High emotion and anger over the Criminal Bar Association’s (CBA) decision to strike a deal with the Government on legal aid cuts has seen barristers given until next Wednesday 9 April to vote to accept the deal or take further industrial action, as further legal challenges were also brought this week to the controversial Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA). Continue reading “Anger as the Bar prepares to vote on legal aid deal and QASA appeals continue”
LB100 firms review partnership model as HMRC’s LLP changes loom
The impact of HM Revenue & Customs’ decision to overhaul the way salaried partners are taxed is being felt across the City as a number of leading firms confirm they are reviewing their arrangements, although some of the largest Legal Business 100 firms have come out to categorically deny the changes will have any effect at all. Continue reading “LB100 firms review partnership model as HMRC’s LLP changes loom”
Tax overhaul threatens US firms with four-year cash drain but could boost global mergers
US law firms are facing a fundamental overhaul over the way they calculate and distribute their profits that could result in far higher short-term tax bills if controversial proposals currently before Congress are approved.
The proposals could see US firms with over $10m in revenues forced to switch their accounting model from a cash basis, under which money received in a financial year is taxable, to a UK-style accrual method, where taxable revenue includes work done but not yet billed or collected.
LB100 firms review partnership model as HMRC’s LLP changes loom
The impact of HM Revenue & Customs’ decision to overhaul the way salaried partners are taxed is being felt across the City as a number of leading firms confirm they are reviewing their arrangements, although some of the largest Legal Business 100 firms have come out to categorically deny the changes will have any effect at all.
Firms including Herbert Smith Freehills, Ashurst, TLT, DWF, Weightmans, and Trowers & Hamlins have all confirmed to Legal Business that they are reviewing their partner remuneration arrangements in anticipation of the new rules, which will mean partners with under 25% of their salary attached to profits will be regarded as having a ‘disguised salary’ and treated as employees by tax authorities in a move expected to add thousands of pounds onto firms’ tax bills.
Continue reading “LB100 firms review partnership model as HMRC’s LLP changes loom”
LLPs face hike in tax bills as legislative changes target salaried partners
Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are facing significantly increased tax bills after HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) issued draft legislation this week confirming that salaried partners with little or no share in the equity will be classed as employees for tax purposes.
The draft Finance Bill, which will come into effect in April next year, says that partners with less than 20% of their remuneration linked to the profits of the firm will be regarded as having a ‘disguised salary’ and subject to both income tax and national insurance.
Continue reading “LLPs face hike in tax bills as legislative changes target salaried partners”
No pay for delay: Court of Appeal holds firm on costs decision in ‘plebgate’ case
The post-Jackson hardline approach to costs budgeting was reinforced by a landmark Court of Appeal decision today (27 November) in a clear message to the profession that non-compliance will be ‘fatal’.
This latest decision – the most significant of the post-Jackson era – arises out of Andrew Mitchell MP’s ongoing ‘plebgate’ defamation claim against The Sun’s publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN). It follows the High Court ruling in September that Mitchell, were he to win the claim, would not be entitled to recoup any of his costs from NGN after his solicitors, Atkins Thomson, failed to comply with a costs practice direction.
Continue reading “No pay for delay: Court of Appeal holds firm on costs decision in ‘plebgate’ case”
New SRA figures show record solicitor numbers as profession not so much declines as changes shape
Contrary to the often bleak picture painted of dwindling numbers entering a legal profession in crisis the number of practising solicitors in England and Wales has hit record levels according to official statistics published yesterday (14 November), as a significant number of law firms and individual practitioners have closed only to be replaced by new openings.
Figures published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) show that the number of practising solicitors in England and Wales stood at a record 130,643 at the end of October.
The new figures constitute a 9.5% increase on the number of practising lawyers (those holding practising certificates) in 2009, when the headcount stood at 119,305. Continue reading “New SRA figures show record solicitor numbers as profession not so much declines as changes shape”
Guest post: R (PressBoF) v Culture Secretary: the hearing
I was in court 68 at the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday morning (30 October) to hear the Press Standards Board of Finance’s (PressBoF) urgent application for interim relief – an injunction – to stop the government from getting the cross-party press regulation Royal Charter granted by the Queen in Privy Council this afternoon. The Privy Council was due to ‘meet’ at 5.30pm (these are very short meetings in which everyone stands, I’m told; the meeting would be a constitutional formality); the hearing began at 10.30am.
Right from the start, Lord Justice Richards made clear he thought the court could deal not only with the application for the injunction, but with the question whether permission for judicial review should be granted. That surprised me, and I suspect some others in court.
Continue reading “Guest post: R (PressBoF) v Culture Secretary: the hearing”
Guest blog – In the small print: Huge shake up in UK bribery enforcement, US style whistleblowing & UK False Claims Act
Buried in the small print and missed by many in the hullabaloo surrounding the launch of the new UK National Crime Agency (a rebranded roll up of existing crime law enforcement in the UK) are proposals to significantly overhaul the UK approach to dealing with bribery and corruption announced by the UK Home Secretary Theresa May.
Buried in the press release issued by the UK Home Office was the throwaway line:
‘New arrangements for reporting and investigating corruption’ Continue reading “Guest blog – In the small print: Huge shake up in UK bribery enforcement, US style whistleblowing & UK False Claims Act”
Into the light
Still demonised by Western governments for aiding tax evasion, major offshore centres have in recent years ushered in substantive moves to bolster standards and transparency. Will it be enough?
Britain’s prime minister David Cameron wrote to the leaders of several UK Crown dependencies and British overseas territories in May, confirming his support of their low-tax status, but insisting they establish new rules that complement international initiatives against tax avoidance. Continue reading “Into the light”