Welcome to April’s Technical Newsdesk

he Spring Budget took place on 8 March (at the time of writing that is last week) and we are awaiting publication of the Finance Bill, along with a number of consultations, on 20 March. That said, even in a relatively slimmed down Budget a number of important announcements were made, and April 2017 also brings with it a number of important changes.

Making Tax Digital (MTD) is (or should be) close to all our hearts! We were pleased to hear the one year deferral of mandation into MTD for businesses and landlords with turnover below the VAT threshold, although this is slightly tempered by the fact that we believe this is total income below the VAT registration threshold, rather than on a business-by-business basis. Margaret Curran reports below on the various House of Lords evidence sessions on MTD. Margaret, Claire Thackaberry and Sharron West, also highlight the CIOT and LITRG responses to the draft legislation published for comment on 31 January, which includes the proposed changes to the trading cash basis and the introduction of a property cash basis, both from April 2017.

Other changes coming in from April 2017 covered below include: off-payroll working in the public sector (IR35) – Matthew Brown runs through the CIOT’s comments on the draft Finance Bill clauses, focusing on the practical aspects of the changes; and significant changes to the ‘non-dom’ regime – Kate Willis sets out the CIOT’s response to the draft legislation (which has been published in tranches), along with some important clarifications from HMRC.

Longer term, Margaret Curran summarises the CIOT’s response to HMRC’s consultation on tackling offshore tax evasion, which considers introducing a requirement to notify HMRC of offshore structures, Matthew Brown explains the tax charge which is being introduced on ‘disguised remuneration loans’ outstanding at 5 April 2019, and Angela Fearnside explains how the proposed Finance House Due Diligence Scheme, targeted at reducing the tax gap from goods sold to the UK from outside the EU, could bring burdens on more businesses than expected.

We also have a number of articles from LITRG on issues such as the proposed reduction in the pensions money purchase annual allowance and an update on the marriage allowance.
That’s not everything, either, so please do read on. Hopefully there’s something for everyone this month.