Welcome to the 9am Lowdown. Headlines this morning feature...
Today's 9am Lowdown is brought to you in association with Concur, a leading travel management company, providing travel and expense management services to businesses.
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HMRC tax evasion raids treble
The number of raids carried out on premises has trebled in the last four years, as part of government investigations into tax evasion.
Almost 600 property raids were carried out this year by HMRC, following increased pressure from the government to meet its target of 1,165 tax evasion prosecutions set out for this year.
The number of raids on premises carried out by HMRC in the course of investigations into tax evasion has increased by almost a fifth, rising from 500 in 2013, to 593 last year, according to international law firm Pinsent Masons.
In the 2010-11 tax year, just 196 were conducted.
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Tesco AGM showdown looms
Tesco shareholders will get a chance this week to vent their anger following Tesco’s disastrous year.
A £1.2million payoff to Phil Clarke, which the former boss got on top of a £764,000 salary payment after leaving, is expected to arouse significant criticism of the board and the way it has handled the greatest crisis in the grocer’s history.
Tesco has faced a Serious Fraud Office probe following revelations of a £264million black hole in its accounts.
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Tax hikes increasing holiday costs, says TaxPayers’ Alliance
The cost of holidaying abroad has gone up substantially due to hikes in VAT, Air Passenger Duty and Insurance Premium Tax, according to research by the TaxPayers’ Alliance.
Overall, a family of four planning to visit Florida this year will pay an average tax bill of £384 for their flights and holiday purchases before they leave the airport, up from £198 seven years ago.
A couple with four children travelling to Spain will pay an average tax bill of £195.
Taxes will cost holidaymakers nearly £2.4 billion this year, an average of £62 per person, the study claims.
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Concur tip of the day: Implement a policy you can enforce
Employees generally want to follow company policies – but sometimes it’s difficult to do so.
Just one-third of organisations have a rigorously applied corporate expense policy. Even where a policy exists, less than half of these organisations check claims against the policy.
One of the ways that organisations look to control T&E spend is by creating a new expenses policy, but just implementing a new policy often does not give the added control expected.
Implementing an automated solution with your expense policy built in helps to flag out of policy spend to employees, managers and finance. This ensures that employees understand what they can claim within the valid limits that you have defined.
This is just one chapter from ‘four ways to control employee expenses spend', a free guide from Concur. You can download the full version here.