauds being heavily fined, says UHY Hacker Young. HMRC plans to fine businesses up to 30% of the VAT due, and to ‘name and shame’ them for trading with companies that commit VAT fraud, even if they were unaware of…
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