Author: Glenn

During the State Visit by President Trump, the UK secured a record-breaking £150 billion of inward investment from US firms. The package is intended to boost jobs, support growth, and advance the UK’s key industrial sectors, especially life sciences, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, biotech, AI and other future-facing industries under the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy.

Key components of the deal

Here are some of the flagship commitments:

• Blackstone pledged around £100 billion over the next decade into the UK.
• Prologis will invest £3.9 billion, including use in the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and upgrading Daventry Rail Freight Terminal.
• Palantir agreed to invest up to £1.5 billion to help make the UK a defence innovation leader and create up to 350 jobs.
• Amentum will invest £150 million, creating over 3,000 jobs across areas like Glasgow, the Midlands and Warrington.
• Boeing committed to converting two 737 aircraft in Birmingham for the USAF, bringing about 150 high-skilled jobs.
• STAX, a US engineering firm, will commit around £37 million to expand UK operations, especially in emissions-reducing technology at ports.

Where the jobs and benefits are headed

The investment is forecast to create more than 7,600 high-quality jobs throughout the UK, covering not just London and the South East, but also Belfast, Glasgow, the Midlands and the North East. It includes major commitments in research and development and support for start-ups, particularly in biotech, AI and clean energy sectors.

Why it matters

This is the biggest commercial investment package ever secured during a UK state visit. It signals confidence from US firms in the UK’s economic strategy and global competitiveness. For business, tax, infrastructure, jobs, and innovation policy, it gives strong backing to the government’s plans.

If your business operates in a sector covered by the Money Laundering Regulations, you must be monitored by a supervisory authority to ensure compliance. This article outlines who needs to register with HMRC for anti-money laundering (AML) supervision.

Your business must be registered with a supervisory authority if it operates in a sector covered by the Money Laundering Regulations. Some businesses are already supervised through authorisation by bodies like the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or professional associations such as the Law Society.

If your business is not already supervised and falls under one of the regulated sectors, you must register with HMRC.

Business Sectors Supervised by HMRC

HMRC is responsible for supervising businesses in the following sectors (where not already regulated by the FCA or a professional body):

• Money Service Businesses not regulated by the FCA
• High Value Dealers handling cash payments of €10,000 or more (in a single transaction or linked transactions)
• Trust or Company Service Providers not supervised by the FCA or a professional body
• Accountancy Service Providers not supervised by a professional body
• Estate Agency Businesses
• Bill Payment Service Providers not regulated by the FCA
• Telecommunications, digital, and IT payment service providers not regulated by the FCA
• Art Market Participants involved in buying or selling works of art valued at €10,000 or more (including linked transactions)
• Letting Agency Businesses managing property or land with a monthly rental value equivalent to €10,000 or more

If your business conducts these activities by way of business and is not already supervised, you must register with HMRC.

Money Service Businesses and Trust or Company Service Providers are not allowed to trade until their AML registration with HMRC is confirmed. Other businesses may continue operating while their registration is being processed.

Trading while not registered is a criminal offence and may result in a penalty or prosecution.

Issuing a VAT invoice without registration or authorisation can lead to HMRC penalties, even if it is done by mistake.

A penalty may be charged by HMRC when an individual or business issues an unauthorised VAT invoice showing or including VAT without being allowed to do so. The invoice does not need to be a formal VAT invoice; it only needs to show an amount that is shown as VAT or includes an amount attributable to VAT.

An unauthorised person is anyone who is not registered for VAT, not part of a VAT group, or not otherwise authorised to act on behalf of a taxable person, such as an insolvency practitioner or an auctioneer selling goods to recover a debt. Common examples include businesses operating below the VAT registration threshold, individuals who issue VAT invoices after deregistration or businesses who begin charging VAT before being VAT registered. Farmers who are not certified to use the VAT agricultural flat rate scheme, but issue flat rate invoices may also face penalties.

A penalty may be avoided if the person has a reasonable excuse for the error. However, unauthorised issuing of VAT-related invoices is treated seriously and may result in financial penalties.

Fraudsters are continuing to target taxpayers with scam emails as the deadline for submission of self-assessment returns for the 2024-25 tax year gets ever closer. In the 12 months to 31 July 2025, HMRC received more than 170,000 reports of suspicious contact from the public, of which more than 45,000 related to fake tax refund claims.

A number of these scams purport to tell taxpayers they are due a rebate / refund of tax from HMRC and ask for bank or credit card details in order to send the fake tax refund. The fraudsters use various means to try and scam people including making contact by phone calls, texts or emails. In fact, fraudsters have been known to threaten victims with arrest or imprisonment if a bogus tax bill is not paid immediately.

HMRC’s Chief Security Officer, said:

‘Scammers target individuals when they know Self Assessment customers will be preparing to file their tax returns. We’re urging everyone to stay alert to scam emails and texts offering fake tax refunds.

Taking a moment to pause and check can make all the difference. Report any suspicious activity to us before the fraudsters do any more harm. Search ‘HMRC scams advice’ and refer to the scams guidance on GOV.UK to stay informed and protect yourself.’

If you think you have received a suspicious email claiming to be from HMRC you are asked to forward the details to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk, suspicious texts to 60599 and suspicious calls can be reported on GOV.UK. If you have suffered an actual financial loss you should contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use their online fraud reporting tool (or Police Scotland via 101).

Speculation is growing that rates or allowances applied to dividend income may change in the next Budget.

The current tax rates for dividends received (in excess of the £500 dividend tax allowance) are as follows:

• 8.75% for basic rate taxpayers will pay tax on dividends
• 33.75% for higher rate taxpayers will pay tax on dividends
• 39.35% for additional rate taxpayers will pay tax on dividends

Dividends that fall within your Personal Allowance do not count towards your dividend allowance and you may pay tax at more than one rate.

If you receive up to £10,000 in dividends you can ask HMRC to change your tax code and the tax due will be taken from your wages or pension or you can enter the dividends on your self-assessment tax return, if you already fill one in. You do not need to notify HMRC if the dividends you receive are within your dividend allowance for the tax year.

If you have received over £10,000 in dividends, you will need to complete a self-assessment tax return. If you do not usually send a tax return, you need to register by 5 October following the tax year in which you had the relevant dividend income.

There has been growing speculation ahead of the upcoming Budget that the government could make further changes to the taxation of dividends. With the government under pressure to raise revenue there is the possibility that the rates of dividend taxes could be increased. The current £500 tax‑free dividend allowance could also be abolished altogether, after having been significantly reduced over the last number of years.