Tax First July: keeping you up-to-date with tax

Our Tax First newsletter brings you a round-up of the past month's major tax news and issues.

Finance Act 2012 was enacted on 17 July 2012. In this edition we look at some of the tax changes that have taken effect since the Act became law.

There have been several changes around the treatment of VAT, including whether VAT is due on hot takeaway food and sports nutrition drinks amongst others. We also highlight the potential VAT opportunity created by the ongoing Gratton Plc case which is currently awaiting a decision by the European Court of Justice.

In Budget 2012 the Chancellor proposed a tax relief for UK businesses working in the creative industries. The Government’s consultation document aims to introduce targeted corporation tax reliefs for the animation, high-end television and video games industries producing culturally British content. In this issue, we outline the potential benefits for creative companies.

The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) recently published an exposure draft relating to how banks should account for levies charged by public authorities. The definition given could have a significant impact for banks which are accounting for the UK bank levy. We explain the exposure draft’s definition and outline the potential impact.

We’re running our fifth annual Tax Technical Conference on 19 and 20 September 2012. We know that it can be tricky to keep on top of tax legislation: these events are run every year to give you the chance to keep up-to-date with tax and legislative changes that may affect your business.

The new version of The UK pocket tax guide, our yearly update on all the current UK tax rates, is now available. Sign up for your copy of The UK pocket tax guide 2012/13.

We hope you’ll enjoy the holiday season and will be making the most of what’s promising to be a very busy summer for London and the UK.Tax First will be taking a well-earned summer break in August and will be back in September with all the latest tax news and issues.

You can keep up-to-date with the latest business issues on our iPhone/iPad app and on our brand new app for Android users. You can also follow us on Twitter (@PwC_UK).