Law Society accuses the government of “selling justice”

The Law Society has issued a pre-action protocol letter for judicial review to challenge the government’s decision to increase some court fees by over 600 per cent.

Along with The Bar Council, Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx), Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL), Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS), Chancery Bar Association, Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) and the Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR), the Law Society accuses the government of “selling justice” and “pricing the public out of the courts” and “leaving small businesses saddled with debts they are due but unable to afford to recover.”

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HMRC puts forward new measures to tackle persistent tax avoiders

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has recently published the consultation paper, Strengthening Sanctions for Tax Avoidance, setting out proposals to tackle the serial use of tax avoidance schemes.

Tax avoiders can already face penalties, but this consultation proposes additional financial costs such as a surcharge and additional reporting requirements on users of multiple schemes that fail.

Serial avoiders use multiple tax avoidance schemes at the same time Ð whether using the same avoidance scheme in more than one year, or using different avoidance schemes Ð to avoid significant amounts of tax.

The consultation also considers whether, and how, to introduce additional penalties for cases where the General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR) applies. The GAAR counters the most abusive avoidance.

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David gets a new sling: UK support the small guy in David v Goliath issues

They used to say “you can’t fight City Hall.” Add any number of large UK firms who are using their size and strength in “grossly unfair” contract terms with smaller supplier firms.

But the Government is now proposing to stand up for SMEs!

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