People who have just become self-employed will have to wait up to 8 weeks for their registration to be processed says HMRC.

Hargreaves Lansdown, the FTSE 250 investment company, partially backs the coalition’s proposals to change tax relief on pensions but suggests that further adjustments could make the system simpler.

Another frustrating week in the hunt for the next contract. It’s clear that there is still a fair bit of work out there for the taking. Sadly it’s also clear that there are an awful lot of people out there trying to take it and competition is very strong.

Professional advisers, including online accountants, have witnessed a massive rise in the number of negligence claims filed against them since the start of the recession.

There’s been a lot said recently about clamping down on the amount of migrant workers allowed to enter the UK. Despite this, the latest CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook report suggests that as the UK labour market improves, so does the employment demand for migrant workers.

HMRC has published a guide for businesses and contractor accountants explaining how they need to comply with the iXBRL format computations for Corporation Tax online filing.

A new proposal to change the way leases are accounted for on company’s balance sheets could have serious consequences for UK enterprises and contractors.

You may recall a while back that Arctic Systems was major news. A case that was taken all the way to the House of Lords where, to the great relief of many, HMRC’s assertion that a husband and wife could not share the profits of their company was comprehensively thrown out.

Contractor accountants might be interested to hear that HMRC has lost their case against a couple who it claimed owed nearly £20,000 tax on four years’ dividends.

The Audit Commission is to be scrapped, Eric Pickles, the communities minister, announced last Friday.

The FSB thinks that micro firms should not need to comply with the government’s new pension scheme that comes into effect in 2012.

Contractor accountants and small businesses could benefit from a new invoicing directive from the Council of the European Union.