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9am Lowdown

9am Lowdown: MTD a 'substantial burden'

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16th Aug 2016
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Good morning and welcome to the 9am Lowdown, featuring more Making Tax Digital analysis, James Corden and a PwC graduate trainee story.

 

MTD: A substantial new burden

Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, has said businesses above the MTD threshold will still be left with a heavy administrative burden.

Commenting on the release of the six consultation papers, Tyrie said the committee will take evidence on them, on behalf of the millions of businesses likely to be affected.

“Exempting those small firms and the self-employed whose primary income from a business is below £10,000 is welcome. It’s also common sense. They should have been given this exemption in the first place. Still, those businesses above the threshold will still be left with what could be a heavy administrative burden. The consultation period will provide an opportunity to consider a further rise in the threshold, thereby exempting more of them,” he said.

“Some ground is now finally being given, but probably not enough. The fundamental problem remains: making digital recording compulsory for businesses – particularly small businesses – will be a substantial new burden on them. I hope that the welcome extension to the consultation period will provide an opportunity for the penny to drop on this as well.”

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HMRC lands James Corden with £710,000 bill

TV star James Corden has been landed with a £710,000 tax bill after he wound up a UK company.

According to the Mirror he set up the company after his first brush of fame with Gavin and Stacey.

The Late Late Show celebrity was served the notice from HMRC when he closed one of his UK companies.

Advisers in the UK had asked the Revenue for a recalculation of his bill, and they settled for a smaller, undisclosed sum.

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PwC got in the way of trainee’s social life

A trainee accountant has claimed working for PwC got in the way of his social life and expressed his relief at getting sacked, in an email that got sent around the Big Four firm.

According to the Telegraph, Oliver Alcock sent the email to a handful of colleagues, after failing his accountancy exams, and claiming he didn’t “give a toss” about losing his job. He said in the email, “I haven't particularly enjoyed much of time at PwC largely related to exam stress and having a low boredom threshold.”

The email continued: ““To those determined to get to the top of the PwC ponzi scheme I say good luck but there's certainly easier ways to earn money, but I commend your superior boredom thresholds and willingness to sacrifice free time.”

 However, the excoriating email spread throughout the office, and was brought to the attention of management.

Laura Hinton PwC’s head of people told the Mailonline that PwC is “sorry that it didn't work out for Oliver”, and wished him luck with finding a career that is “right for him”.

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Replies (1)

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By Tim Vane
16th Aug 2016 10:36

Re the James Corden story: Are you reporting that somebody wound up a company and received a tax bill, which was disputed and amended? Is this news, because I have to say this is a fairly common occurrence. Were there any special circumstances that would make this an interesting case for professionals?

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