News

Andy Wightman As visitors descend on Edinburgh for festival season which starts today, £10.6 million of taxes are being avoided this year due to the boom in private homes being let out as holiday accommodation, according to new research.

Catriona Reid Catriona Reid of BTO Solicitors talks us through the implications of new “persons with significant control” rules introduced this summer to tackle tax avoidance, money laundering and other criminal activity through exploitation of Scottish Limited Partnerships.

Alison Thewliss The number of new firms being registered as Scottish Limited Partnerships, the entity identified as widely used by tax-avoiders and organised crime, has plummeted since new UK rules closed the legal loophole that had made them so attractive to nefarious elements.

Miles Celic The UK-based legal and accountancy sector generated an estimated £15.5 billion in tax in 2015/16 – comprised of taxes borne (£6.4 billion) and taxes collected (£9.1 billion) – representing 2.5 per cent of all UK tax receipts.

Mark Carney The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted 6-2 to keep interest rates on hold at 0.25 per cent.

Royal Bank of Scotland has dropped out of a major ranking of the world’s largest 500 companies while fellow Edinburgh-based financial giant Standard Life has returned.

A former Dundee City Council IT officer specialising in financial IT systems is facing jail after admitting to fabricating invoices in order to steal more than £1 million from the authority in a long-running scam lasting seven years.

Ken Ferguson Angus-based wealth management firm Ferguson Oliver Limited has announced the launch of a new mortgage trading division.

Beggars and rough sleepers in Glasgow city centre are damaging trade and putting shoppers off visiting the city, according to a leading Scottish business figure.

Scottish pubs tied to large pub companies should get the same legal protections as their counterparts in England and Wales, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

In response to continuing strong demand from investors and occupiers, Buccleuch Property has completed the acquisition of its second speculative industrial development in three months.

Martin Gill More than three fifths of Scottish legal firm leaders believe that current compensation structures and incentives need to change and will not be fit for purpose in five years’ time.

Police Scotland has revealed that almost £2.5 million has been lost to fraudsters in so-called vishing and spoofing scams targeted at Highlands businesses.

Accountancy firm French Duncan has assisted Leonardo Hotels, the European division of Fattal Hotels Group, in its acquisition of a portfolio of five properties in Scotland; increasing the company’s presence in Edinburgh and gaining presence in Glasgow, Perth and Aberdeen.

A new boutique financial planning and wealth management firm has launched this week with Bryan Innes, formerly executive partner at Tilney (Towry) heading up its Aberdeen office.