Lawyer Monthly Magazine - February 2019 Edition

11 Monthly Round-Up FEB 2019 www. lawyer-monthly .com Just 55% of law firms in the UK say they will be ready for Making Tax Digital which comes into force from 1st April, accord- ing to Advanced’s latest Trends Survey Report1. Worryingly, 43%, admit they don’t know. The regulation, which ap- plies to all VAT-registered businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT threshold, is a key part of the government’s ambi- tion to become one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world. It will make it easier for individuals and busi- nesses to get their tax right first time, helping them minimise costly errors. According to HMRC’s lat- est tax gap figures, many of its customers struggle to get their tax right – with avoidable mistakes cost- ing the Exchequer over £9 billion a year. The im- proved accuracy that digital records provide will help reduce the amount of tax lost to these errors, but the question is: why are some organisations slow to embrace Making Tax Digital? Doug Hargrove, Manag- ing Director – Legal – Ad- vanced, comments: “The government is right to implement initiatives that mean organisations need to become more digital, but our research suggests that not enough support is being given to help them prepare. However, this responsibility doesn’t fall to the government alone. Suppliers approved by HMRC to support Making Tax Digital need to offer ongoing support too, as well as provide software that is accessible and user-friendly – otherwise businesses will continue to hold back or make errors.” To help firms get ready for Making Tax Digital, and understand more about the mandatory regulation, Advanced is running a free webinar on 13th Feb- ruary at 9am GMT. Wherever they are in their journey to Making Tax Dig- ital, representatives from VAT-registered organisa- tions are invited to listen and speak to Advanced experts on how they can ensure their submissions are digital come 1st April. Doug concludes: “The beauty of our solution is that it complies with HM- RC’s systems to keep and maintain digital records according to the Making Tax Digital regulations. It looks the part, and it plays the part. Users can digi- tally send VAT returns con- taining data held within the software, provide VAT data to HMRC, and ac- cess information sent by HMRC in one place.” (Source: Advanced)  The European Commis- sion said that schemes that sell citizenship and residency to the super rich, known as ‘golden visas’, threaten the EU’s collective security and integrity. The Commission’s report states that the citizenship schemes are “deliber- ately marketed and of- ten explicitly advertised as a means of acquiring EU citizenship” with Bul- garia, Cyprus and Malta disregarding European Union law by selling pass- ports without requiring applicants to live in their country. A day ahead of the re- port’s release, the Bul- garian government an- nounced they would suspend their citizenship scheme. Anti-corruption watch- dogs Transparency Inter- national and Global Wit- ness warn that the report from the Commission falls short of the urgent action needed to clean up the shady industry. “The tide is turning on the golden visa industry with the EU recognising the unacceptable secu- rity and corruption risks it creates. However, the Commission’s report tells us nothing about what Member States actually need to do - now they’ve sounded the alarm, they need to offer solutions,” European Commission sees corruption risks but needs to get tougher on golden visas Only 55% UK legal firms will be prepared for Making Tax Digital regulation IMMIGRATION DIGITAL TAX said Naomi Hirst, Senior Anti-Corruption Cam- paigner at Global Wit- ness. “It’s now time for Member States to take responsibility for their golden visa schemes and, following Bulgaria’s lead, suspend them un- til it is clear they are no longer threatening the security of the EU.” The report states that the Commission will con- vene a “group of ex- perts” from all Member States to tackle risks in citizenship schemes and prepare a set of secu- rity checks by the end of 2019. But Global Witness and Transparency Inter- national say these meas- ures are not adequate for what is needed. The two organisations are calling for stricter due dili- gence measures and an EU-wide enforcement of these standards. “This report firmly puts the spotlight on dubi- ous schemes in Member States, which is a good first step.” said Laure Bril- laud of Transparency International. “However, we see little incentive for countries like Malta to scrap these lucrative schemes without strong action from international institutions such as the EU.” The Commission is not the only European body that has expressed concern with golden visas. In a draft report published in September, the Europe- an Parliament’s Special Committee on Financial Crimes and Tax Evasion (TAX3) called for the schemes to be phased out. (Source: Global Witness)