HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) believes that US-based multinational businesses may have underpaid £4.6 billion of UK tax last year, up 35% from £3.4bn in 2017, according to figures obtained by Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.
BBC presenter wins personal service company case
ITV’s ‘Loose Women’ presenter Kaye Adams has won a tax tribunal case in which HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) claimed that her personal services company (PSC) should have applied IR35 rules to payments made by the BBC for presenting a BBC Scotland radio programme.
CJEU asked whether ‘innocent agent’ lorry driver can be liable for unpaid excise duty
The Court of Appeal has decided to ask the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) whether a lorry driver who is found to be carrying goods in respect of which excise duty has not been paid is liable to pay the duty under EU law, even if he did not know that the goods were being smuggled.
No job, huge debts: stressed out Indonesia’s election ‘losers’ face bleak future
Political hopeful Yayat Abdurahman bet that he would be a winner among some 245,000 candidates in Indonesia’s election last week, but his dreams of public office are fading fast as the votes get tallied.So the stressed-out candidate checked into an Islamic healing centre where a cleric prayed for his future and doused him in flower-infused water as part of traditional cleansing ritual.“At the beginning I was optimistic and feeling confident,” he said.“I thought ‘I have to win, I have to get the…
The Chearavanonts, Thailand’s richest family, are getting richer helping China
Chia Ek Chor fled his typhoon-ravaged village in southern China and started a new life in Thailand selling vegetable seeds with his brother in 1921. Almost a century later, with the largest family fortune in the country, his descendants are becoming Chinese President Xi Jinping’s key economic allies.Chia’s son Dhanin Chearavanont is senior chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group, a vast conglomerate that is the world’s biggest producer of animal feed, shrimp as well as a top telecom firm in Thailand…
Heng Swee Keat appointed deputy prime minister in Singapore cabinet reshuffle
Singapore’s Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat on Tuesday moved one step closer to becoming the Lion City’s next leader after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong named him as his new deputy.Lee, 67, moved his two current deputies, Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam, to senior minister roles.Heng, 57, will be the sole Deputy Prime Minister and will also continue as Finance Minister. The changes will take effect next Wednesday.Heng’s promotion comes after the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) last…
‘Seasteading’ couple Nadia Summergirl and Chad Elwartowski face arrest warrants after Thailand dismantles sea shack
Thai police will issue arrest warrants for Chad Elwartowski and his partner Nadia Summergirl, who have been accused of violating the country’s sovereignty by building an offshore “sea home” 14 nautical miles off the island of Phuket.On Monday, the Royal Thai Navy deployed three frigates to dismantle the shack as divers from the force’s SEAL team separated the hexagonal fibreglass structure from the underwater base and dragged the cabin back to shore to be used as evidence against the couple…
Australian father and son lifesavers die saving tourist in huge swell near popular Twelve Apostles
A father and son lifesaving team drowned while trying to save a tourist swept out to sea near one of Australia’s most famous sights off the south coast, officials said Monday.Ross Powell, 71, and his son Andrew, 32, died on Sunday after their rescue boat overturned in the surf during the rescue of a 30-year-old man near the Twelve Apostles, a set of 12 limestone stacks off the Victoria state coast.The tourist, whose nationality or name has not been released, had been wading at the mouth of a…
‘Malaysia revived China deals to boost Belt and Road Forum spirits’, country’s foreign minister says
Malaysia had pushed through fresh pacts to revive two stalled China-backed projects worth billions to ensure the two countries went into this week’s Belt and Road Forum in “renewed spirits”, Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said on Sunday.In an interview with the Post, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s top diplomat dismissed talk that the government had only grudgingly given the green light for resumption of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project and the Bandar Malaysia township.Malaysia’s…
Japan PM Shinzo Abe stays away from Yasukuni war shrine, offers tree instead
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering Sunday to Yasukuni Shrine, regarded as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism by its Asian neighbours.The offering for war dead was made on the occasion of a three-day Spring Festival through Tuesday at the Shinto shrine in Tokyo.But Abe, who has a strong conservative support base, will leave for an overseas trip on Monday and he has no plans to visit the shrine during the festival amid improving Japan-China ties that have been frayed over…