General

The Insolvency Service has warned that fraudsters have been contacting investors in insolvent schemes claiming to be from the Official Receiver’s office or to have been appointed by the Official Receiver to help recover funds for a fee. These contacts are fraudulent.

The Insolvency Service provides services to those affected by financial distress or failure. Insolvency occurs when individuals or businesses do not have enough assets to cover their debts or are unable to pay their debts when they become due. It is important to note that Official Receivers or any agent legitimately instructed to act on their behalf will never ask you to pay a fee to get some or all of your investment back.

The Official Receiver can only make a return to you as a creditor in failed schemes if it is possible to identify and sell any remaining assets owned by the liquidated company you bought your investment from. Often a repayment, if any is due, can take several years to organise.

Paying a fee will not make you a priority creditor and will not result in you being paid faster nor increase your chances of getting any money back. Please don’t be taken in by this type of scam.

Derek Mackay, Scotland’s finance secretary has announced that the Scottish Government’s Budget will be published for 2020-21 on 6 February 2020. The date has been selected in order to allow the Scottish Government time to prepare for the new tax year.

This is the first time that Scotland has held a Budget before the rest of the UK. The delay in the UK Budget until 11 March had left the Scottish Government in a quandary and with no time to wait until after the UK Budget to deliver their Budget and have it approved before the start of the next tax year.

In fact, Mr Mackay unequivocally said:

'The UK Government’s approach to the Scottish Budget has been completely unacceptable and has shown a disregard for devolution and a lack of fiscal responsibility.

The timing of the UK Budget made it impossible for us to publish our own budget after the UK Government’s without drastically restricting the time for parliamentary scrutiny.

In these exceptional circumstances, created by the UK Government, it is vital we give local authorities and public services clarity on their budgets. That is why we have made the decision to publish our budget in February which will allow local authorities to set their budgets and council tax before the legal deadline of 11 March.'

The Scottish Parliament sets the Income Tax rates and bands for non-savings and non-dividend income in Scotland. Scottish taxpayers therefore, pay Income Tax at separate rates and bands to the rest of the UK on their non-savings and non-dividend income.

A new taskforce has been launched to tackle serious and organised waste crime, such as dumping hazardous materials on private land and falsely labelling waste so it can be exported abroad to unsuspecting countries.

This will be the first time that law enforcement agencies, environmental regulators, HMRC and the National Crime Agency have worked together to help stamp out waste crime as part of the work of the new Joint Unit for Waste Crime (JUWC).

Serious and organised waste crime is estimated to cost the UK economy at least £600 million a year. The new unit will share their intelligence and resources to take swifter action when investigating criminal waste operations and other connected illegal activities, such as money laundering and human trafficking.

Actions taken will include conducting site inspections, making arrests and prosecutions, pushing for heavy fines and custodial sentences.

Toby Willison, Chair of the JUWC Board, said:

'The war against waste crime just took a giant step forward. The launch of this new unit means we now have a full complement of partners across law enforcement as well as our counterparts in Scotland and Wales to bring down waste criminals for good. We will target serious and organised criminals across the country as they try to illegally exploit the waste industry and the environment. These criminal gangs need to know that we have them in our sights.'

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid has announced that he is planning to hold his first Budget on Wednesday, 11 March 2020.

This announcement follows a turbulent period in Parliament that saw the Autumn 2019 Budget pencilled in for 6 November 2019 and then cancelled as Brexit was delayed. With Brexit now looking set for 31 January 2020 and the Government working with a comfortable majority, the new date has been announced. The Budget traditionally took place in the spring but was moved a few years ago to the autumn. It remains to be seen if the Budget schedule will move back to the autumn and if we will have another Budget later in 2020.

The Chancellor said:

'With this Budget we will unleash Britain’s potential – uniting our great country, opening a new chapter for our economy and ushering in a decade of renewal.'

This will be the first Budget after the UK leaves the EU and we are likely to see many new measures being announced. We are also told that at the Budget, the Chancellor will also update the Charter of Fiscal Responsibility with new rules, to help HM Treasury take better advantage of the current low interest rates. 

The Treasury has also confirmed that the opportunity to submit representations for the Budget is now available. A Budget representation is a written representation from an interest group, individual or representative body to HM Treasury with the aim of commenting on Government policy and / or suggesting new policy ideas for inclusion in the Budget. Any submissions should be sent to HM Treasury by 7 February 2020.

Details of all the Budget announcements will be made on a special section of the GOV.UK website which will be updated following completion of the Chancellor’s speech in March.

The Government has revealed that a number of important changes will be made to the loan charge following the independent review of the disguised remuneration loan charge policy and its implementation by Sir Amyas Morse and his team.

The review examined whether the loan charge is an appropriate way of dealing with loans schemes (also known as disguised remuneration tax avoidance schemes) that have been used by some employers and individuals in order to try and avoid paying Income Tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs).

The Government accepted all but one of the recommendations made in the review. The main changes are as follows:

• The Loan Charge will now only apply to loans taken out on or after 9 December 2010, rather than from 1999. The Review found that legislation announced in 2010 removed any doubt that tax was due.
• The Loan Charge will not apply to users of loan schemes between 9 December 2010 and 5 April 2016 who fully disclosed their schemes on their tax return and where HMRC failed to act.
• Taxpayers will be able to defer filing their returns and paying their Loan Charge liability until September 2020.
• Taxpayers can split the loan balance over three tax years to make bills more affordable.
• A new HMRC team will be tasked to collect tax from those who used the avoidance schemes pre-2010.
• Extra time will be provided so that users of schemes can defer sending their return, and paying the tax for 2018-19, until the end of September 2020. Guidance on how this will work will be published in due course.

The package of measures is expected to reduce tax bills for more than 30,000 people subject to the loan charge. This includes an estimated 11,000 who will no longer have any loan charge to pay.

HMRC will not be able to process any refunds until changes to the loan charge legislation have been enacted by Parliament, expected in summer 2020. HMRC are also expected to announce further moves to crack down on promoters of Disguised Remuneration schemes in the upcoming Budget.

Over the Christmas and New Year break, the Chancellor announced that nearly £3 billion of funding is to be put in place to help support farmers once the UK leaves the EU. This cash injection will maintain the level of funding for direct payments to farmers at the same rate as 2019 and supplement the remaining EU funding that farmers will receive for development projects until 2023 at the latest.

This funding will help provide certainty to farmers as we prepare to leave the EU. Sajid Javid confirmed the cash will be used to support farmers once the UK leaves the EU next year, allowing them to plan for the future, sow their crops and care for their livestock with confidence.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said:

'When we leave the EU and are freed from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), we will be able to support our vital rural communities – who are a cornerstone of life in the UK – with a fairer and less bureaucratic system.'

The direct payments scheme forms the majority of spending under the CAP and provides subsidies to farmers based on the area of land under management. Farming organisations have generally welcomed this announcement and will continue to seek long-term funding commitments for the farming industry as well as other measures to help the industry thrive in the future.

As the election upheavals are now completed, the Government has issued a timely news release to help people shop safely for children's presents this Christmas. The Office for Product Safety & Standards (OPSS) is a part of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and has partnered with Santa, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, Chartered Trading Standards Institute, Netmums, and the Child Accident Prevention Trust to warn against second rate toys.

The OPSS has published the following 12 tips to keep you informed when buying toys.

1. Look for the CE symbol: This means the manufacturer has assessed the toy for safety. Find the symbol on the label or box.
2. Check it’s for kids: Festive novelties can look like toys. Keep them away from children.
3. Reputation matters: Check the suppliers who have a good reputation for safe and reliable toys. They’ll have good safety standards and refund policies.
4. Button battery safety: Christmas toys may have button batteries – which can prove lethal if ingested. Check they are screwed in safely before giving to a child.
5. Check age restrictions: Toys must be clearly marked with age restrictions, which assess risks such as choking hazards. Always follow the age recommendations.
6. Consider special needs: Remember that children with special needs might be more vulnerable, and make sure to shop accordingly.
7. Choking hazards: Avoid toys with small parts or loose fabric – they can be a choking hazard.
8. Loose parts: Loose ribbons on toys and costumes can be dangerous. Think before you buy.
9. Inspect toy boxes: Wear and tear can make a toy unsafe. Check your children’s toys and get them repaired if necessary.
10. Supervise when you need to: Some toys need an adult on hand during playtime. Read all the instructions so you can keep things under control.
11. Tidy up: Boxes, plastic bags and wire can be a hazard. Clear away all packaging once everything’s unwrapped.
12. Celebrate a safe Christmas: Completing these checks can save you a lot of stress later. Remember to get batteries (and dispose of these safely too).

Merry Christmas… 

The Charity Commission is the non-ministerial department responsible for registering and regulating charities in England and Wales, to ensure that the public can support charities with confidence. The Commission has published an alert after receiving several reports from charities who have been targeted by fraudsters impersonating members of staff, specifically attempting to change employees bank details. In all these cases the request was made by email.

The Commission is advising charities to be wary of any requests to their HR department, finance department or staff with authority to update employees bank details. These requests may be sent from a spoofed or similar email address to that of the subject being impersonated.

The following advice has been published by the Charity Commission:

• review internal procedures regarding how employee details are amended and approved, especially those in relation to verifying validity
• if an email is unexpected or unusual, do not click on the links or open the attachments.

It is also important that charities ensure they shred any confidential documents before throwing them away. Any charities that have been affected by fraud should report it to Action Fraud as well as to the Charities Commission as a serious incident.

The Government will waive the VAT equivalent on the sales of this year’s X Factor Celebrity Christmas Charity single. All proceeds from the sale of the single are going to two children’s charities; Together for Short Lives and Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.

Both charities provide support for the families of children with life-limiting illnesses. The donation will be the equivalent of the sum of the VAT receipts collected on sales of the single the winner of the reality show.

The single, a cover of Snow Patrol’s Run, features all the stars of the X Factor Celebrity including Jenny Ryan, Max and Harvey, Megan McKenna and girl group V5. The charities will share 100% of the profits from the sale of each download.

The Government has previously waived the VAT on X Factor single releases as well as for the 2016 Jo Cox Foundation single, 2015 Save the Children single, 2011’s Military Wives Choir single and the 2010 Haiti earthquake appeal single.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a campaign aimed at contacting all registered UK companies to remind them of their legal responsibility to pay a data protection fee. The campaign marks the start of an extensive programme by the ICO to make sure the data protection fee is paid by all those who are required to pay it.

Under the Data Protection Act 2018, organisations and sole traders processing personal information are required to pay the data protection fee, unless they are exempt. The ICO has produced a self-assessment checker to enable businesses to check if they are required to pay the fee, but it advises that if the business holds personal information for business purposes on any electronic device, including using CCTV for crime prevention purposes, it is likely the annual fee payment is due. 

Since the fee was introduced in May 2018, over 600,000 organisations have registered to pay it. At the same time, between 1 July and 30 September 2019, the ICO issued 340 monetary penalties to organisations that had not paid the fee. The cost of the fee depends on the organisation’s size and turnover. There are three tiers of fee ranging from £40 to £2,900, but for most organisations it will be £40 or £60. The cost is reduced by £5 if paid by direct debit. The fee can be paid online, or organisations can complete a form stating why they are exempt from paying the fee.