HLAS

Following the collapse of Silicon Valley and Signature banks, bank shares in Asia and Europe have slumped, despite the reassurances from Joe Biden. The volatility has led to speculation that the Federal Reserve will pause plans to raise interest rates, designed to halt inflation. We should remember that post 2008 there was a focus on reforming banks considered “too big to fail” and the issues right now mainly focus on medium to smaller sized banks. There is a clear message about the failure of Silicon Valley and Signature banks in that they were mainly concentrated in one sector, and they [...]

Silicon Valley Bank (UK) Ltd (SVB UK) was sold last week to HSBC for a symbolic £1.  HSBC is headquartered in London, is the largest bank in Europe and is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services institutions, serving 39 million customers globally.  Customers of SVB UK are now able to access their deposits and banking services as normal. This transaction has been facilitated by the Bank of England, in consultation with the Treasury, using powers granted by the Banking Act 2009.  The deal makes use of post-crisis banking reforms, which introduced powers to safely manage the failure [...]

The British Business Bank’s Guide to building business resilience contains impartial, practical, and actionable information and support to help smaller businesses manage their costs, boost their long-term profitability, and increase their resilience. There is guidance on everything from energy efficiency to investing in technology, included to help make your business more innovative and resilient. Other topics covered in the guide include: Foundations for growth, Managing business costs, Securing funds and controlling debt, Focusing on customers, Optimising your supply chain, and Controlling staff overheads. See: Guide to building business resilience - British Business Bank (british-business-bank.co.uk)

New data laws to cut down paperwork for businesses and reduce cookie pops-up have been introduced by the UK government. The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill was first introduced last Summer and paused in September 2022 so ministers could engage in a co-design process with business leaders and data experts, ensuring that the new regime builds on the UK’s high standards for data protection and privacy and seeks to ensure data adequacy while moving away from the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach of the European Union’s GDPR. Data is fundamental to fuelling economic growth in all areas of society, from unlocking medical [...]

On 15 March 2023, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt presented his first Budget to Parliament and set out a plan to reduce inflation, grow the economy and get government debt falling all whilst avoiding a recession and tackling labour shortages. Below we set out some of the main points. COST OF LIVING SUPPORT Energy Costs The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) brings a typical household energy bill in Great Britain down to around £2,500 per year. It has now been announced that the £2,500 EPG will be extended by 3 months to 30th June 2023, before increasing to £3,000 until the end of the EPG [...]

Hull: Hessle-based Yorkshire accountancy firm Harris Lacey and Swain have announced the launch of a new consultancy service called Consilium. The cutting-edge service is led by a cross-disciplinary team and will add to the extensive list of services offered by the firm. Richard Lacey, the Senior Partner at Harris Lacey and Swain, said “Our decision to launch this service is based on frustration at services that are claiming to offer advice usually based on simplistic spreadsheet-based models. “We wanted to offer something genuinely useful and different. “Our highly experienced and effective consultants can make a real difference.” Harris Lacey and [...]

The table below sets out the HMRC advisory reimbursement rates for employees' private mileage using their company car from 1 March 2023. Where full reimbursement is made there is no taxable fuel benefit. The rates for the previous quarter, if different, are in brackets. Note that for hybrid cars you must use the petrol or diesel rate and for fully electric cars the rate is now 9p per mile (8p per mile up to 28 February 2023). You can continue to use the previous rates for up to 1 month from the date the new rates apply.

It’s not too late to undertake some end of year tax planning. If you have available funds, an obvious tax planning point would be to maximise your £20,000 ISA allowances for the 2022/23 tax year. You might also want to consider increasing your pension savings before 5 April 2023, if you have available ‘pension annual allowance’ to obtain tax relief for any additional contributions. The pension annual allowance includes any unused elements from the last three tax years as well. Under the current rules, the government adds to your pension contributions at the 20% basic rate. For instance, if you [...]

As well as charging interest on tax paid late, HMRC may also levy a penalty where there is an error in a tax return. These penalties may be judged as careless or deliberate and the level of penalty will also depend upon whether or not; the taxpayer has been upfront, making unprompted disclosures to correct the error; the error was deliberate; and the error was concealed from HMRC. This matter is topical following the recent sacking of the former Chancellor of the Exchequer and Chairman of the Conservative Party Nadeem Zahawi who was adjudged to have been careless in connection [...]

Following on from the alleged abuse of the Research and Development (R&D) tax relief schemes, particularly the SME tax credit scheme, HMRC have issued “nudge” letters to the directors of over 2,000 claimant companies asking them to check their claims. Here is an extract from the letter:- “As Company Director, it’s important you submit accurate claims for the correct amount of tax relief. If we check a claim and find it’s incorrect, your company might be asked to pay back the full amount. This letter is not a compliance check into your Company Tax Return. It is to help you [...]