Let’s start with the recent local government election.  I was disappointed that none of the main parties, of which Scotland now only appears to have three, put forward any serious proposals for reforming how we pay for our local services.  There is though one body actively campaigning on this issue and that is the think tank, Reform Scotland.  An article in the Scotsman on this can be found here.  Reform Scotland want our local authorities to have the power to decide whether to adopt a property tax such as the Council Tax or a land value tax or instead opt for an income tax, a consumption tax or a number of different local taxes.

Now to fiscal powers and the fact that National Insurance turns 100 in July.  100 not out but for how much longer?  The idea of combining income tax and National Insurance was considered by a working party as long ago as 1993.  The main reason for this is the erosion of the link between National Insurance contributions and welfare benefits.  This issue is again being looked at.  Do I think we will see a complete merger?  No, unless both income tax and National Insurance are controlled by the Scottish Parliament.  This is an example of how a Scottish tax system could create a more simplified system.

Again on fiscal powers.  I was not surprised to see a number of Conservative MPs arguing for a “Devo Plus Bill” as part of an “alternative Queen’s Speech”.  This was published on the Conservative Home website.  Conservative Home support the Reform Scotland proposal which would devolve all taxes to Scotland except VAT and National Insurance.  More on this can be found here.

Now to a group of people termed “High Net Worth”.  HMRC has announced that its High Net Worth Unit’s tougher approach on wealthy taxpayers has resulted in an extra £200m of tax revenue.  David Gauke, Exchequer Secretary to HM Treasury, said: “The Unit’s approach ensures that HMRC is working as effectively as possible with the very wealthy and that they are contributing a fair share”.  This was reported in the Financial Times on 6 May.  The article also claims that the amount collected by this Unit has doubled since it began operations in 2009-10.  The aim is for £560m by 2014-15.  This does though beg the question: why was this Unit only set up in 2009?

Now to a claim that the UK Government Minister for Civil Society, Nick Hurd, was never consulted about the cap on charitable tax relief announced by HM Treasury in March.  More on this from the STEP journal can be found here.  The UK Government has been at sixes and sevens on this policy.  I will be surprised if it survives the summer.  Unless of course summer is already behind us.

Again from the STEP Journal.  1.6 million people should have received letters by now from HMRC warning them that they have been undercharged tax under the PAYE system and will have to pay extra.  Another 3.5 million people will be given a tax refund.  The STEP article can be found here.  An example of the sheer scale of the UK tax system and the problems it faces.

Good to see that the Scottish Government’s prosecution service has passed 20 cases of large scale tax avoidance to HMRC for investigation.  An article on this from the Scotsman can be found here.  The referencing of Al Capone must be compulsory when journalists write about this subject.

Sometimes an argument just makes you shake your head.  The Scottish Government has announced that the minimum price for alcohol will be 50p.  Although this proposal has received a huge amount of support, the leader of the CBI in Scotland has warned that supermarkets are likely to receive millions in extra revenue from drink sales.  That of course is true.  So why is this organisation against the devolving of control of alcohol duty to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government’s Public Health Levy (also known as the “Tesco tax”)?  There is of course no need to answer that question.  An article from the Scotsman on this can be found here.

It seems that top rates of personal income tax across the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries have begun to rise again in recent years after three decades of steady reductions.  The OECD press release can be found here.  Let’s not forget one of the main reasons for the reduction.  Politicians decided that “stealth taxes” were a better option.  For “better option” read “will help me get elected”.  The economic crisis put paid to that “cunning plan”.

“A serial killer is stalking the wealthy suburbs of Athens with an idiosyncratic choice of victims. They are all rich Greeks who have failed to pay their taxes, and their corpses have been left scattered among the ruins of the ancient city, dead of hemlock poisoning, the means of Socrates’ execution.”  This is the plot of the latest bestselling novel by Petros Markaris, who has combined the roles of thriller writer and social commentator in Greece to such an extent that he has become one of the most widely quoted voices in the crisis.  The article on this from Business insider can be found here.

Now to a story that combines sport, tax and the financial crisis.  Diego Maradona is suing the Italian government for £40m, despite owing it £32m in unpaid taxes.  Only in Italy!  The article from the Metro can be found here.

Lastly, an update on an issue I wrote about recently.  Co-founder of Facebook, Eduardo Saverin, is one of the thousands of wealthy Americans to have renounced his citizenship recently in order to avoid the country’s international taxation regime.  An issue for those planning a Scottish tax system to ponder.  An article on this from the STEP journal can be found here.

Have a good week.

A reminder to charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASC) from HMRC to use form R68(i) to claim tax repayments on Gift Aid donations.  More information on this from HMRC can be found here.

Cameron & Ors v Revenue & Customs [2012] EWHC 1174 (Admin)

A taxpayer is entitled to rely upon a statement made in a formal HMRC publication unless and until the statement was revoked, withdrawn or altered with reasonable notice to all relevant taxpayers.  This applies even if a tax inspector had expressed a contrary view.  This matter concerned the application of concessionary treatment for seafarer’s earning deduction relief.

This decision appears to contradict the Supreme Court’s finding in the Gaines-Cooper residence case.   The full report from the England & Wales High Court administrative division  can be found here.

Orsman v Revenue & Customs [2012] UKFTT 227 (TC)

HMRC cannot introduce an additional argument in its statement of case to a tribunal that it had not included in its closure notice.   A “closure notice” is usually a letter issued by HMRC to the customer that its enquiry has ended.  The purpose of the “statement of case” is also to tell the customer what HMRC’s case is and is submitted to the tax tribunal.  

This matter concerned a Stamp Duty Land Tax return. 

The full decision of the First-tier Tax Tribunal can be found here.

This case concerend an actor working away from home and whether his accommodation, subsistence and travel expenses were “wholly and exclusively” incurred for the purpose of his profession.

Healy who is based in Cheshire was contracted to appear in the West End of London in the musical, Billy Elliot.  Healy claimed tax relief on the costs of his accommodation, subsistence and travel to and from the theatre.

The First-tier Tribunal held that the cost of his accoomodation was allowable but that his subsistence expenses and taxi fares were not.  The accommodation was allowable primarily because the actor had not moved to London.  He was only there during the week for the purposes of performing on stage.   That therefore met the “wholly and exclusively” test.

Healy’s subsistence expenses and taxi fares were disallowed on the basis that there was insufficient evidence to show the nature of the expense.

The full decision of the Tribunal can be found here.

Where to start?  Tax and morality seems as good a place as any.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien has accused David Cameron of acting immorally by favouring the rich ahead of ordinary citizens affected by the recession.  The cardinal also denounced David Cameron’s opposition to a “Robin Hood tax” on financial institutions.  Those arguing for a European financial transaction tax have gone a bit quiet recently.  The cardinal’s interview has though brought this proposal back into the news.  Whether a tax such as this is introduced is though only part of the debate.  As with most taxation debates the secondary debate involves how the revenue should be spent.  The cardinal would like it spent helping the poor and vulnerable at home and abroad.  Others want an emergency fund for the next banking crisis.  An article from the BBC new website on this can be found here.

Now to the London mayoral debate. Included in Boris Johnson’s manifesto for a second term is a proposal to set up a commission that would explore the possibility of a “Barnett” style formula for London.  Johnson wants to keep more of the tax raised in London to be spent in London.  An article on this from the Guardian can be found here.  This is further evidence of how quickly the fiscal powers debate is moving.

The Scotland Bill has received its Royal Assent.  An article on this from the BBC news website can be found here.  A missed opportunity?  I think so.  That said, even under the Scotland Act (2012) we are going to have a Scottish tax system.  I am of course looking forward to the Scottish Government’s consultations on the tax powers being devolved but why stop there?  It is surely now obvious that we need to start thinking about the type of tax system we want.  That must include a review of all government tax, law and registration services and the creation of a Scottish Exchequer.

Good to see an article in the Herald on something I have written about recently.  Businesses in new Scottish enterprise zones will be able to claim up to 100% business rates relief as part of new incentives to stimulate investment in the economy.  Other measures announced by the Scottish Government include more efficient planning procedures, improved broadband, targeted capital allowances and international marketing.  The article in the Herald can be found here.

Another article from the Herald, this time on an “unprecedented” number of business rates appeals.  The article reports that court cases have been launched by retailers in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Kirkcaldy and elsewhere as firms contest the size of their rate bills.  The article from the Herald can be found here.  The main argument being used is that the current rates were calculated in 2008, before the extent of the downturn became apparent.

For those of you interested in tax statistics, the relevant HMRC page can be found here.  For those of you interested in tax consultations, current HMRC consultations can be found here and current HM Treasury consultations here.  There will be many more consultations added over the next few months as the UK Chancellor in his Budget made reference to approximately 45 consultations.

Approximately 12,000 people who had been told that they no longer needed to fill in self-assessment tax forms have been sent penalty notices in error.  To put this in context, 130,000 people were taken out of the self-assessment process for this tax year.  Some 850,000 people were sent penalty notices for failing to submit their tax returns on time this year.  This is 550,000 fewer than a year ago.  An article on this from the BBC news website can be found here.  As mentioned in this article it is likely that “HMRC’s resources” played a part in this latest error.

Nearly 60,000 more Scottish pensioners than first thought will be hit by the UK Government’s decision to freeze age related personal allowances according to new figures published by HM Treasury.  The figures show the so called “granny tax” will impact 423,000 pensioners in Scotland by 2015-2016.   The article from the Herald can be found here.

David Cameron has backed proposals for an “airline levy” to ease waiting times at London Heathrow Airport border control.  Airlines using London Heathrow would pay higher landing fees to pay for additional UK Border Force staff to help remedy the long queues currently occurring.  You would be forgiven for thinking there was an election in London this week.  The UK Government is not making many friends in the airline industry just now.  The spat over increases in Air Passenger Duty continues.  More information on this can be found in an article on the BBC news website found here.

Now to Europe and the “debt crisis” debate.  Financial Times journalist, Gideon Rachman continues to argue against European countries trying to spend their way out of their debt crisis.  This is a quote from his article:  “There is, of course, scope for argument about the pace of deficit reduction.  But in a highly-taxed, highly-regulated, highly-indebted continent like Europe, more state-funded public works would simply build another road to nowhere”.  The full article can be found in the Financial Times on 1 May.

I will finish on a matter I have blogged on before.  More than 2,000 public sector workers could be avoiding the full rate of income tax through special contracts, UK Government research has found.  An article on this from the BBC news website can be found here and my earlier blog here. This is an incredible figure as it does not include those in the NHS or local government.  Danny Alexander is seemingly “shocked”.  It seems that “shock” is becoming the default reaction for UK Government Ministers.  You may remember George Osborne’s was also recently “shocked” at the extent of tax avoidance.  Tax and morality it was ever thus.

Have a good weekend.  “Tax land” will be back in three weeks time.

Hanson v HMRC [2012] UKFTT 95 (TC)

Given the amount that has been written on this decision over the last few weeks I thought I would put up my earlier blog on this again.  My earlier blog can be found here.

We still do not know if HMRC are to appeal this decision.

The First-tier Tax Tribunal held that agricultural property relief can be obtained on a farmhouse even when ownership of the farmhouse and the farm land were held separately.

The report from the First-tier Tax Tribunal can be found here.  There is also an excellent report on this case in the latest edition of the Solicitors Journal.

Given it is local election time I think the level of funding for council tax benefit is an appropriate place to start.  The Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities have decided to provide £40m to make up a shortfall of council tax benefit funding.  An article on this from the Scotsman can be found here.  The figure that stands out is the 558,000 people in Scotland who receive this benefit.

The Confederation of British Industry has denied that big companies are benefiting from “sweetheart deals” with the taxman.  HMRC has faced criticism over alleged secret deals with the likes of Vodafone and Goldman Sachs over unpaid tax.  The CBI briefing note is well worth reading and can be found here.

The campaign trying to make the UK Chancellor think again over the latest increase in air passenger duty continues.  The latest claim from this group of aviation and business organizations can be found here in an article on the Herald.  Part of this claim is that overseas tourists have been put off coming to the UK during the Olympics because of punitive air taxes.   The group says bookings from Australia and New Zealand are down by 25% compared to the same period in 2011.

The furore surrounding the UK Chancellor’s tax relief cap and how it might impact on charities continues.  I liked this opinion piece found on the website of the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations.  The piece can be found here.  Although I see the need for tax caps and/or investment limits in certain circumstances, for example under the Enterprise Investment Scheme or Venture Capital Trust relief, I would be surprised if this policy in its present form survives the summer.

It seems that mortgage lending rose sharply in March as buyers rushed to complete sales.  The stamp duty land tax exemption for first-time buyers who bought homes valued at between £125,000 and £250,000 came to an end after two years on 24 March.  The UK Government do not think that this relief has been effective in increasing first-time buyer numbers.  A report on this from the BBC news website can be found here.  I continue to be surprised that our politicians fail to campaign for a change to the 1% and 3% stamp duty land tax rates and bands.

A study by the Taxpayers’ Alliance has revealed that 3,000 council employees across the UK were paid six-figure sums in 2010-11, a rise of 13 per cent on the previous year.  The highest paid was in Glasgow where Ian Drummond, formerly executive director of special projects who has since left the post, received a £450,628 package.  Reports like this confirm the view held by some in the private sector that our local authorities completely lost the plot over senior salaries.  An article on this from the Scotsman can be found here.

Scotland appears to be moving towards charging shoppers around 5p every time they use a plastic bag.  This if often referred to as a “plastic bag tax”.  Scottish ministers have again indicated that it will consult on the matter in the near future.  Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland already have such a charge.  It does seem that the Scottish Government is dragging its feet on this.  A plastic bag tax was thrown out by MSPs during the last parliament when Liberal Democrat Mike Pringle tried to push through a 10p levy.  An article on this from the Daily Express can be found here.

A tax fraudster, who fled the UK four years ago after telling a judge in a note that he was unprepared to go to jail and found the idea frightening and upsetting, has been extradited from France and is beginning a six year prison term.  Mark McGovern had pled guilty to laundering £278,340.87 of criminal proceeds in April 2008, following a wider HMRC investigation into VAT fraud.  More on this can be found here.  I would have thought that most people would find the thought of being locked up frightening and/or upsetting.  Not surprisingly that is not a good enough reason to avoid being sent to prison.

New figures from the Office for National Statistics have shown that the UK Government has met its borrowing target for the year, despite borrowing more than expected in March.  An article on this from the BBC news website can be found here.  Worryingly these figures also show that most of the cuts to public spending have yet to be made.

Now to the USA and the announcement of a dramatic increase in citizenship renunciations.  According to Internal Revenue Service figures, at least 1,800 Americans renounced their USA citizenship in 2011, an all-time record at eight times the 2008 number.  The main reasons given are the USA’s worldwide taxation system, the Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts rules and  the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act regime.  An article on this from the Daily Mail online can be found here.  The USA is one of a handful of countries to tax its citizens on income earned while abroad.

Then there were two.  Francois Hollande defeated Nicolas Sarkozy in the first round of France’s presidential elections.  The tax and fiscal policies of the final two candidates, in particular Hollande’s, have received a great deal of international press coverage.  An example of this coverage, from Bloomberg’s Paris correspondent, can be found here. 

Now to a Budget statement from 1940.  “New British budget announced: higher income tax, increased duty on alcohol, tobacco & matches, to raise an unprecedented £2bn for war costs.”  Thanks to @RealTimeWWII.  Notwithstanding duty on matches interesting to see how little has changed.

Finally I was very sad to hear of the death of Stephen Maxwell.  I got to know Stephen very well over the last few years and he is a great loss to those arguing for greater fiscal powers and the wider independence movement.  A real gentleman at all times.

Have a great weekend.

Where to start?

The fall out surrounding the UK Chancellor’s Budget statement continues.  The House of Commons Treasury Select Committee has said that the Chancellor’s plans to scrap the 50p tax rate don’t add up.  In addition it criticized the numerous Budget leaks.  An article on this from the Daily Mail online can be found here.

I am surprised that more has not been made of the change to the 40p income tax band.  One of the arguments put forward for reducing the top rate of income tax was the effect it was having on entrepreneurship.  I cannot see how massively increasing the number of people liable to pay income tax at the 40p rate compliments that argument.

Then there is the charity furore and the apparent contradictions in the arguments put forward by the UK Government in support of this policy.  The fact that some UK Government Ministers fought extremely hard to reduce the top rate of income tax is well documented.  Now the UK Government is criticising the fact that rich people don’t pay a high enough rate of income tax.  In addition, the UK Government has made it clear they wish to increase charitable giving.  Only a year ago, in the 2011 Budget, the UK Chancellor announced proposals to support giving, such as a lower rate of inheritance tax for those leaving 10% of their estate to charity.  The UK Government started by saying that the policy is needed by alleging that high earners are using donations to dubious charities to reduce their income tax bill to almost zero.  Now it is talking about fairness.  Will this policy even survive the summer?  An article from the STEP online journal on this issue can be found here.

HM Treasury has released figures showing the extent of tax avoidance by the UK’s so called “super rich”.  Robert Peston has written an excellent article on this.  His comment on the contrasting approach taken by George Osborne and his Labour predecessors is particularly noteworthy.  If the report does tell us one thing, it is how complicated a picture this is.  One fact does though stand out.  73% of those earning over £250,000 were paying an average tax rate above 40% in 2010/11. Robert Peston’s article from the BBC news website can be found here.

Good to see the Church of Scotland entering the earnings and taxation debate.  A Kirk commission has issued a report on the “greed and inequality” of the bonus culture and tax avoidance.  An article from this from the Herald can be found here.

Now to what is expected of HMRC in the next year.  HMRC’s remit for 2012/13 is:

• improving tax collection
• delivering cost reductions
• improving services for individual and business customers
• Real Time Information
• tax policy and the policy partnership

The context to this is fewer staff and a smaller budget.  More on this can be found here.

The Scottish Parliament this week endorsed a legislative consent motion which effectively allows the UK Government to pass the Scotland Bill, also known as “Calman minus”, at Westminster next week.  Have I anything else to say on this?  No.  The term “Calman minus” says it all.  An article from the Scotsman on this can be found here.

The Guardian reported recently that Amazon’s tax affairs are being investigated in the US, China, Germany, France, Japan and Luxembourg.  HMRC have refused to confirm whether it is also investigating Amazon.  Amazon is the largest retailer in the UK.  The Guardian also reports that Amazon paid no UK corporation tax last year.  This is primarily because the US parent in 2006 transferred ownership of the main Amazon.co.uk business to a Luxembourg company.  It is not just the UK Government that is being asked questions about this company.  The Scottish Government is also being asked questions relating to a £10m grant.  Of course if the relevant tax powers were devolved to the Scottish Parliament, the left hand might have more of a chance of knowing what the right hand is up to.  Articles from the Scotsman and the Guardian on this matter can be found here and here.

Another week and another VAT issue.  The Church of England fears church renovation projects could be scrapped because of planned changes to VAT set out in the UK Budget.  From October this year HM Treasury will charge VAT at 20% on approved alterations to listed buildings.  Presently this is exempt from VAT.  The Church of England thinks the change will cost it £20m a year.  HM Treasury says funding will be available to ensure church renovations are not cancelled.  A report from the BBC news website on this can be found here.  The BBC report notes that a “source close to Chancellor George Osborne is reported as saying that this proposal was about ensuring a millionaire wanting to build a swimming pool in the garden of their listed mansion had to pay VAT on it.”

HMRC is improving and streamlining its processes for customers who need to deal with them following a bereavement.  HMRC is creating dedicated teams who will be responsible for dealing with PAYE and Self Assessment for bereaved customers.  The main form which customers use to finalise the tax affairs of the person who has died, R27, has been redesigned following feedback from customers and tax specialists to make it easier to complete.  More on this can be found here.

A “fat tax” is back on the agenda.  The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has called for stronger measures to reduce obesity in the UK.  The first phase of the Academy’s campaign will try to find out what works.  It will review evidence for diets, exercise, taxation, minimum pricing and changing advertising and food labeling.  The Academy has also blamed the UK Government’s previous strategies and irresponsible marketing for aiding to obesity issues.  An article on this from the BBC news website can be found here.

There are suggestions that the German Government’s recent renegotiation of its withholding tax agreement with Switzerland may tempt the UK Government to try and do the same with its own Swiss agreement.  The UK Government has though already changed it once already.  An article on this from the Guardian can be found here.

Let’s finish with the “Buffett Rule” as it sounds like it might be about food and I am feeling peckish.  Sadly, the Buffett rule is not about food but instead a tax plan that would apply a minimum tax of 30% to individuals making more than a million dollars a year.  An editorial in the Wall Street Journal calculates that the Buffett Rule, which is supported by President Obama, would lose $80bn a year from USA federal tax revenues.  The US Senate has in fact this week voted to block the Buffett Rule.  The article from the Wall Street Journal can be found here and a BBC website news report on the Senate vote can be found here.

Have a good weekend and good luck to all the teams competing at Scottish Rugby’s Cup Final day at Murrayfield on Saturday.

HMRC has published the final version of its litigation and settlement strategy.  There has been very few changes to the draft guidance published last July.

HMRC’s guidance can be found here.

The main story of the week has to be the fact that the UK Chancellor, yes the UK Chancellor, said:  “I was shocked to see that some of the very wealthiest people in the country have organised their tax affairs – and to be fair it’s within the tax laws – so that they were regularly paying virtually no income tax.  And I don’t think that’s right.”

Words almost fail me.  Then again maybe I should be glad that George Osborne has finally realised what was clearly obvious to everyone else.  HMRC provided the UK Chancellor with anonymised copies of the confidential tax returns submitted to them by some of the UK’s wealthiest people.  These returns showed that the 20 biggest tax avoiders had legally reduced their income tax bills by a total of £145m in a year.  According to the report, the very rich have managed to reduce their income tax rate to an average of 10%; less than half the amount paid by the average Briton.  A report on this from the BBC news website can be found here.  Helpfully the BBC news website has also outlined the most common tax avoidance schemes.  This can be found here.

I am not sure that the Prime Minister’s announcement that he will publish details of his taxes is going to help the UK Government out of the hole they are digging for themselves.  As the UK Chancellor noted, these people are acting within the law.  Take for example the proposed cap on income tax reliefs.  The cap will apply only to those reliefs that are currently unlimited, which will therefore exclude pension contributions and EIS investments, among others.  The proposals will cap tax relief to 25% of income or £50,000 whichever is greater.  It is expected the draft legislation will be published for consultation later this year.

HM Treasury has now published more information on this proposal.  The report, which confirms charitable gift relief will be included in the cap, can be found here.  The report notes that current unlimited relief policy allows individuals to pay no income tax at all, which is not permitted in, for example, the US tax system.

Is that the end of the matter?  Of course not.  The Scotsman reports that Sir Tom Hunter has criticised George Osborne’s plans to cap tax relief on charitable donations as “ill-thought-out and punitive”.  The Scotsman article can be found here.  It is quite clear that charities fear their funding is under threat.  This sums up nicely the problem facing George Osborne.  He wants to crack down on aggressive tax avoidance but that is easier said than done.  Almost any proposal to change the tax system results in a campaign to prevent or amend the proposal.

Now to another controversial issue, retrospective changes to tax law.  HM Treasury has published the process it will follow when making unexpected changes to tax law.  The statement gives an undertaking that retrospective measures will be “wholly exceptional”.  The statement from HM Treasury can be found here.  A recent of example of a retrospective change to tax legislation involved Barclays bank.  A BBC news website report on the Barclays bank matter can be found here.  If the UK Chancellor is serious about tackling aggressive anti-avoidance then I am sure we will see many more examples of retrospective changes to our tax law.

Finance Secretary, John Swinney, has announced incentives and actions to stimulate investment, in four enterprise sectors, for green energy, manufacturing and life science.  These incentives include business rate discounts worth up to £275,000 per business or enhanced capital allowances, new streamlined planning protocols across all sites, skills and training support and an international marketing campaign to promote the sites.  A press release from the Scottish Government on this can be found here.

Now to VAT and two issues I have blogged about before.  A great deal has been written about pasties and VAT since the UK Budget statement.  What though of another VAT anomaly.  Why is VAT levied on the renovation of old buildings but not on the sale of new houses?  Does this encourage energy saving?  Does this encourage the building of new homes?  Why not at least introduce a lower rate of VAT on residential renovations and repairs, as happens in the Isle of Man.  Sadly more questions than answers or signs of any change of policy.  A link to my earlier blog on this issue can be found here.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have urged the Scottish Government to drop their plans for a single police force over concerns that the force will potentially face an annual £22m VAT bill. The eight existing forces are currently exempt from the tax due to their ties to local authorities.  A link to an earlier blog that covers this issue can be found here.  My earlier blog also includes my expectations as to how HM Treasury will view this matter.  Although I can understand the Scottish Liberal Democrats opposition to the single force policy, do they really think that the VAT should be levied?  If not, will they lobby their UK counterparts who, after all, are in charge of HM Treasury on this matter?  I suspect not.  The Liberal Democrats press release can be found here.

To Wales and the news that Welsh supermarkets have seen a massive drop in the use of plastic bags when they charge for them.  A 5p bag levy was introduced across Wales last year.  A report on this from the Daily Mail online can be found here.  Good to see the Daily Mail outlining the situation in the other parts of the UK.

The Spanish Government has announced a general tax amnesty offering taxpayers the chance to disclose irregularities in their past affairs without being prosecuted or penalised. The cost is a one-off payment of 10% of all undeclared assets and rights.  This follows similar measures in Greece and Italy.  More information on the Spanish amnesty can be found here.

Have a good weekend.