Happy Friday everyone, and welcome to today’s 9am Lowdown.
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In the news
The Ministry of Justice has rebuffed attempts by the ICAEW to expand into the wider regulation of legal services. (Law Gazette)
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HMRC cancelled tens of thousands of self-assessment fines last year, sparking calls for a “root and branch” review of the system. (FT – paywall)
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HMRC has confirmed that its new West Midlands regional hub will be based at the Arena Central complex in Broad Street, housing more than 3,500 tax workers. (Birmingham Post)
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Solicitors providing tax planning services could face greater scrutiny from both HMRC and the Solicitors Regulation Authority as the government looks to clamp down on ‘aggressive’ tax avoidance schemes. (Politics Home)
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Tweet of the day
Our practice correspondent Richard Hattersley headed to Manchester yesterday for the ICPA’s practice evolution conference…
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New on AccountingWEB
To qualify for Entrepreneurs’ Relief (ER) on a share disposal, you must hold at least 5% of the company’s ordinary share capital. In a new article, Andy Keates asks: “what exactly is the ‘ordinary share capital’ of the company?”
Tom Herbert speaks to Kingston Smith partner Becky Shields about practical applications of artificial intelligence available now to accountants.
On the blogs, Les Howard takes HMRC to task over failing to manage VAT properly.
And on the industry updates page, 9 Spokes has published the first of their two-part customer happiness series.