Hunting for Red October

by | Oct 28, 2026

Today’s Budget was preceded by fewer leaks than most in recent years. That is a positive. However the Budget itself seemed rather thin to me. There is some rebalancing in favour of lower-income households, new young workers, families, carers, and small businesses, but...

Returns to Sender

by | Mar 30, 2026

HMRC first announced plans for Making Tax Digital, a huge overhaul of the tax compliance system, in 2015. I was invited to an early consultation with HMRC where I and other tax professionals discussed HMRC’s idea to require all self-employed taxpayers to send...

An ill-assorted smorgasbord

by | Nov 26, 2025

This Budget, with fevered speculation, leaks, rumours, and pre-announcements, has had a bigger build up than a blockbuster film. In what was never going to be an easy Budget given the state of the UK economy, many tax commentators favoured a rise in income tax. A...

In The Sights

by | Mar 26, 2025

Very little about tax in today’s Spring Statement. Much of the Statement focused on targets already set being met amid global uncertainties, including maintaining ‘fiscal headroom’. The main tax news for self-employed taxpayers is administrative. The...

Big spender – balancing the books

by | Oct 30, 2024

Few people will have envied the new Chancellor’s task in setting today’s Budget. The stated aim was to support ‘working people’. To an extent, the plans outlined do that. Promises not to raise the rates of income tax, self-employed or employee...