Ken Henry, Australia’s Treasury Secretary today unveiled the first in a series of long awaited consultation papers which are aimed at simplifying the country’s overcomplicated tax system in a bid to attract greater investment into the country. Currently Australians are subject to 125 different taxes, but the vast majority of government revenue (about 90%) is [...]
From 1 October 2008, there is a new right for individuals, partnerships or companies to object to the registration of a new company with the same or similar name as they use for their own business. This new right has been established under the 2006 Companies Act which itself is being introduced in stages over [...]
The Law Society has just published a report entitled Reforming Bribery setting out proposals which it intends should clarify and simplify the existing laws. Anyone in business should be aware that there already are established offences of bribery and corruption on the United Kingdom statutes. International pressure is increasingly being applied to stamp out activities [...]
Well what other conclusion can you come to when a senior opposition MP is arrested, held for nine hours, and has his home and offices searched by anti-terrorism Police simply for doing his job? What was his crime? Embarrassing the Labour Government! Strictly speaking Mr Green was arrested on suspicion of “conspiring to commit misconduct [...]
Amid much hype and to no-one’s surprise, yesterday Alistair Darling cut the standard rate of VAT to 15% with effect from the 1 December 2008. The cut is temporary and so on 1st January 2010 the standard rate will return to 17.5%. The 15% rate will apply to the supply of goods and services currently [...]
David Cameron has called for Gordon Brown to cut the red tape surrounding government contracts to allow smaller, newer firms to win business. The Conservative leader says less than one in five contracts from the government goes to small firms and this should be changed as it is responsible for buying goods and services [...]
I enjoy watching Question Time on the BBC each Thursday. It can be amusing and entertaining usually because of the crass stupidity of some of the panellists. I don’t object to politicians and celebrities displaying their ignorance and political bias as at least it helps us make an informed opinion about them, but sometimes they [...]
As of today’s date 24 MPs have signed an Early Day Motion which on the face of it is supportive of small businesses but in actual fact is totally pointless. In fact it could be evidence, if such is needed, that MPs really have no idea of the realities of business life. The motion reads: [...]
HMRC have published the long delayed survey which they commissioned on Save As You Earn (SAYE) and Share Incentive Plans (SIP), which considers whether the schemes have met their policy objectives. The survey on SIPs was due in 2005. While the report provides some useful statistics, it is disappointing that HMRC have failed to address [...]
For years now the European Union severely limited the ability of national governments to reduce VAT rates – which fact seemed to have escaped Tony Blair who promised cuts during the 1997 General Election though he “found out” later. Good excuse not to keep your manifesto promises eh? However following a meeting earlier this month [...]
Google recently reached an agreement with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) under which the firm will pay $125 million to resolve outstanding legal actions against it in relation to its Google Book search service, which offers full-text searching facilities to users. The agreement, reached after two years of negotiations, is subject [...]
New Powers Come Into Force Next April As part of a drive to track down tax evaders, up to one million landlords could be subject to investigation from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) who aim to identify those landlords who are not paying the correct amount of tax. HMRC say that in their experience many [...]
As small businesses struggle to obtain funds to continue in business the UK Government continue to announce initiatives which are more spin than substance. The motive for the Treasury making available £400bn of taxpayer support last month was to prevent the collapse of the banking system. Quite right too, but anyone who thinks it was [...]
In the present financial crisis there will be very few businesses who will not be finding things difficult. The most important area that business owners and managers should be concentrating on is cash flow and the following are a few elements to look at where managing cash flow is concerned: Credit Control – no sales [...]
Internet fraudsters are exploiting the banking meltdown by attempting to trick users into handing over details of their bank accounts. These crooks – called Phishers – set up false websites which look like the websites of real banks and send out emails trying to get people to log on to these sites and by so [...]
What can you think when you realise that the chairman of the International Business Advisory Council – charged with safeguarding London’s pre-eminence as a business centre – is about to move his own HQ to Ireland? Such is the position of Sir Martin Sorrell, head of advertising conglomerate WPP, who announced last week that he [...]
Robert Peston, the BBC’s business editor, is coming under fire for his many “scoops” which according to critics helped fuel the flames of the banking crisis and led to the collapse of Northern Rock, Bradford & Bingley and HBOS. Before joining the BBC in 2006 Peston was a successful journailist working for the Financial Times, [...]
In the early hours of what was a sunny Sunday morning (how unlike today) I drove from Shropshire to London to appear on a London Weekend Television programme debating the forthcoming referendum on giving Scotland and Wales devolved governments. It was the morning after the funeral of Princess Diana and all along the route into [...]
Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for nearly fifty years, and has been the subject of numerous controversies and lawsuits, often involving parody of the doll and her lifestyle. In recent years, Barbie has faced increasing competition from the Bratz range of dolls. The doll was the brain child [...]
In these days of instant mobile communication it may surprise readers to know that fifty years ago you couldn’t even make a telephone call without the help of an operator. For a number of years after the telephone service was first introduced if you wanted to make a call, even a local one, you lifted [...]
