Government spending is rising more quickly in percentage terms than tax receipts even as a record €66 billion was collected in tax over the first eight months of 2026. Tax receipts are 6.2 per cent in advance of the same time last year when the 2025 impact of the Apple tax case is stripped out.
Nearly one million low earners could receive a payment from HMRC after missing out on pension tax relief because of the way their workplace pension is set up. The issue – explained in a recent bulletin published by HMRC – stems from administrative differences in how workplace pension schemes process tax relief. To fix this,
Taxpayers are saving more on Inheritance Tax (IHT) by leaving gifts to charity in their wills – and doing so could also help you cut your tax bill. According to analysis of government figures by TWM Solicitors, the amount saved on IHT through charitable giving has risen by 88% to £1.28bn over the past six
The countdown is on. Two months out from Andy Burnham’s inaugural autumn budget, bank executives are wringing their hands over whether the government will target their bumper profits with fresh taxes. The chancellor, John Healey, is reportedly considering a windfall tax on both banks and oil companies in the late October Westminster setpiece. The UK’s
HMRC has published its first figures showing the scale of taxable gains made from cryptoassets. HMRC has published its first figures showing the scale of taxable gains made from cryptoassets.(Image: AFP/Getty Images) Crypto investors are being warned that simply exchanging one type of cryptocurrency for another could leave them with a tax bill – even
Whenever CPA tax practitioners gather, their shop talk usually at some point turns to the relative merits and faults of their tax return preparation software. Those loyal to the same product year after year may hold forth on its virtues, while the disaffected listen closely and perhaps make mental notes. This annual survey by the
Stephanie Sharpe, of accountancy firm Moore Kingston Smith, said a family could fall foul of the rules by accidentally undervaluing a property. For example, if the deceased had a £2.5m estate, leaving a £320,000 holiday home to his son and everything else to his widow, the family might assume they did not need to fill
More than one million pensioners are now paying income tax at 40 per cent or more, according to new figures which reveal how frozen tax thresholds are pulling increasing numbers of retirees into higher tax bands. The number of pensioners paying higher- or additional-rate income tax has more than doubled in five years, rising from
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The number of UK pensioners paying the highest rates of income tax has doubled in the past five years due to a combination of years of frozen tax thresholds and inflation adjustments to pensions. HM
Apple and Google are raking in more from an ‘app tax’ on Britons than they pay in corporation tax, analysis shows. A study found Apple shelled out £322million in UK corporation tax last year (2025) while Google paid £146million in 2024 – the latest accounts available for both tech giants. But a ‘stealth’ levy of