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a bill from HMRC sent to Andrea for almost £9,594.79. Andrea never owed HMRC any tax.

600,000 HMRC penalties issued to low-income earners who owe no tax

In the past five years, 600,000 people who owe no tax have been charged HMRC late-filing penalties. The penalties start

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6 July 2025

Who’s behind the fake banks on Companies House?

One man has set up a series of fake banks on Companies House – with real bank names, no checks,

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4 July 2025

Offshore Advisory Group: Russian conspiracy theories selling doomed tax planning

The “Offshore Advisory Group” publishes political commentary including conspiracy theories originating in Russian propaganda outlets. It uses the attention this

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29 June 2025
chart comparing tax at different wage levels in different countries

Are UK workers over-taxed? The answer in three infographics

There’s a tax paradox in the UK. Overall, we’re paying more tax as a percentage of GDP than at any

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27 June 2025

The £34bn cost of Reform UK’s “Britannia card” proposal

Reform UK is proposing a “Britannia card” that would let wealthy foreigners pay a £250k fee to move to the

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23 June 2025

The small business tax crisis: 40% of tax due isn’t paid

The “tax gap” is the difference between the tax HMRC should collect and the tax it actually collects. Over the

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19 June 2025
telegraph headline

The Angela Rayner tax proposals – how much sense do they make?

Angela Rayner’s leaked tax memo to Rachel Reeves outlines a raft of new revenue raisers. In this post, I look

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23 May 2025
Companies House headquarters

UK companies with no UK director are 17× more likely to show signs of fraud

A new analysis by Tax Policy Associates shows that 900,000 UK companies have no UK directors – all their directors

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17 May 2025

Political parties failing to pay tax on rent – including rent funded by MPs’ expenses

Political parties’ local branches are failing to pay tax on their commercial income – even when that income is funded

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11 May 2025
a chart showing headline tax rates dropping from 98% to 45% but the share of income tax paid by the top 1% rising

Why the rich paid less tax in the 1970s – despite 98% tax rates

It’s sometimes said that we should go back to the tax system of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, with very

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8 May 2025

The private school VAT challenge: weak arguments, but radical consequences

Last month, parents backed by the Independent Schools Council made a legal challenge against the Government’s decision to charge VAT

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2 May 2025

Same cowboys, new name: ZLX is now TaxTek R&D

ZLX is the R&D tax firm notorious for suing a client who wasn’t willing to put in a comical R&D

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10 April 2025

Untaxing: the £10bn fridge – the full story

The Friday 4 April episode of Untaxing was the peculiar story of a tax firm, ZLX, that promised a client

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6 April 2025
map of the world showing that all developed countries except the US have a VAT

No, VAT isn’t a tariff – here’s what Trump (and others) get wrong

Today’s episode of Untaxing is about Jaffa cakes and VAT. With the benefit of hindsight, that’s a very small VAT

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2 April 2025
the laffer curve

Untaxing – The Laffer curve, and the napkin that changed the world

Art Laffer drew a curve on a napkin in 1974 that he said proved that tax cuts would pay for

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31 March 2025

Radical anti-avoidance measures hidden in the Spring Statement

It wasn’t mentioned in the Chancellor’s speech, but the Spring Statement papers contain a major suite of anti-tax avoidance proposals,

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26 March 2025

Untaxing on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

I’m presenting and co-writing a new short Radio 4 series, Untaxing. It’s about how tax affects our lives: from the

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24 March 2025

How do promoters get rich from selling hopeless tax avoidance schemes?

OneE made £10 million selling doomed R&D tax schemes – leaving investors with nothing and taxpayers footing the bill. Here’s

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24 March 2025

Our webapp shows 50,000 UK companies hide their true ownership

UK company law requires every UK company to disclose the individuals who control it – their “person with significant control”

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19 March 2025

TikTok tax avoidance from Arka Wealth: why the Government and the Bar should act

A firm called Arka Wealth have widely promoted a tax scheme which they claim avoids all corporate tax, income tax,

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26 February 2025

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