Taxman grants reprieve for 5.7m Brits by waiving late tax return fine January 6, 2022 The taxman today granted a reprieve for self-employed Brits by waiving penalties for late filed tax returns. Anyone who fails to file their self-assessment tax return by January 31 will not be slapped with a fine by HMRC. However, Brits filing their tax returns after February 28, the new deadline, will be hit with a [...]
Mazars hit with £250,000 fine over audit failure January 6, 2022 One of Britain’s largest accountancy firms has been slapped with a £250,000 fine over auditing failures of a local authority’s 2019 financial statements. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the accounting regulator, said that Mazars’ audit of an unnamed local authority “fell far short of the applicable standards and regulations” and had the “potential to undermine [...]
Dropping earnings threshold and extending pensions auto-enrolment to younger and part-time workers could boost Brits’ savings by £2.7 trillion January 5, 2022 Abolishing the earnings treshold and extending pension auto-enrolment to working 18-year-olds and for part-time workers could add around £2.77 trillion to British pension savings, a think tank has said. The current auto-enrolment rules mean bosses must provide a workplace pension for staff aged 22 and over earning £10,000. But Onward, which describes itself as a [...]
Brits have to pay for entry to the EU from this year: Cash and pre-authorisation needed for post-Brexit trips to Europe January 5, 2022 Brits will have to start paying €7 per person and pre-register their details in order to enter the European Union from this year. Reports had surfaced in various European media in recent weeks that access to all Schengen EU countries would come at a cost from 2022, and when approached by City A.M. this morning, [...]
New year, new record: S&P 500 hitting new high on first day of 2022 is sign investors remain bullish about stocks January 4, 2022 The new year start off with a bang for global markets as Wall Street recorded record highs for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Dow finished 0.7% higher. Both indexes eclipsed the record highs they set last Wednesday. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.2%. Technology stocks [...]
Warner Music snaps up David Bowie’s songs in $250m deal January 3, 2022 Warner Music has snapped up the rights to David Bowie's entire song catalogue for a reported $250m in the latest music industry mega-deal.
Annual spending on ethical products soars past £100bn for first time December 31, 2021 British shoppers spent more than £100bn on ethical products and investments last year, as the twin crises of the pandemic and climate change prompted significant lifestyle changes. Plant-based food, and products, and secondhand clothes, furniture and even cars saw demand surge in the last year with ethical spending rising to £122bn in 2020 – up [...]
From gold bars to hard cash: HMRC recovers £1bn from fraudsters in five years December 30, 2021 More than £1bn has been recovered from fraudsters since HMRC formed it specialist scam squad five years ago. The figure is enough to fund around 20,000 NHS nurses for a year, HMRC revealed today. It comes after a string of investigations have led to over 1,200 seizures of cash and assets – sometimes hidden in [...]
Staggering 60 per cent of UK employees plan to find new job in 2022 with salary not the most important driver December 29, 2021 The so-called Great Resignation is set to continue into 2022, with a staggering 60 per cent of employees planning to leave their jobs in the next 12 months, according to a new survey shared with City A.M. This is largely a result of over 80 per cent of UK employees feeling less connected to their [...]
Poverty looms for millions of UK families as energy bills climb by £1200, inflation rises and taxes jump 1.25 per cent in 2022 December 29, 2021 Soaring energy bills, inflation and rising taxes are likely to lead to a ‘cost of living catastrophe’ for millions of UK families, an economic think tank warned this morning. The Resolution Foundation (RF) said from next April families would typically face a £1,200-a-year hit to their incomes as the energy price cap is raised and [...]