HM Revenue & Customs quietly acquired powers in September which allow it to snoop on anyone who uses so-called marketplace websites that connect buyers and sellers. It means teams of investigators now have extensive access to websites such as Etsy - where craft-makers sell items like homemade cards and knitting - and eBay, as well as property and holiday letting sites including Booking.com and Airbnb.

Compare your pay to the national average and see whether your employer treated you to a pay rise in line with the the rest of your profession. Farmers, care and air travel assistants were big winners on the pay scales in 2016. Travel agents, careers advisers and probation officers lost out.

I had my gas, electricity and mobile phone services with Utility Warehouse. When I changed energy supplier, I provided final readings. These were less than their estimated reading and I had been paying close to £30 more a month compared to what the new supplier was offering.

The German luxury car maker showcased the concept version of the Q8 - a model that's due to arrive in 2018 - at the Detroit Motor Show on Monday. It uses a potent but super-efficient plug-in hybrid powertrain, which Audi says could make production when the showroom-ready car arrives in 2018.

The grocer said like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rose 2.9 per cent in the nine weeks to Christmas, driven by a new premium range and cut-price vegetables. The roaring trade drove the grocer to raise its profit forecast and sent shares up more than 3.6 per cent. The upturn has come under the guidance of boss David Potts, a former Tesco's executive

The blue-chip index finished at a record-breaking high for nine consecutive days for the first time ever. Yesterday it climbed another 0.52 per cent, or 37.7 points, to 7275.47. The market has risen for 11 straight days, something it has only achieved three times before in 1997, 2004 and 2009. Finish up again today, and there will be no records left to smash.

Average property prices finished 2016 at a record high of £222,484, up by 6.5 per cent in December when compared to the same month in 2015, according to Halifax. However experts remain divided over whether price rises will remain robust into the new year or start to falter as Britain begins the process to leave the EU and buyers grapple with ever-higher asking prices.

My father passed away in 2010. His second wife is 85 and still living in the house they bought. My father's half was left to myself and two sisters, possibly grandchildren. Now my father has passed away my stepmother is saying we will not get anything and everything will go to her two adult children. Is there anything we can do?

Rolls-Royce has reiterated its commitment to Britain, regardless of Brexit, after the German-owned luxury car maker posted its second highest sales figures in a century. The West Sussex-based firm - which is owned by BMW - sold 4,011 cars in more than 50 countries in 2016, up six per cent on 2015.

Homeowners in Esher, Surrey, commuting into London fared best as their homes' rising value paid for their annual train travel in just eight days, but other towns also saw house price gains pay off. Esher knocked Solihull in Birmingham off the top slot in the annual study of house price rises vs commute costs by property website Zoopla.

If starting a business is something that's on your mind, 2017 could be the best year yet to give it a go, as costs are low and it's perfectly possible to build one in your spare time. Emma Jones, of Enterprise Nation, gives us her five tips for turning an idea into a business.

Buried deep among that pile of unwanted festive gifts, overflowing storage boxes and never-used 'essentials' is an opportunity to make money. We show you how to make a profit from decluttering your home, as Bev Martin, pictured, did with her £40 clocks made from bike gears.

Of the 14million women at work in the UK, more than two million are now breadwinners - of whom two-thirds are single parents. But stay-at-home mums are far from idle, doing the equivalent of a £30,000 salary in unpaid work and childcare every year, according to insurance firm Sunlife. So here is our six-point plan to help supermums get financially fit in 2017.

After the turbulence of 2016, many investors will be wondering what this year could possibly have in store for them. While markets are impossible to predict, we have gathered the views of some investing experts who have examined all the factors and picked a selection of funds - and an investment trust - that they believe could be winners in 2017.

Travel costs are set to soar this year thanks to the poor performance of the pound, so it is tempting to lock into prices sooner rather than later. But the January sales are not the only way to find an escape from the rising cost of holidays. Follow our ingenious guide to saving a fortune on air fares and packaged trips.

The challenges were most significant in London and the South East, where 55 per cent had difficulties, compared with 36 per cent in the East Midlands. The construction sector faced the most challenges, with 61 per cent of firms finding it difficult.

Barclays says the new service is a bid to encourage more high-growth SMEs to take out a loan. The new mobile lending service will pay out small business loans of up to £25,000 within 60 minutes - but not all of the bank's SME customers are eligible.

Phoenix Group, which manages closed-life insurance and pension funds, was reborn in recent years following a complex series of mergers and acquisitions. Today, the company is valued on the stock market at almost £3billion and it looks after the life and pension policies of more than 6 million people. The shares are 748½p and should gain ground as chief executive Clive Bannister delivers his ambitious growth plans.

While it might not look like your average five-door family hatchback, the new Continental GT Supersports just about earns family car stripes, as it does have four adult-sized seats. The 6.0 litre V12 express, costing £212,500, will charge to 60mph from a standstill in 3.4 seconds and gallop on to a maximum speed of 209mph.

Modern timber frame homes offer flexibility and can be installed onsite within days. Options range from the distinctive Huf Haus - with its large swathes of glass - to a £50,000 home for those on a smaller budget. We take a look at your options if you're thinking of building your own Grand Design.

Britons are forecast to have bought more second-hand cars last year than ever before and when it comes to the vehicles they are looking for, BMW's 3 Series tops the pile. Auto Trader said the German small saloon is the most searched for car on its site, amassing a massive 135 million advert views over 12 months.

Mortgage broker John Charcol is predicting a buy-to-let mortgage rate war in the so-called 'vanilla' end of the market next year as the big high street lenders to drop rates for smaller scale landlords with lots of equity, who they consider lower risk. But the broker warns that fierce competition for these smaller private landlords isn't likely to extend to professionals.

My father owned a house to which my sister was added as co-owner. She lived there to care for him. Unfortunately my father passed away, and we are settling his estate as joint executors. If she sells the house, what would I inherit? I do not want to involve a solicitor in case my sister finds out and thinks the worst.

To clear the average national household debt of ?13,000 at 6% interest with a monthly repayment of ?100 will take around 17 years. There are, however, plenty of simple ways to make significant savings on your regular spending that could clear your debt - or boost your savings - in less than a year. This is Money's top 50 - updated - money-saving tips may appear light-hearted but are deadly serious.

Choosing the right DIY platform is crucial but a wealth of choice and changes to charges have left many investors scratching their heads. We pick some of the best. We also highlight why investing in an Isa makes sense, as it should protect your hopefully growing investments from tax forever.

Despite endless media coverage of the political wrangling and financial speculation, the average Briton can be forgiven for remaining confused about what 'soft' and 'hard' Brexit really mean. About the difference between the 'Norway model' for the UK's post-Brexit relationship with the UK and the 'Swiss solution'. But a clever table put together by HSBC in a report called 'Is Brexit Getting Harder?' cleaves some clarity from the murk.

An interest rate cut before the end of the year looks less likely following the plunge in the pound. However, the Bank of England has indicated that higher inflation driven by rising import costs won't make it lift rates.