IMF Positive about the Growth of Malta
Posted: 10/05/2012 Filed under: Malta News, Malta Taxation | Tags: budget, IMF, Taxation Leave a comment »
Finance Minister Tonio Fenech delivered a speech this week on the Budget Measures Implementation Bill and closed with news of the latest report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Mr. Fenech says that the IMF has called Malta’s plans for the future and the effort the country is putting out to reach financial stability is “impressive”.
The IMF publishes information monthly and its 1 May publication reported Malta as being one of the 6 countries in the developed world that had increased its employment rate throughout the month of April. After announcing this information, Mr. Fenech said that this progress is proof that the Maltese government has made up a budget that is focused on stability and economic growth. This budget is one that offers incentives to industry as well as to the tourism industries, something that are both important to the Maltese economy. Additionally, there are tax reduction schemes for working parents and to parents who are sending their children to private nurseries and schools. The government has also increased its benefits to the elderly which is important to the middle class.
Mr. Fenech also announced that the Maltese national debt was standing at 72% of the GDP when using the EU methodology. This does not include guaranteed debts of independent organisations of the books. He stated that if the opposition party was governing, it would have included austerity measures based on the pretext that debts were not officially announced.
The speech continued by Mr. Fenech stating that the reason for uncertainty for investors was due to the change in government and not the way the parliamentary vote was taken like many believe. He backed that up by saying investors knew that the party was supportive of the business but they were not sure about the stand of the opposition.
UK Tax Laws A Spaghetti Bowl
Posted: 17/08/2010 Filed under: UK Taxation | Tags: corporate tax, corporation tax, Tax, tax refunds, Taxation Leave a comment »The “spaghetti bowl” of UK tax law is to be simplified with a goal to boost the British economy.
The new government says that the tax system has become a hindrance to businesses under Labour, and that by simplifying it and making it more competitive for small firms it would stimulate economic growth.
George Osborne states “Today we turn the promises of opposition into the policies of government.”
Treasury minister David Gauke said “The tax system created by the previous government was overly complex and has made the tax affairs of millions of families and businesses across the UK extremely complicated.
“We need to reduce the complexities in our tax system and the coalition is committed to delivering that goal.”
The OTS’s remit includes UK taxes and duties controlled by HM Revenue and Customs, but it will not deal with tax credits or taxes administered by other bodies nor will it have any say in the setting of tax rates.
The chairperson of the new body will be Michael Jack, former Conservative MP and Treasury minister and the director shall be tax director at the Chartered Institute of Taxation, John Whiting. Neither shall be paid for their services.
This is truly excellent news for small businesses in UK, with the tax system easier to understand, people wont be as worried to start up in the market, causing the British economy to grow again. I know my clinets will welcome it and I am relived the government has finally seen the light.
If you need help understanding the laws on tax as they stand or how the changes will affect you please get in touch with us here at St Matthew’s eAccounting. We are happy to help.
UK Taxation System Gets An Overhaul
Posted: 28/07/2010 Filed under: UK Taxation | Tags: business concerns, corporation tax, non dom tax, Taxation, uk companies, UK tax Leave a comment »There are more talks for the launch of the Office of Tax Systems in today’s news. It always makes me a little nervous when they start talking about changes to the UK tax system. I know how hard some of clients find it when it happens. Lucky we are here to help them.
Anyway back to the subject at hand. The new version will apparently simplify the existing overly complicated version, making it much easier for all Britons, especially small businesses.
Liam Byrne, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury said he welcomed the significance of the government’s plan to simplify the tax system, but he then went onto say “today’s announcement, I’m afraid, sounds rather more like an attempt to grab headlines than real evidence of a push to improve legislation”.
He called on the government to scrap plans to “complicate the tax system by introducing a marriage tax allowance, all for the sake of sending an ineffective £3 a week signal of what his party thinks a family should look like” and what he said was a “more complicated stamp duty system when it comes to energy conservation for housing”.
The TUC union body said it was concerned the OTS could become a “softening-up exercise for tax cuts for the rich”.
But the launch was welcomed by business chiefs.
Richard Baron, of the Institute of Directors, said it was “a brilliant idea” but that it would be judged by its results.
David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said it was “a necessary and long overdue response to the relentless chop and change of tax law”.
I find all of these statements interesting, it is about time the government updated its archaic taxation system. If people understand what they are paying tax for it makes it much easier for them to part with their money. On the other hand the most profound utterance definitely comes from Mr Baron, we will indeed judge it by its results.
If taxation still baffles you or you are concerned about how these changes may affect you please get in touch with us here at St Mathew’s eAccounting and we will be pleased to help you see it all crystal clearly.
Interest Rates To Rise Or Not To Rise
Posted: 27/07/2010 Filed under: Small Business, UK Immigration, UK Taxation, Uncategorized, VAT | Tags: business concerns, corporation tax, tax refunds, Taxation, UK tax, VAT Leave a comment »Andrew Sentance was on his own in calling for a rise in interest rates from 0.5pc to 0.75pc for a second month running. With VAT up, taxes up and employment down it seems to be one of the few things to stay stagnant.
Mr. Sentance argued that “the inflation outlook had shifted sufficiently to justify beginning to raise interest rates gradually”.
The rate of inflation has remained constantly high this year and despite falling 0.5pc, from 3.7pc to 3.2pc in the past two months, is still way above the banks target of 2pc. However the call was denied again as majority of members believe inflation will fall over time.
The minutes from a Bank of England rate-settlement meeting read “the weight of evidence from both home and abroad continued to indicate that the margin of spare capacity was likely to bear down on inflation and bring it back to the target in the medium once the impact of temporary factors had worn off.”
This time however, there was some sympathy with Mr. Sentance as policymakers acknowledged that inflation is “likely to remain above target for some months as the impact of the past increases in indirect taxes and oil prices, and the depreciation of sterling offset downward pressure on inflation from spare capacity”.
The increase in VAT to 20pc is also “likely to add to inflation [as] some companies may anticipate the increase by raising prices in advance”. They fear a rise in “medium-term inflation expectations” becoming entrenched by feeding into pay settlements.
However, the “committee’s central view remained that the substantial margin of spare capacity was likely to persist for some time and would bear down on inflation over the medium term”.
In my humble opinion this view is good, UK tax payers are happy to keep the 0.5pc interest rate, Mr. Sentance needs to stop pushing for this and let the market settle in its own time. It seems there are more than one or two experts who agree with me.
Income taxation Abolished For Low Earners
Posted: 22/06/2010 Filed under: Moving to London, Non Dom, Small Business, UK Taxation | Tags: corporate tax, corporation tax, Tax, Taxation, UK tax, VAT Leave a comment »I thought I would outline some of the things we are expecting from Mr Osbourne’s budget tomorrow so we can evaluate how close our expectations are. Mainly it is about taxation and spending cuts but which taxation and where is the axe likely to fall?
The first thing that jumps out at me from the predictions is the idea that George will be abolishing income taxation for the UK’s lowest earners. I must admit that this has always made sense to me. It seems a convoluted way to do thing giving people money with one hand i.e. child support and other benefits and then taking it away with the other. By all means if people are struggling to get their heads above the poverty line then let them keep the money they work for.
To go along with his tax exemption for low earners the chancellor is also likely to announce a number of money-raising measures, including an increase in capital gains tax, a levy on bank profits, and rises in alcohol and cigarette duties. There is also likely to be a change in aviation tax.
It is interesting about the aviation tax but a rise in taxation on cigarettes and alcohol is to be expected, have we ever had a budget that did not include this move?
Anyway we have not got much longer to wait. Tomorrow will give us all the answers.
Osborne To Steer Us from Road To Ruin
Posted: 20/06/2010 Filed under: Investment, Non Dom, Offshore Solutions, Small Business, Uncategorized | Tags: business concerns, corporation tax, economy, election promises, Moving to London, moving to UK, Taxation, uk companies Leave a comment »Spending cuts, tax hikes, inflation, unemployment. The way the papers carry on you could sometimes think the the UK was doomed instead of experiencing an economic crisis being endured by most first world countries. Thank goodness Osborne is assuring us that he will be able to avoid complete disaster. Personally I never had any doubt but there you go.
Apparently Osborne is proposing to take us to prosperity via a bit of budget pain. The big questions on his policies are yet to be answered yet of course and we will have the answer to those later in the week. The budget will be released on Tuesday. In the meantime there has been a lot of preparation put into making sure the British people are ready for the worst.
The thing about a change of government is that it is in the new regimes interest to make sure we know just how badly the last lot landed us in it. So it stands to reason that we have been feed a steady diet of doom and gloom, how else could Osborne ride to the rescue on his white charger?
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the need for a tough budget and I am fully expecting one. It is just that I think the pain we are feeling is globally spread rather than Britain localised. Despite what people have been saying recently I believe that the British standard of living is still far higher than many places.
In the meantime if you have taxation issues or are considering the intelligent move of starting a British company then please get in contact. We are experts on that stuff here.
Retail Sales Up In Good News For British Economy
Posted: 08/06/2010 Filed under: Investment, Non Dom, Small Business, Uncategorized | Tags: business concerns, moving to the UK, moving to UK, Taxation, UK tax Leave a comment »Sometimes people fail to see the fact that all facets of the British economy are connected. What is good for the other guy is indeed often good for you. So news that the retail sector is experiencing strong sales at the moment gives all of us something to cheer about. Some of my clients in small business will be directly feeling the benefits other will be reaping the rewards in a less direct fashion but there is no doubt that money moving around in our economy is good news for us all.
It seems we have two major factors to thank for the renewed interest in retail spending, warm weather and football.
“The sunnier second half of May provided a welcome boost to overall sales,” said the BRC’s director general Stephen Robertson.
It is no big suprise that people like to come out and do a bit of retail therapy in the sunny weather, but last year, at the height of recession, people resisted the temptation and stayed home. It is great to see that we have come out the other side and people are no longer frightened of the consequences of spending a little money.
It is not just small purchases people are making, in fact due to a huge interest in the rapidly approaching soccer world cup, many of us are going home with huge shiny TV’s to watch the action on.
Capital Gains Tax Rise: Big Winner Or Huge Loser
Posted: 30/05/2010 Filed under: UK Taxation | Tags: business concerns, corporate tax, corporation tax, Tax, Taxation Leave a comment »Clearly there are two sides to every story and it would seem the same is true of every proposed strategy to re pay our national debt. I think the best way to tackle the two sides of the argument concerning a proposed huge rise in capital gains is to blog on one pro article from the week and one anti. Then you can make your own decision.
In the Scotsman on Sunday business commentator Alex Orr lampooned the governments plans to hike up capital gains to a massive level. He made no bones about his thoughts on the plan, calling it incompetent and claiming it will thoroughly stifle the economic recovery that the UK has struggled into.
His reasoning is that the tax will discourage investment and ultimately result in a widening of the deficient and not a narrowing. He goes on to argue that the UK should learn from the examples set by Australia and the USA where similar moves decreased quite drastically the incoming of revenue.
If Mr Orr is to be believes then the new coalition government could be starting out its term with the biggest policy blunder in recent history.
But you know what experts are like. Tomorrow I will call on the writings of another to show you why Mr Orr is dead wrong. Apparently.
Will VAT Rise Cause Job Losses?
Posted: 28/05/2010 Filed under: Uncategorized, VAT, VAT Registration | Tags: business, business concerns, Tax, Taxation, UK tax, VAT Leave a comment »As usual it depends on who you listen to as to whether or not you believe that a rise in vat in the UK will cause a fall in employment.
The British Retail Consortium has come out this week and claimed that the rise in Vat that is expected in the next budget will cause massive job losses from the retail sector. Their figures are dire and fairly scary. They say theat the predicted new VAT rate of 20 per cent would cost 163,000 workers their jobs and mean a consumer spending clamp down that would cost £3.6 billion over the next four years. That does sound grim.
As usual though ( and you cannot blame them) they are only seeing things from their point of view. They are urging the government to make cuts in the public sector instead of raising tax and they are doing so without a hint of irony. Despite the fact that public sector cuts would be sure to still result in large numbers of jobs being lost; just not in the area they are concerned about.
It seems that many experts think the BRC may be skewing a figures a little bit in order to make their case. I think that is natural. But I despite their scare tactics I think I am still leaning slightly towards the VAT rise being a good thing. But I am not yet completely convinced,
Interesting times ahead.
UK To Tax Spending Instead Of Income
Posted: 25/05/2010 Filed under: UK Taxation, Uncategorized, VAT | Tags: corporate tax, corporation tax, Taxation, UK tax, VAT Leave a comment »Today’s blog was inspired by a commentary piece I read in the The Times last week regarding taxation in the UK. The article focused on the way that we view taxation in this country and what that has meant for the way we implement it.
Basically the UK traditionally taxes income. It is such a deeply ingrained thing that when I mentioned it to my friends I was met with puzzled glance and the question, “what else would you tax”. The answer, clearly, is spending. In other words tax the expenditure rather than the income.
Of course we do have VAT these days which does target spending but still a lot of our taxation efforts still focus on taking money from people at the source of their earning. Big deal you say? Well the point of the Times commentator was that income is far more volatile than spending and so therefore, less reliable. If we want to be sure about the amount that will reach our coffers we need to turn the focus to taxing spending.
How do we do that? A rise in VAT, of course. It is beginning to look very much as if this rise is only a matter of when and how much.
