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The Scottish Rates of Income Tax (Consequential Amendments) Order 2021, SI 2021/190, amends section 7(5A)(c) of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2005, to ensure that Scottish taxpayers who receive a social security pension lump sum are taxed at the highest Scottish rate that would be applicable for a tax year if income tax were charged at Scottish rates on their income including savings and dividend income.

The regulations amend regulations 2 and 3 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Coronavirus, Calculation of a Week’s Pay) Regulations, SI 2020/814 following the extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to 30 April 2021.

HMRC has announced that the new protocol amending the 2015 Sweden/UK Double Taxation Convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and on capital gains, was signed on 23 February 2021.

The CIOT has shared an update from HMRC on VAT registration delays.

HMRC has published revised advisory fuel rates for company cars which apply from 1 March 2021.

HMRC has announced that the online portal for the VAT deferral new payment scheme is now open for businesses which deferred VAT payments last year.

The Prime Minister’s Office has updated its document collection for the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), and associated agreements reached between the EU and UK at the end of the Brexit transition period. The newly added documents include an exchange of correspondence confirming the UK’s agreement to the EU’s proposed two-month extension to the provisional application of the TCA, pending ratification in the European Parliament. As interim co-chair of the Partnership Council under the TCA, Michael Gove signalled the UK’s agreement to the draft decision proposed by the European Commission, extending provisional application from 28 February to 30 April 2021. However, his response also noted the government’s expectation that there would be no further extensions beyond 30 April 2021, particularly in light of the ‘uncertainty’ that continued provisional application would create. Gove also noted the government’s view that, aside from adopting the decision to extend provisional application via written procedure, the Partnership Council and other institutional arrangements established under the TCA should not commence formally until the agreement is fully in force. Gove will be replaced as co-chair of the TCA Partnership Council and Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee in March 2021. Until then, work continues in the Joint Committee to resolve pressing issues outstanding in the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement.

The OECD and the inclusive framework on BEPS have approved a new process for the BEPS Action 5 peer review of the transparency framework for the years 2021 to 2025 in order to maintain and improve transparency on tax rulings.

HMRC has published new guidance for businesses to find withdrawn VAT Notices to check the rules for transactions that took place on or before 31 December 2020.

In the ever-fast-moving world of tax announcements and developments, this news pulls together some of the key changes announced this week. Our commentary will be updated in due course to reflect these latest developments.

22 February 2021 - This roundup sets out the most important changes to HMRC manuals over the past week as curated by our editors.

HMRC has published the latest version of its employer guides for benefits in kind (CWG5) and PAYE and National Insurance contributions (CWG2) to be used from 6 April 2021.

HMRC has updated its Double Taxation Treaty guidance to include the ‘synthesised’ text of the UK’s 2007 DTT with Saudi-Arabia, as modified by the BEPS multilateral instrument (MLI).

HMRC has announced that self-assessment taxpayers will not be charged a 5% late payment penalty if they pay their tax or set up a payment plan by 1 April 2021.

Croatia and Malaysia have deposited their instruments of ratification with the OECD for the BEPS Multilateral Convention.

To allow for more transparency, tax-related documents, consultations and calls for evidence, which would traditionally be published at the Budget on 3 March 2021 will be published a few weeks later on 23 March 2021.

The National Audit Office has published an interactive guide setting out good practice principles for annual reporting.

The OECD Forum on Tax Administration (FTA) released a new report for the International Compliance Assurance Programme (ICAP), which, for the first time, is being run as a full programme open to all FTA member tax administrations.

In the Treasury minutes published on 18 February 2021, the government has responded, among other things, to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report from session 2019–2021 on Covid-19: Bounce Back Loan Scheme and Covid-19: Support for jobs.

HMRC has updated VAT Notice 706 to reflect the temporary email address for sending partial exemption special method (PESM) request forms to HMRC.