SP 2/00 of 2000 specifies how gross assets are to be valued for tax. The basic rule is that they are included at the value shown in the balance sheet. No liabilities are deducted. The balance sheet must have been drawn up in accordance with normal accounting principles and in the same manner as previous...Read More

From 7 August 2000.,the capital allowance already available for the demolition of oil rigs is extended to cover the costs of making them available for reuse. The allowance is 100% of the cost. A reused oilrig which is then subsequently demolished attracts a 100% allowance for the demolition cost. If an oilrig does not attract...Read More

From 28 July 2000, the responsibility for paying landfill tax rests not just with the owner of the land, but also with the site operator. Where the site operator and land owner are separate people, they are jointly and severally liable for the tax. For these purposes, any person who controls what is dumped on...Read More

Customs has made three agreements with motor industry trade bodies on particular points concerning VAT. The three agreements deal with: when double cab pick-up trucks are to be classified as commercial vehicles rather than cars; a simplified method of calculating VAT due on the private use of stock-in-trade cars provided free to employees; and the...Read More

The meaning of the words “obligation incurred before” was considered in a 2000 case relating to the termination payment for an employee. A bank manager retired on 31 July 1995 and received a lump sum of £42,919 from his employer. He was taxed on the excess above £30,000. He appealed on the ground that tax...Read More

Customs is appealing against the Court of Appeal decision in a case brought by FDR, it said in 2000. This company provides data processing and management services to banks, including the production of plastic cards with all the supporting technology. The company has successfully argued that this service is exempt under the EC Sixth Directive....Read More

Many businesses will become exempt from the duty to file Intrastat returns, or will only need to file less detailed returns. At present, any business with an assimilation threshold above a figure set each year must complete an Intrastat return giving data in three fields: mode of transport, country of origin, and number of consignments....Read More

From 4 August 2000, a company offering its employs the chance to buy partnership shares in an employee share option plan must provide a statutory notice about its effect on the employee’s entitlement to statutory sick pay, statutory maternity pay and contributory social security benefits. Partnership shares are shares which an employee buys himself to...Read More

Details have been given on the training requirement for the tonnage tax in 2000. The tonnage tax is an optional alternative which allows shipping companies to ring fence their shipping activities and to pay tax on them according to the tonnage of the ships. One of the conditions for tonnage tax is that the employer...Read More

Andersen Consulting split from its parent business, the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, in 2000. The consultancy business was started by the accounting firm and gradually become more independent of its parent firm. Eventually it became bigger than its parent firm and started to resent paying large contractual transfer payments to the accounting firm for business...Read More