Stoke Certified Accountants And Locals Questioning Shopping Centre Expansion

I have been posting quite a bit about the Stoke council recently, including their planned budget cuts of  £24m for 2012 and their £20m owed in uncollected council tax. But there seems to be some controversy about unnecessary spending still going on. In this £24m budget cut, stoke council have decided to cut funding for libraries, care homes and a local swimming pool. If they REALLY need the money (as they claim they do, partly blaming the unpaid council tax), then I could maybe understand why they would need to do this, but what I don’t understand is how they have approved a £14m expansion plan for Potteries Shopping Centre?

What will this expansion consist of? I’ll tell you. Current plans include - six restaurants (Nando’s, Wagamama, Giraffe and Café Rouge are amongst those in talks) and a 10 screen cinema.

The general manager of the shopping centre said:  ”Stoke-on-Trent is crying out for investment of this nature and Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s decision will be welcomed by residents and the millions of people who shop in Hanley every year.”

However, after reading some responses from the locals online, and the responses of Stoke certified accountants, it looks like there is a mixed opinion about this expansion.

HMV Issues Third Profits Warning This Year

Music and DVD retailer HMV has issued yet another profits warning the same day it received a loan extension from banks.

Announcements last month pegged the troubled firm at having pre-tax profits of around £38 million, this has now been reduced to £30mllion.

The group has said that trading conditions are remaining ‘difficult’ however revealed that lenders were staying supportive and offering full banking facilities.

Shares in the company who also own book retailer Waterstones fell by almost 10% to 13.75p as a result of the announcement, making the total drop up to around 80% in the last 12 months.

Newcastle accountants KPMG UK were appointed to monitor progress in early January as part of preventative methods but the company admitted last month they they expected to fail loan tests set by lenders.

The North East accountants managed to extend loan repayment deadlines for the company in early February and April

It has already been confirmed that 60 stores will close later this year as a result of the loss of sales to online retailers such as Amazon and Play.

Earlier this month talks were taking place to try and offload the Waterstones side of the business back to previous owner Tim Waterstone who with Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut was reportedly interested in buying back the stricken bookstore, which reportedly made no profit last financial year (09/10).

Chief Executive Simon Fox also revealed that the firm had looked into shared stores after the success of the North East branch, he said:

“It would be a tragedy if we didn’t have a High Street book retailer and we are the last one to succeed.”

Osborne’s tax reforms are unimpressive

Missed opportunities to reform the UK corporate burdensome tax regimes and especially the Coalition’s attempts to overhaul tax relief for intellectual property and simplify complex multinational taxation shows that Osborne has made little effort and missed a key opportunity to push reform beyond previous the previous Labour administrations’ feeble proposals, say Accountancy experts.

The British Chancellor, Mr George Osborne, claims his proposed tax reforms are the most significant for a generation. The Accounting industry appears unimpressed. Does Osborne really think he can bamboozle Industry Accounting Professionals, or is he merely following the spin directors in his PR adviser team?  Setting corporation tax part-exemption for foreign groups’ finance companies and fixing a 10% rate for profits made on new intellectual property goes nowhere nearly far enough. Deloitte tax policy head, Bill Dodwell, quoted in Financial Times and Accountancy age, allegedly commented on Osborne’s proposals that they had failed to move on ideas proposed by the previous Labour government. "There is no more ambition than we had seen under the previous government," said Dodwell. This is very disappointing indeed. Ernst & Young’s Chris Sanger on the other hand suggests that UK Corporations will at least be relieved that it was not worse. Unfortunately the new intellectual property tax regime will only affect positively IP patents, and does not cover brands or royalties.

PubCon Las Vegas – Nov 10

3 days of Group Think dealing with the latest issues in internet search and online marketing, and attracts internet marketing consultants and SEO experts from across the globe..

Current focus of brainstorm:

Impact of changes:

• Social Media
• Google’s May Day and October 27th updates (Local & Universal Search)
• New technology platforms (iPhone etc)

Some of the buzz on the PubCon grapevine suggests some disquiet in the lack of detail at the sessions. The risk is that the sessions are just glorified ‘sales presentations’.

 

Ironically Tim Ash from SiteTuners in his Conversion Ninja Toolbox afternoon session Wed 10 Nov 10 in Las Vegas which he admitted as (unashamed) self-promotion produced the most technical ‘how to’ details.

From a networking aspect PubCon is important, and for a forum of discussing the latest Internet Marketing issues it works.

New Tax Demand Threat Upset For Ryder Cup Golfers

Latest news for hard hitting professional sportmen, and in this case on world leading golfers playing in one of the biggest golfing tournaments -The Ryder Cup.  As recent UK accounting news article on Accountant Now detailed, UK’s HMRC plans to demand tax payments from professional golfers participating in the Ryder Cup on all invisible earnings and revenue earned from golf sponsorship deals.

It may come as a surpise to most UK taxpayers that golfers were previously not required to pay tax on sponsorship revenue. Under what tax scheme would any good UK accountant advise his client. Legal tax mitigation expertise in greatly under utilised.

The HMRC is gaining a reputation for its crusade against tax dodging and unlawful tax avoidance.

Offshore Account Holders To Receive Letter From The Taxman

 

 

Following on from a recent post regarding the poor uptake on the governments amnesty on offshore accounts the government has now decided to take action against those who may have avoided full taxation.

As part of the 2007 Offshore Disclosure Facility, HMRC contacted five of the major UK banks and asked them for the details of their offshore account holders.

The 600 that came forward as part of the amnesty have been contacted by HMRC to “help” the taxman and explain how they managed their accounts.

HMRC has stressed though that at no point were specific details of their accounts disclosed such as account numbers or balances adding:

"Any information given to us during this call will be treated in confidence and will not be used for the purpose of reviewing your own personal affairs," the taxman added.

Criticism has also be levied at the banks themselves who have been accused of not telling offshore customers about the amnesty, experts believe more than half of the banks asked to provide have neglected to tell their customers.

Starbucks Involved In ‘Discussions’ With HMRC Over Tax Bill

 

The multi-national coffee giant Starbucks have revealed they are embroiled in a dispute with HMRC over transfer pricing tax.

The tax is based on payments made between subsidiaries of multinational companies and has been an issue for some time, as the Taxman believes that companies are under-pricing transactions meaning they pay less tax. For example if Starbucks sold something to one of their subsidiaries such as Ethos Water they may value the transaction as less.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have said that they want to mount an investigation to make sure that these deals have been carried out correctly and at the correct pricings, Starbucks have responded saying:

"We are in discussions with HM Revenue & Customs regarding Starbucks’ transfer pricing policy, which we believe to be reasonable."

The announcement comes just a year after the boss of the Seattle coffee firm attacked the British economy saying it was in a “spiral”and had “very,very poor” consumer confidence. This prompted a foul mouthed response from Peter Mandelson the UK business secretary at the time.

According to accounts for the year ending September 27, 2009 the company received a tax credit for £115,000. The company also recorded of loss of around £52 million, which was still £26 million less than the year before.

HMRC Take £200,000 Hit For Portsmouth FC

 

 

A final ruling by the high courts will allow Portsmouth to start the football season under the proposed CVA.

HMRC had wanted the CVA blocked as they believed that it favoured football creditors over any others.

Revenue & Customs believe they are owed £37m in total by Portsmouth but have said despite being “disappointed” with the ruling they will not be appealing, despite immediate reports to the contrary.

HMRC’s lawyer Gregory Mitchell QC described the CVA agreement as:"one class scoops the pool and the rest are left out in the cold."

Lawyers for Portsmouth on the other hand had stated that the club would go under if it lost the case asking for it to be resolved sooner rather than later as the team are beginning life in the Championship after relegation from the Premier League last year.

Owners are said to be standing but to purchase the club, who up until last week did not have enough players to name a full squad and not that this case has been resolved it is expected the takeover can take place.

Portsmouth were the first Premier League club in English football history to go into administration and as a result were docked nine points. The club are estimated to owe out £130m although many creditors dispute that figure saying it is much more.

HMRC Offshore Amnesties Are Lacking Bite

Experts investigating the amnesties being offered by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have said the reason for the low uptake on them is due to the disappointing and unconstructive approach taken to them by the HMRC.

Advisors believe that account holders were calling the taxman’s bluff in asking them to come forward voluntarily.

HMRC is hoping to smoke out people who have undeclared taxable sums by offering amnesties to them, but figures have show that less than 2,000 have come forward, revealing only £9 million in undeclared income.

Despite criticism from investigators HMRC have said they stand strong on the line they are currently towing and take action against people who choose not to give themselves up during them amnesty.

A spokesperson for HMRC said:

“We’re only 50 yards into a marathon. Those who don’t come forward will face naming and shaming and in the most extreme cases will be prosecuted.We always win in the end.”

Avoiding or Evading tax is a serious business, especially given the current age of austerity. The government will be taking a hard line on people doing this in a bid to reclaim much needed tax money.

Sometimes even accidental mistakes on your books could be adjudged as being avoidance, if you’re unsure about what you need to pay tax on and what you don’t the AccountantNow should be able to help you. By searching experts for the services you require, they will find you the help you need. Saving you time and money.

Treasury Workers Told To Squeeze Together

It has been reported that treasury staff are to be given smaller desks in a bid to fit more workers into the famous Whitehall building.

The FT has written in today’s paper that 1,700 people currently work in 1 Horse Guards but Chancellor George Osborne believes that hundreds more could be accommodated if better use of the space in made.

The Horse Guards building was only just remodelled and fitted out as a more open plan when the Treasury began to share the building with HM Revenue & Excise. Which is sure to cause some backlash considering the Coalition governments tough stance on finance.

The report comes after the Treasury Select Committee voiced their concerns about low moral within the HMRC, describing the situation as “dire” and “deeply troubling”.

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