News: January 2015

Pension wise will offer free and impartial guidance

UK Economic Secretary to the Treasury Andrea Leadsom has unveiled the name and logo of the new pensions guidance service. Pension wise will be a first port of call for consumers, offering free and impartial information and guidance to people with a defined contribution pension approaching retirement. From April 2015, over 300,000 individuals a year with defined contribution pension savings will...

IRS Launches International Data Exchange Service

USA WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service announces the opening of the International Data Exchange Service (IDES) for enrollment. Financial institutions and host country tax authorities will use IDES to securely send their information reports on financial accounts held by U.S. persons to the IRS under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) or pursuant to the terms of an...

Ten terrible excuses for missing the 31 January tax return deadline

UK Many of the excuses claim it was someone else’s fault – pets, girlfriends, work colleagues and even the President of the United States are named and blamed for taxpayers’ tardiness. The excuses were all used in unsuccessful appeals against HMRC penalties for late filing and payment. Here’s the full list: My pet dog ate my tax return…and all the reminders. I was up a mountain in Wales, and...