Northern Ireland / All

As the 2012 Budget approaches, the Treasury is seeking to maximise its cash resources so as to reduce some of the burden on the ‘squeezed middle’ while keeping to the tight fiscal targets for deficit reduction.

December is traditionally a very busy month from a tax return perspective, with all the December year end corporation tax returns due for filing, and the January personal tax return deadline looming after the Christmas holidays.

Recent weeks have seen additional clarity arise on some key UK tax matters, including decisions issued in long running UK tax cases which impact on the tax affairs of many taxpayers; progress in EU State Aid approvals and helpful OECD guidance on when PE’s can arise; but also additional uncertaint

The 2011 Budget proposed amending the definition of associated companies to crease access to the ‘small profits’ rate of corporation tax.

The European Commission has asked the UK to re-amend its legislation to properly reflect the ECJ 2006 decision in the Cadbury Schweppes case.

Some of the most eye-catching - and headline gaining -announcements in the 2011 Budget are noted below:

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) published SP1/11 “Transfer pricing, mutual agreement procedure and arbitration” on 15 February 2011.