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9am Lowdown
9am Lowdown

9am Lowdown: Treasury will suffer Brexit staff shortage

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1st Jul 2016
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Good morning. Here is this morning’s 9am Lowdown.

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Treasury will suffer Brexit staff shortage

The Treasury and other government departments are set to have “significant” staff issues, as a Brexit taskforce will be needed to tackle negotiations.

According to the Treasury’s annual report, the vote to leave the EU will present the Treasury new challenges, which will hamper “its resources and expertise”. Home Secretary Theresa May outlined her plans for a Brexit department yesterday as she launched her campaign to replace David Cameron’s vacated prime ministerial position. The strain on the departments will increase when the EU exit negotiations get under way.

Speaking to Civil Service world about the Brexit unit, DCLG permanent secretary Melanie Dawes emphasised the strain the result will have on the civil service: “A lot of people are asking - do we have enough resources? And I think we know that in some areas, clearly, no we don’t. We are going to need trade negotiators. There may be some other areas like lawyers where we are going to need to increase the number of people that we’ve got.”

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CIOT concerned about TAAR uncertainty

The CIOT has voiced its concern about the “unnecessary” uncertainty businesses will face as a result of the new targeted anti avoidance rule (TAAR).

The tax body has urged HMRC to publish its plan as soon as possible, even if it is in draft, to minimise the uncertainty it has created. The Finance Bill 2016 introduced TAAR for certain distributions of share capital made on winding up a company.

The CIOT argues that the new TAAR does not have a formal advance clearance procedure, whereas various other parts of UK tax legislation applicable to significant transactions do.

Chair of the CIOT’s owner managed business sub-committee Tina Riches said: “Despite our view that having to rely on HMRC guidance is a very unsatisfactory feature of the current UK tax system, businesses need certainty about the sorts of transactions that HMRC consider are caught by the legislation.” 

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Video of the day

Last week AccountingWEB sat down with practice expert Mark Lee at TaxCalc’s smart practice seminar. As the dust settles on the Brexit result, Lee explains what opportunities upheavals like Brexit can present to accountants.

 

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