Developments of interest this week are outlined below.

• Guidance on using basic PAYE tools with other software (earlier year update) is available
• HMRC have published a briefing announcing a revision to a HMRC change of practice published on 4 August 2014. This briefing deals with the remittance basis treatment of foreign income and gains used as collateral for a loan brought into/used in the UK
• A number of updated compliance checks factsheets have been published: Tax avoidance schemes – accelerated payments for Corporation Tax and group relief: CC/FS28, Checks into excise matters – CC/FS1d, Visits by agreement or advance notice – CC/FS3, The Human Rights Act and penalties – CC/FS9, Managing serious defaulters – CC/FS14, Self Assessment and old penalty rules – CC/FS15, Excise visits – CC/FS16, Penalties for Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax for offshore matters – CC/FS17, Penalties if you don’t file Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings returns on time CC/FS18a, Penalties if you don’t file Construction Industry Scheme returns on time – CC/FS18b, VAT dishonest conduct penalties – CC/FS20, Alternative dispute resolution – CC/FS21 and Sending HM Revenue and Customs electronic records – CC/FS22
• Statistics on the number of venture capital trust companies raising funds and the amounts raised for tax years ending 1996–2015 is available
• Updated form SA370 should be used to appeal against penalties for late filing and late payment
• The latest Agent Update has also been published
• HMRC have announced that employers reimbursing employees for travel outside the UK for the year commencing October 2015 should continue to use the figures published in October 2014.
• Scottish rates of income tax will apply to income (other than savings and dividend income) of “Scottish taxpayers” from 6 April 2015. The final guidance on determining who is and is not a “Scottish taxpayer” has now been published. This follows a period of consultation on a draft version
• Draft forms relevant to self-assessment have been published as follows:- Trust and estate tax return and notes, Tax return for trustees of registered pension schemes and notes, Tax return for a non-resident company liable to income tax, Partnership tax return and Individual tax return and notes
• HMRC has again updated the list (List 3) of professional bodies and learned societies, approved for the purpose of Section 344 ITEPA 2003 (allowable deductions from earnings for fees and subscriptions paid to professional bodies/learned societies)
• An updated list of upcoming tax tribunal appeal hearings, including details of previous cases has been published
• The latest Pensions Newsletter contains more information about the application process for transitional protections in connection with the reduction in the lifetime allowance to £1m from 6 April 2016
• An updated list of overseas corporate lenders who are recognised passport holders under the Double Taxation Treaty Passport Scheme register is available
• Helpsheet HS240 (limit on income tax reliefs) is available
• The following updated VAT notices are available:- VAT Notice 700/44: barristers and advocates and VAT Notice 700/60: payments on account
• Updated guidance on genuine HMRC contact and recognising phishing emails is available in addition to guidance on the UK tax implications of new UK GAAP
• Guidance on the corporation tax treatment of interest free-loans and other non-market loans as a result of recent changes in accounting standards has been published. This will be included in the Corporate Finance manual
• Directions giving details of how electronic communication is to be used to deliver accounts and other information for inheritance tax purposes have been published
• Some interesting statistics have recently been published:- Employment Allowance take-up: 2015 to 2016 mid-year estimate, Numbers of claimants of entrepreneur’s relief and amounts of gain by year and Enterprise Investment Scheme and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme Statistics: October 2015
• A number of documents, forms and guidance relevant to charities have been published:- Detailed guidance notes, Gift Aid template letter for sales above the £100 limit: method A, Gift Aid template letter for the end of year: method B, Gift Aid template letter for the end of year: method A, Gift Aid template letter for sales above the £1,000 limit: method B, Gift Aid claim template letter: standard method, Charities: detailed guidance notes, Charities: Sponsorship and Gift Aid declaration form, Gift Aid declaration forms for multiple donation, Sponsorship and Gift Aid declaration form and Gift Aid declaration forms for a single donation
• Read ten things about disclosing a tax avoidance scheme and Spotlight 27: interest relief avoidance schemes
• Form IHT 205 (return of estate information has been updated).
• Tables showing the indexation allowance for assets disposed of in September 2015 are now available together with historical data.
• An updated list of community amateur sports clubs registered with HMRC is available
• HMRC have published the summary of responses to the consultation “Legislating Extra Statutory Concession D33” which considers the taxation of capital sums received as compensation or damages. The government will hold further discussions on this issue before deciding the way forward
• The International Tax Compliance (Amendment) Regulations 2015 have been published. These remove Venture Capital Trusts from the list of ‘excluded accounts’ for the Common Reporting Standard in compatibility with the EU Directive.
• The Employee tax advantaged share schemes user manual has now been published. This is part of the gradual migration of the HMRC manuals from the old HMRC website to gov.uk
• Information and forms relevant to compliance checks has been published: General information about checks by compliance centres: CC/FS1b, General information about compliance checks: CC/FS1a, Publishing details of deliberate defaulters – CC/FS13, Penalties for VAT and Excise wrongdoing – CC/FS12, Penalties for failure to notify – CC/FS11, Suspending penalties for careless inaccuracies in returns or documents – CC/FS10, The Human Rights Act and penalties – CC/FS9, Penalties for not telling HMRC about an under-assessment – CC/FS7b, Penalties for inaccuracies in returns or documents – CC/FS7a and Large and complex businesses – CC/FS1c
• HMRC have opened a technical consultation for comment on whether draft legislation maintains the purpose and effect of Extra Statutory Concession (ESC) 3.20 (VAT: Bad Debt Relief and insolvent businesses: revocation of clawback). Comments were due by 16 December 2015. HMRC would also like to gather evidence about the potential impact of withdrawing nine ESCs
• Updated VAT Notice 700/56: insolvency is available
• Use form SPP1 if you’re an employer and need to tell an employee why they aren’t entitled to receive statutory paternity pay (SPP)
• Research has been undertaken with PAYE and self-assessment taxpayers to examine their views and understanding of the annual tax summary. Information is also available on how public spending was calculated in your tax summary