According to the BBA, people are saving because of low consumer confidence, which is depressing demand for new borrowing. Personal deposits with the major banks rose by 5.5 per cent in the year to the end of April, taking the total to £721bn, while repayments outstripped new borrowing on unsecured loans and overdrafts by 6.7 per cent in the year.
However, the total level of saving is still below the £779bn owed in mortgage borrowing to the major banks, although this level dropped slightly in the year to the end of April.
According to the BBA, the level of mortgage borrowing remains steady because of the various Government schemes helping people to get mortgages, such as the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS), which has recently been extended to January next year.
Meanwhile, the BBA, CBI and EEF, “as UK bodies representing both the users and providers of financial services in Europe” have written to the President of the European Council calling for the current proposals for the financial transactions tax (FTT) to be substantially reconsidered.
The business bodies argue that the FTT is fundamentally a tax on growth, which poses a risk to Europe’s ability to recover from the economic problems it faces and will increase unemployment, reduce investment and raise the cost of doing business across Europe.
They go on to say that the FTT will not be a tax on financial institutions, but on the consumers of their services and that it will very quickly feed through into higher costs for households and businesses since virtually every aspect of their financial activity will be impacted.
For those looking for financial advice, the team of financial advisers here at Rickard Keen are able to offer a range of services, helping to ensure that you achieve your financial goals both now and in the future.
For more information, please visit www.rickardkeen.com
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( 2.8 / 4 )Prime Minister David Cameron has hailed a Europe-wide agreement on tackling tax avoidance as a "turning point" after EU leaders agreed yesterday (May 22nd) that countries should work together to ensure more transparency and backed US-led efforts to develop a new global template to combat banking secrecy.
At the Brussels meeting, ministers from all the member states agreed that there should be "automatic information exchange between tax authorities" to monitor the situation and also resolved that governments should share information on who really owns and controls every company.
In the run up to the UK’s leadership of the G8, and in the face of sustained public and political pressure over the rate of tax paid by multinationals, the Prime Minister continued his push for a crackdown on tax avoidance by insisting that it be discussed at the meeting
At the press conference afterwards he said that there is now real momentum behind the issue to support growth in our economies and described the agreement as a turning point in breaking down corporate secrecy.
Earlier in the day Mr Cameron had been forced to defend himself from accusations by Labour leader Ed Miliband that Google’s tax planning had not been addressed with the firm’s Chief Executive Eric Schmidt at a meeting on Monday.
However, the Prime Minister said that he had raised the issue “very directly” with Mr Schmidt and said that it was more important to take action on tax avoidance than talking about it.
He added that there was now a real chance to see international action to see if the problem of tax avoidance could be fixed, while German chancellor Angela Merkel said that the summit had achieved more on the issue than had been accomplished in years.
She added that the meeting had delivered a clear signal against tax evasion and against legal tax avoidance, making a potential breakthrough possible.
For more information, please visit www.rickardkeen.com
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( 3 / 5 )According to Oxfam, governments around the world are losing more than £99bn a year in revenue through hidden money, and the charity is urging the Government to take tougher action against UK-linked tax havens.
Oxfam estimates that some £18.5tn is being held for individuals in tax havens, claiming that tax evasion is costing EU states around £0.85tn a year. Moreover, around a third of this cash is being held in British Overseas Territories and crown dependencies.
Oxfam’s Head of Development Finance and Public Services, Emma Seery, said that the figures put the UK at the centre of a global tax system that is “a colossal betrayal of people here and in the poorest countries.”
Ms Seery added that now is the time for the Government to put its tough talking into action, otherwise its stance on tax threatens to make a mockery of the UK’s hosting of the G8 Summit in Northern Ireland next month.
However, a Treasury spokesman refuted Oxfam’s claims and said that the Government strongly supports tax capacity building in developing countries and that the Prime Minister wrote to the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies only this week asking for more transparency in their financial dealings.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that HMRC could soon be allowed to gain access to the overseas bank accounts of all British citizens to check they are not hiding money from the tax office, under an EU-wide agreement which Mr Cameron is proposing.
At Rickard Keen, as tax specialists we appreciate and understand that every pound of income tax you save means more income at your disposal, whilst every well planned disposal of assets means minimal loss of capital gains, which is why we offer a range of tailored tax planning advice and support.
For more information, please visit www.rickardkeen.com
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( 3 / 5 )According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, inflation fell to 2.4 per cent in April, down from 2.8 per cent in March, the first time there has been a drop since September last year.
The fall was driven by lower fuel costs and airfares, with petrol and diesel prices falling by 2.1p and 3.9p a litre respectively although the cost of food rose after damage to crops over the unseasonably cold winter.
In fact, food prices have risen by 40 per cent since the start of the financial crisis and the recent extended period of cold weather has damaged yields, putting even more pressure on the price of fruit and vegetables.
The fall will therefore help consumers and also gives the Bank of England more room to manoeuvre on monetary policy, although the Bank is predicting that inflation will rise again over the summer, partly because the period of falling fuel prices will come to an end.
Chief Economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, David Kern, welcomed the news, saying that the drop in inflation will ease the pressures facing businesses and consumers.
He added that, although there are still risks that inflation may edge up in the next few months, it is unlikely that the country will see an increase to 3 per cent, or even higher, as previously feared.
It is the Chambers’ view that the economy needs a period of falling inflation so that domestic demand can stabilise as exporters are hampered by global challenges, particularly in the Eurozone.
However, the impact of the news saw the pound fall from $1.5212 to $1.5184, while the Euro rose from 84.58p to 84.67p.
For more information, please visit www.rickardkeen.com
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( 3 / 5 )Prime Minister David Cameron has written to the leaders of Britain’s offshore tax havens urging them to “get our own house in order” ahead of the G8 summit in June, when the Government, as host of the summit, will push for tighter tax measures.
Mr Cameron wrote to 10 crown dependencies and overseas territories, such as Bermuda, Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands, Jersey and the Isle of Man, all of which operate low-tax regimes, saying that while he backs their right to be low tax jurisdictions, the rules need to be set and enforced.
The Prime Minister is to push for an agreement on clamping down on tax evasion and avoidance at the G8 summit and has said that he wants the group of countries to “knock down the walls of company secrecy”.
In his letter Mr Cameron said that this is the critical moment for the overseas territories and crown dependencies, some of which have been described by the Government as having “complex tax arrangements”, to continue to work in partnership with the UK in taking the lead on tax information exchange and beneficial ownership.
Because they operate low tax regimes and have lighter regulations, many of these territories have become very attractive to international businesses, but the lack of transparency in their tax dealings has led to suspicions that they are being used to evade tax.
Mr Cameron welcomed commitments by the territories to exchange tax information but said that its quality and accuracy needs to be improved to find out who “really owns and controls each and every company”.
He has asked the territories to sign international protocols designed to allow tax information to be shared more easily between countries and to provide fully resourced and properly managed centralised registries that are feely available to law enforcement and tax collectors.
For those who are concerned that about their tax, the tax specialists at Rickard Keen can assist.
Our comprehensive tax services are designed to ensure that our clients remain compliant with HMRC legislation, whilst ensuring that the correct amount of tax is paid, by keeping on top of the ever-changing tax and PAYE regulations and legislation.
For more information, please visit www.rickardkeen.com
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