The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics have revealed that business investment for the second quarter of 2009 was an estimated 10.4% lower than the previous quarter and 18.4% lower than the same period last year.

Declines in business investment occurred in most industries, with the quarterly fall in business investment mainly due to reduced capital spending by industries classified as private sector manufacturing (down 16.8 %), private sector non-manufacturing (down 9.7%) and public corporations non-manufacturing (down 7.2%).

Within the private sector manufacturing the fall in capital spending was due to industries within food, drink and tobacco (down 20.8%), engineering … Continue Reading

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In a new podcast released yesterday, HMRC’s Permanent Secretary for Tax, Dave Hartnett, has warned that anyone with undeclared offshore tax liabilities who fails to come forward under the New Disclosure Opportunity (NDO) faces an increased risk of prosecution.

Under the NDO, anyone who makes a complete and accurate disclosure of their untaxed offshore liabilities between 1st September and 12th March 2010 will have any penalty capped at 10%, or 20% if they failed to take up a written offer of a capped penalty under HMRC’s 2007 Offshore Disclosure Facility (ODF).

In the podcast, Dave Hartnett states that the penalties for … Continue Reading

New figures from the CBI have revealed that business levels in the services sector are still below normal, but less so than in the previous three quarters.

The latest quarterly CBI Service Sector Survey attributes the continued downward pressure in part to deflation in the sector.

The research was conducted between 29th July and 12th August 2009 and covered 184 service-sector firms. These were divided into Business and Professional Services, such as accountancy, legal and marketing firms, and Consumer Services, including hotels, bars and restaurants, travel and leisure.

In Business and Professional Services, both the value and volumes of business rose slightly compared … Continue Reading

According to a new report from specialist business insurer Hiscox, 44% of SMEs are at risk of theft due to security lapses this summer.

The report found that just under half (44%) of small businesses say staff are more lax about closing windows, setting alarms and locking exit doors in the summer months of June to August, while one in five respondents (20%) have arrived at work to discover that a window or exit has been unlocked or the alarm is not set.

Hiscox have also revealed that small business owners are also failing to prioritise their security strategies. Despite high … Continue Reading

The Tax Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal yesterday ordered over 300 banks to give details to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) about their customers who hold offshore accounts.

HMRC can now issue the information notices to banks ahead of the New Disclosure Opportunity (NDO). The NDO will allow people with unpaid taxes linked to offshore accounts or assets to settle their tax liabilities at a favourable penalty rate.

HMRC will use this information to ensure everyone pays the right tax and to check that NDO disclosures are complete.

Under the rules of the NDO, people who make a complete and accurate disclosure will … Continue Reading

The Insolvency Service has released the latest figures on company insolvencies and it makes for grim reading.

In the twelve months ending Q2 2009, approximately 1 in 120 active companies (0.8%) went into liquidation, up slightly on the previous quarter when the figure was approximately 1 in 130.

There were 5,055 compulsory liquidations and creditors’ voluntary liquidations in total in England and Wales in the second quarter of 2009 (on a seasonally adjusted basis) – an increase of 39.1% on the same period a year ago.

This was made up of 1,457 compulsory liquidations (up 8.7% on the corresponding quarter of the … Continue Reading

Historically, the interest rate charged by HM Revenue & Customs on tax repayments has been set at 1.5 percentage points below the Bank of England base rate.

When the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to reduce the Bank of England base rate to 1.5% in January, the interest on tax repayments fell to the lowest possible rate of 0% and has stayed at that level ever since.

Now, HMRC has announced that a new minimum interest rate of 0.5% is to be set on tax repayments, so that interest will still be payable even when the Bank of … Continue Reading