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Katie Close, CA, Director of tax, ICAS. Croner. Tax was largely absent from the King’s Speech, but the challenges facing the UK’s tax system are only getting harder to ignore with such a tortured and immense tax code. Katie Close CA, director of tax at ICAS calls for urgent change. The King’s Speech is traditionally the moment a government sets out its legislative priorities. This year, however, the silence on tax was striking, aside from a brief nod to a tourist tax in Engla

Jacob Grattage, Reporter, Business & Accountancy Daily. Croner. After NS&I admitted it ‘misplaced’ £367m in customer savings, interim chief executive and ex-HMRC boss Sir Jim Harra issues apology with planned tax exemption. Pensions minister Torsten Bell has confirmed there will be a ‘full inheritance tax exemption’ for affected accounts and holdings. The move was confirmed in a written statement from the pensions minister yesterday (19 May). Bell said: ‘I am confirming that

Sara White, Editor, Business & Accountancy Daily. Croner. Challenger bank teams up with fintech Adyen to allow SME business customers to accept debit and credit card payments from customers using smartphones and Starling bank app. Starling Bank’s SME customers can now accept contactless card payments on their smartphone via tap to pay, with plans to extend invoicing services when card payment links will be integrated into Starling’s free invoicing feature later this year. The

Sara White, Editor, Business & Accountancy Daily. Croner. Government launches series of pilots to trial brand new fit note system as general consensus current approach to sick notes fails patients, employers and GPs. The current system sees around 11 million fit notes issued every year, with more than 90% declaring the person ‘not fit for work’, illustrating how ‘broken’ the system is, the government said. A £3m fund has been allocated to four pilots across England running th

Adele Clapp, Tax director, Bishop Fleming. Croner. When the salary sacrifice NI threshold is capped at £2,000, there will be hidden costs for employers and staff alike, as the change cuts across different income bands, warns Adele Clapp, tax director at Bishop Fleming. While the £2,000 cap on national insurance free salary sacrifice pension contributions was framed as a tax on high earners, the reality is far messier. On paper, it looks like a targeted measure aimed squarely

Sara White, Editor, Business & Accountancy Daily. Croner. Summer cuts to VAT to 5% for children’s meals across hospitality sector and visitor attractions, tax free mileage rate increased and foreign branch exemption removed for oil and gas sector. While the focus of the pre-briefing of the chancellor’s plans was a package of summer holiday measures, dubbed the Great British Summer Saving Scheme by Rachel Reeves, there were a number of more serious tax measures announced inclu

Croner. The overhaul of unfair dismissal rules will have a significant impact on probation periods. Our Croner Business Protect HR expert explains what this means for employers. From 1 January 2027, the government has confirmed that qualifying service for unfair dismissal is going to change, and this will have a big impact on probation periods. Probation periods are a critical mechanism for employers in assessing the suitability of new recruits. They provide an opportunity

Jacob Grattage, Reporter, Business & Accountancy Daily. Croner. Government wrote off nearly £7bn worth of taxpayer money last year, with £293.5m spent on ‘special payments outside normal activities’. The influential Public Accounts Committee has released its second report on the work of the National Audit Office (NAO). Amounts written off in 2024-25 by the 17 main departmental groups were assessed, with £6.6bn was written off in total. There was said to be an ‘egregiously poo

Jacob Grattage, Reporter, Business & Accountancy Daily. Croner. With half a million still yet to sign up for MTD for Income Tax, HMRC tells Accountex crowd ‘it is all about good enough’. As mandatory quarterly reporting under Making Tax Digital (MTD) kicked in from April for taxpayers with non-PAYE qualifying income over the £50,000 threshold, only 303,000 have signed up for the new system, revealed Jonathan Hawkes, deputy director of MTD. At Accountex London 2026 Hawkes said

Croner. Key dates for launch of mandatory HMRC tax adviser register and P60 deadline, and more. May 2026 1 May Corporation tax due for accounting periods ended 31 July 2025 where not payable by instalments New VAT fuel scale charge rate for VAT periods beginning on or after this date 3 May (deadline falls on a weekend: plan accordingly) P46 (car) printed forms due for the quarter ended 5 April 2026 (where benefits not payrolled) 5 May

Andrew King. Croner. Changes to inheritance tax liability mean unused pension pots will be taxed from 2027 so the question is does it make sense to restructure assets? Andrew King, pensions technical specialist at Evelyn Partners, explains. From April 2027, unused money-purchase pension assets will be included in estates for the calculation of inheritance tax (IHT) and this is already having consequences. Many pension savers are deciding to take their tax-free lump sum or dra

Jacob Grattage, Reporter, Business & Accountancy Daily. Croner. Four in 10 appeals against mansion tax likely to succeed says Budget watchdog, as FoI request shows rollout by Treasury will cost £400m. Announced at the 2025 Budget by chancellor Rachel Reeves, where it was called the high value council tax surcharge (HVCTS), the mansion tax was released with much fanfare from the government. At Budget it was revealed that properties worth between £2m and £2.5m would face a £2,5

CIPD HR-inform. Croner. Stacie Cheadle, technical writer at Croner looks at mental health in the workplace and what employers can do to support it. Mental Health Awareness Week is taking place from 11 to 17 May 2026. This is an opportunity for employers to review and refocus their efforts on supporting employee mental health and show what they have in place to support their workforce. According to recent data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), an estimated

Jacob Grattage, Reporter, Business & Accountancy Daily. Croner. As government faces calls for ‘minimum wage for robots’, poll finds nearly half want tax on AI work with growing apathy for automation discourse. This week it was reported that tech entrepreneur Charles Radclyffe had called for a ‘minimum wage for robots’, wanting the government to charge companies who use AI in order to limit job losses. In response, YouGov polled the population on what they think, discovering

Croner VIP Tax Team In this week’s Q&A, Jack Hall, adviser at Croner VIP Tax Team, explains treatment of stamp duty land tax (SDLT) on transactions involving sale and leaseback of property. Company A is selling a factory to Company B who will lease it back to Company A. What is the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) position on the sale and the leaseback? The sale and leaseback arrangement is defined as an arrangement under which A transfers or grants to B a major interest in land (t

Sara White, Editor, Business & Accountancy Daily. Croner. Landlords using a scheme to reduce tax by distorting mortgage interest relief rules warned by HMRC to stop using schemes as tax avoidance. HMRC has raised the alert about a tax scheme being promoted to landlords as a way to structure their property businesses and reduce their tax bills. The hybrid business model arrangement claims to bypass mortgage interest relief restrictions, allowing increased deductions for mortga

Croner VIP Tax Team In this week’s Q&A, Danni Walker, tax adviser at Croner VIP Tax Team, explains invoicing rules and VAT liability when selling for a client as an agent and splitting sale price. Q: My client is an art gallery selling artwork on behalf of an artist. The gallery will retain 50% of the sale proceeds. Should the gallery charge VAT on this 50% retained? A: The first point to establish here is whether the gallery is acting as a ‘disclosed’ or ‘undisclosed’ agent

Sara White, Editor, Business & Accountancy Daily. Croner. Plan for salary sacrifice cap on pensions creates widespread uncertainty for employees as more than one in 10 companies already decide to end use. The measure announced at Budget 2025 introduces a £2,000 salary sacrifice cap on pension contributions forcing employers to review their current arrangements and risking further employer pullback. Research by the Standard Life Centre for the Future of Retirement found two in

Sara White, Editor, Business & Accountancy Daily. Croner. Following loss at First Tier Tribunal, HMRC lodges appeal against decision on application of reduced rate VAT on community electric vehicle charging business. HMRC has applied for permission to appeal against the decision of the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) following loss of case against Charge My Street earlier this year. The tax authority disputes the tribunal’s decision that Charge My Street was correct to charge 5% re

Jacob Grattage,Reporter, Business & Accountancy Daily. Croner. Equivalent of one in four traders registered for VAT fined £302m in late penalties last year for missing HMRC quarterly payment deadlines. With 2.3m entities VAT registered in the UK, the high level of VAT fines means the equivalent of 25% of registered VAT companies and sole traders were fined by HMRC. A total of 582,000 fines were issued for late payment in 2024-25, a slight increase of 569,000 the previous ye