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The Taxman at your front door

Landlords, online traders and other people who work from home could find the taxman turning up on their doorstep unannounced demanding their records, as the government seeks a big increase in HMRC's powers. The radical move, planned for April 2009, will allow tax inspectors to pounce on businesses with no warning to inspect 'records, assets and premises'

Ever since the Inland Revenue merged with Customs & Excise in 2005 it has been jealously eyeing the powers given to Customs officials investigating drug and gun crime, say tax experts. 

The new powers will extend these powers even further enabling it to pursue ordinary taxpayers with renewed vigour.

Read the full story at Times Online

Sisters lose European tax battle

Two British sisters have lost their final battle to avoid paying inheritance tax when one of them dies.

Joyce and Sybil Burden, aged 90 and 82 respectively, have lived together in Wiltshire all their lives. They appealed to the European Court to gain the same tax rights as married couples and civil partners, which do not apply to cohabiting siblings.

In a 15-2 vote, Human Rights judges in Strasbourg ruled they did not face unfair discrimination.

The sisters, whose campaign has been part-funded from public donations, vowed to continue lobbying Parliament despite their "bitter disappointment".

In 2006, the Burdens lost the case by a 4-3 majority, although three members of the court described their inheritance tax plight as "awful" and "particularly striking".

Business SA investigations

According to calculations made by leading tax and accounting information group CCH, HMRC raised £415.3 million through investigations into business self-assessment forms during the past year - a 35% increase. The overall amount of additional tax raised by HMRC from all personal and business tax enquiries has risen dramatically by 62% from £5.6 billion to £9.1 billion.

In the past HMRC have been known to take a general broad brush approach to investigations, but over the past 12 months improvements to their risk profiling system has enabled them to target tax avoidance and evasion more effectively.

Tax rates and allowances

Click to view the Tax Rates Information Centre.