Research Briefing
VAT on construction
This note sets out the VAT treatment of construction work and the UK's discretion in setting VAT rates under EU law, before looking at the debate on harmonising VAT rates on all types of construction work.
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Research Briefing
Inheritance tax and civil partnerships
This note looks at the debate on the treatment of spouses and civil partners for the purposes of inheritance tax, principally in the context of the passage of the Civil Partnerships Act 2004, and the provisions in Budget 2005 to ensure the tax system treated each in the same way.
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Research Briefing
Income tax – cap on unlimited reliefs
In Budget 2012 the Government announced that from April 2013 it would introduce a cap on certain unlimited income tax reliefs. Initially many charities raised concerns that this could have a very serious impact on the incentives for those on higher incomes to make charitable donations. In December 2012 the Government confirmed it would proceed with the cap, though tax relief on charitable donations would be excluded from its scope. This note gives more details.
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Research Briefing
Age-related personal allowance
All taxpayers are entitled to receive a personal allowance to set against their income for tax purposes. Individuals aged 65 and over have been entitled to receive an additional allowance; an extra addition has been made for those age 75 and over. This note gives details of the allowance and the Coalition Government's decision, first announced in Budget 2012, to phase it out from 2013/14.
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Research Briefing
Income tax allowances for married couples
In general married couples are taxed as individuals, though a minority of older couples & civil partners may still claim a 'married couple's allowance'. Since 6 April 2015 individuals have been entitled to transfer part of their personal tax allowance to their spouse or civil partner, if neither they nor their partner are higher rate taxpayers.
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Research Briefing
Self-employment in the construction industry
This note gives some background to the question of employment status and the difficulties it has caused in the construction sector, before discussing initiatives by both the Labour Government in 2009 and the Coalition Government in 2014, and more recent debates as to the possibility of a longer-term solution to this issue.
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Research Briefing
National Insurance Contributions (Termination Awards and Sporting Testimonials) Bill 2017-19
The National Insurance Contributions (Termination Awards and Sporting Testimonials) Bill, Bill 381 of 2017-19, was presented on 25 April 2018.
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Research Briefing
“Common law marriage” and cohabitation
This Commons Library briefing paper provides general information about how the law applies to cohabitants, the number of cohabiting couples, and about the Law Commission’s proposals for reform.
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Research Briefing
Taxation of banking
This note looks at the public debate over the tax treatment of the banking sector in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, before discussing the different approaches taken in successive years by Labour, Coalition and Conservative Governments
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Research Briefing
Direct recovery of tax debts
This note discusses the introduction of a new power, initially announced in the 2014 Budget, to allow HM Revenue & Customs’ to recover debts for both tax and tax credits directly from individuals’ bank and building society accounts.
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Research Briefing
Making Tax Digital
In December 2015 HM Revenue & Customs published Making Tax Digital - its strategy to implement a new system of digital tax accounts to be used by businesses, the self-employed and landlords. Following a consultation exercise, in July 2017 the Government confirmed its plans to roll-out digital tax returns, but with an amended timetable in light of concerns about the potential impact on businesses. This paper discusses the background to this reform.
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Research Briefing
The UK’s EU Withdrawal Agreement
This briefing looks in detail at the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated between the EU and UK and finalised on 14 November 2018. It was endorsed by EU Member State leaders at a special European Council summit on 25 November and the UK Prime Minister promoted it in the UK Parliament and around the country. The Agreement was debated at length in Parliament on several occasions and has been voted on three times. But the House of Commons has not endorsed it. A second extension of Article 50 took exit day to 31 October 2019, but once again the UK is faced with the possibility of leaving the EU without an agreement if this agreement or another one is not ratified by the UK and the EU.
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Research Briefing
Inheritance Tax
This paper gives a brief summary of the structure of inheritance tax before looking at the debates there have been about the tax in recent years.
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Research Briefing
Taxation of termination payments
In the 2017 Budget the Government confirmed that it would introduce legislation to amend the tax treatment of termination payments. Provision to this effect is made by s5 of the Finance (No.2) Act 2017. This note discusses the background to this reform.
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Debate Pack
IR35 Tax Reforms
A Westminster Hall debate on IR35 Tax Reforms was held on Thursday 4 April 2019. The subject for debate was selected by the Backbench Business Committee. The Member leading the debate was Ged Killen MP.
Total results (page 4 of 18)