Consultancy charge meaning

Five former Glencore traders, company directors and the group’s ex-global oil chief, billionaire Alex Beard, now face numerous counts for funnelling corrupt payments to officials across West Africa, in a scheme stretching back over 15 years. According to the SFO press release, the accused are charged in relation to the allocation of various oil contracts covering Cameroon, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast between 2007 and 2014. Two defendants are further accused of falsifying invoices sent to Glencore’s London office, described as service fees to a Nigerian oil consultancy, from 2007 to 2011. The investigation may broaden after the SFO stated on 9 August 2024 that it plans to file additional charges as it pushes forward with its bribery inquiry. This ranks among the agency’s most prominent matters in very recent times and, given the scope of the counts, could be the very toughest examination of its capacity and advocacy in major court-room contests on the road to trial since it pursued senior leaders at Barclays. 'Having opted to charge in...

Genuine Care Homecare Services Ltd v HMRC [2026] UKFTT 235 (TC) It was common ground that the appellant was a UK state‑regulated provider of domiciliary care services exempt from VAT (see Item 9, Group 7, Schedule 9 to the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (VATA 1994) and VAT Notice 701/2). It was likewise accepted that the appellant had told HMRC of its obligation to register for VAT regarding its actual taxable consultancy and training supplies in the care sector, made in the ordinary course of business. The key questions were whether it had made deemed taxable supplies under VATA 1994, s 8, and whether its late appreciation of the implications of making those supplies amounted to a reasonable excuse for failing to notify HMRC in time of its duty to register for VAT...

Contracting-out From 6 April 2016, contracting-out for defined benefit (DB) schemes ends. The reforms had first been planned for April 2017; however, a written ministerial statement issued on 19 March 2013 accelerated implementation by twelve months. The measures below arise from the cessation of contracting-out for salary-related occupational pension schemes with effect from 6 April 2016. Legislative changes necessary to implement the abolition of DB contracting-out The legislative amendments required to deliver the abolition of DB contracting-out are being made through: the Pensions Act 2014 (PA 2014), s 24, Schs 13–14. PA 2014 received Royal Assent on 14 May 2014 and, among other matters: provides for the repeal, from 6 April 2016, of specified contracting-out provisions in the Pension Schemes Act 1993 (PSA 1993), and introduces a statutory power for employers to amend occupational scheme rules, without trustee consent, solely to reflect higher employer National Insurance costs arising from the abolition of DB contracting-out, by increasing employee...