To go straight to the articles in the latest edition please scroll down and expand the section/s below that are of interest to you. For a preview of these articles, read the introduction to the latest edition from Sharon Baynham here:

The last few weeks have seen the main political parties holding their annual party conferences. Our spotlight article this week highlights what we learned on tax from conference season, and what hints there were on future direction of travel of tax policy from all the main parties.

Away from the warm champagne, drafty function rooms and choreographed positivity of the parties’ most faithful, tax continues to dominate the headlines. Pressure is ratchetting up on some key flagship election policies with reports circulating that the proposed non-dom reforms might not raise any money after all. Recent reports also indicate that the Government is backing away from some major pension tax policy reform options, particularly introducing a flat level of tax relief for contributions. All of this puts more pressure on where the money to fill the £22 billion ‘black hole’ will come from. 

But don’t worry because it isn’t all doom and gloom. We published our Autumn Budget predictions two weeks ago and highlighted some announcements that could bring positive change to the UK’s tax system, particularly for businesses. And the good news is that so far, our predictions have withstood the test of time. That may not seem like much to you, but a week is a long time in politics, even in ‘normal times’ and it doesn’t feel like we are in normal times at the moment. 

And don’t forget that you can join us live on Budget day for our initial reactions to the announcements, and you can also register for our Webinar on Friday 1 November at 12pm where we will explore the Budget tax measures in more depth.

And lest we forget, Labour is to hold its International Investment Summit on 14 October. Economic growth has been a top priority for Labour right through the election campaign and increased investment is a key pillar in that ambition. The summit has been trailed as an event to catalyse investment and an opportunity to show that the UK is ‘open for business’. Tax leaders will be listening out for how tax can or will play a part in leveraging investment opportunities and we will report back in our next edition on any interesting tax nuggets from the event. 

In the meantime, our tax experts are keeping our feet firmly on the ground in this edition with a roundup of tax developments with a particularly international flavour.

Firstly, we have an article on Amount B , where the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS has published a Model Competent Authority Agreement setting out the OECD’s recommended simplified approach to transfer pricing for ‘baseline’ marketing and distribution activities. Our article provides more information on this development and the implications of this on managing transfer pricing controversy. Secondly, we bring you Tim Sarson’s regular International Tax Review which includes the EU’s recent Irish State Aid ruling as well as looking at US tax policy as we approach the US election, and an update on Pillar Two implementations. 

And talking of the US election, that leads me niftily to highlight a podcast published by KPMG’s member firm in the US. With the capacity to significantly affect global tax and trade, businesses are keeping a careful eye on developments across the pond. KPMG US’s podcast “Catching Up on Capitol Hill” will keep you up to date with recent episodes covering the key planks of the Tax Plans of the presidential candidates. The podcast is available on all major platforms. 

Our Other News article is every statistician’s dream with a plethora of reports on tax receipts landing on 26 September. We also cover regulations, hot off the press, to introduce an Independent Film Tax Credit aimed at low-budget British films and a new HMRC Creative Industries Expenditure Credit Manual published in stages over the last few months. On a more practical level, we cover Directions published by HMRC in relation to the electronic submission of certain notifications and forms for R&D claims which replace versions published last year, and details of the format for transmitting information under the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) and amended Common Reporting Standard (CRS) published by the OECD. We also cover a couple of employment tax developments including a new process to claim PAYE employment expenses and what a ‘new right to switch off’ might mean for employers.

We also include a round-up of tax developments from indirect tax cases in our Indirect Tax Weekly Talking Points and from our network of member firms across the globe in our regular ‘Week in Tax’ articles.

I won’t be with you for the next edition of Tax Matters Digest as I am travelling to my own personal investment summit which will involve a meaningful and sustained contribution to the local Greek sun-lounger market. I will be leaving you in the more-than-capable hands of my tax policy colleague, Stef Redmond.