This week’s miscellaneous updates – 16 June 2025

In this week’s miscellaneous updates,

• The Treasury Committee has written to HMRC’s CEO about its handling of the recent loss of £47 million after taxpayer phishing scams,
• The High Court has held that VAT on private school fees is not a breach of children’s human rights,
• The Adam Smith Institute says that ‘Tax Freedom Day' was on 12 June this year and is coming later and later every year due to fiscal drag,
• The Government has announced that fuel payments for winter 2025/26 will be made to all pensioners. If income exceeds £35,000, HMRC will recover the full amount of the payment through PAYE or self-assessment. The position in relation to Northern Ireland will follow the same rules and was confirmed in an announcement from the Department for Communities, 

• The Government has provided information on the tax implications of employees selling shares on PISCES which we cover in more detail below, and
• The latest schedule of HMRC Talking Points live and recorded webinars for tax agents are available for booking. Spaces are limited, so take a look now and save your place, and
• Check HMRC’s online services availability page for details of planned downtime and the online services affected.

Tax implications of employees selling shares on PISCES

In a recent Written Ministerial Statement (WMS) to Parliament, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury confirmed that the Government will legislate in the next Finance Bill to allow employers with employee permission to amend existing contracts to include a PISCES trading event as an exercisable event, without losing tax advantages under the various tax advantaged venture capital schemes. The WMS also confirms that more information on this will be published before the end of summer 2025.

PISCES, the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System, is a new type of secondary trading platform that will allow for the intermittent trading of private company shares.