Over-55s are the targets of repeated cold-calling and email scams offering fake pension opportunities. 5 months after the introduction of the new pension freedoms, 40% of Citizens Advice pension staff have come into contact with people affected by pension scams. Around 10% have seen people fall victim to scams. Of those contacted by scammers, 80%[…]
Ombudsman Services is launching a new service that will accept all consumer complaints. The newly created consumer ombudsman will be able to receive complaints relating to the conduct of sectors that don’t have a current ombudsman. This includes retail, home maintenance, improvement or installation services, second-hand cars, car repairs and car servicing. The ombudsman is[…]
HMRC has revealed how it plans to introduce digital tax accounts over the course of the 2015/16 tax year. First announced in Budget 2015, news that HMRC wants digital accounts to replace traditional annual tax accounts created much debate. Now, further details of what this transitional process will look like have been provided by HMRC: July[…]
The chancellor George Osborne wasn’t exaggerating when he said he was undertaking a “major and long overdue reform to simplify the taxation of dividends” in his Summer Budget speech. The current dividend system was set up more than 40 years ago to avoid double taxation of profits. At the time, corporation tax was more than[…]
Anyone who has experienced the difficulty of trying to get through to the HMRC helpline may think that it is an organisation too large and complex to do anything quickly. However, while it may seemingly lack the ability to answer phone calls and emails in a timely manner, HMRC is now a force to be[…]