With 2020 now in full swing, Clarke Nicklin’s Financial Planning Partner, Scott Herbert, takes stock of his 30 year career, of which he celebrates 25 years as a Financial Planner and shares some words of wisdom... “How different things were in 1995 when I was first appointed as a Representative of Refuge Assurance, now The Royal London. My first Financial Advisory role involved not only providing financial advice, but also the collection of the monthly contributions from clients houses in...

It takes a lot of planning to start a new business from scratch. You may have to pay up front for some goods and services before you form the company to trade from. Once your company is VAT registered you can claim back VAT incurred on those pre-incorporation costs, if there is a direct link between the costs and the future sales made by the company. But there are four other conditions to be aware of: • Any goods acquired either to sell or use in the business must have been purchased no more than...

Selling electronic services, such as ebooks to non-business customers in other EU countries, can cause complications for VAT. The rule for e-services is that you should account for VAT at the rate due where your customer is based. The rate of VAT due on digital publications has been reduced in many EU countries this year, so check out the appropriate VAT rates published on gov.uk. You should report and pay the VAT charged through the VAT MOSS system accessed through HMRC’s online VAT service....

To help your employees get to work, you could subsidise their travel on a local public bus service, lay on a works bus, or provide a cycle to work scheme. The cycling option not only keeps your workers fit, but it allows them to acquire a desirable bike, even one with a super carbon fibre frame. The employer buys the bicycles and associated safety equipment to lend to employees; alternatively, it contracts with a specialist bicycle hire firm which provides the bikes directly to the employees....

Have you dabbled in cryptoassets such as Bitcoin and Litecoin? Buying and selling amounts of any cryptoasset is treated just like dealing in shares or bonds, so if you make a large gain you need to declare that on your tax return. A gain or loss is made whenever a cryptoasset is exchanged for another one, or given away, or surrendered for payment made in a legal currency, such as US dollars or pounds sterling. Transactions in cryptoassets made by UK-resident taxpayers must be calculated and...

For years you have been able to claim tax relief for the cost of equipment installed within or on buildings, such as shop fittings, but not for the cost of the building itself. That changed from 29 October 2018. You can now claim a Structures and Buildings Allowance (SBA), which is equal to 2% of the cost of acquiring or constructing a commercial building that is used for your business. You must incur the costs on or after 29 October 2018, and any construction contract must have been signed on...

For many employers, the aggravation of setting up auto-enrolment of staff into a workplace pension was over years ago, but it’s not a task that can be done once and forgotten. All employees who opted out of the workplace pension must be re-enrolled in that pension after three years. You do this by writing to each staff member who should be re-enrolled within six weeks of the re-enrolment date. You choose your own re-enrolment date, but it must fall within a six-month time frame based on the...

When non-resident owners sell UK land or property (of any type), they must pay any Capital Gains Tax (CGT) within 30 days of the completion date of the sale, and submit an online report to HMRC by the same date. This 30-day payment deadline is being rolled out to all UK owners of residential property for sales made on or after 6 April 2020. From that date, if you make a gain on selling a home, any CGT due will have to be paid in full within 30 days. You will need to estimate whether or not you...

Living overseas and managing a let property in the UK is never easy, but HMRC has just made the task a little more difficult by sending disturbing letters to overseas landlords and to their tenants. The letters are targeted at landlords who hold the property through a corporate structure or a trust. HMRC has been reminding the landlord that it may need to pay the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) for periods when the property was not commercially let. We can help you check if the ATED is...

Open Banking has now been introduced and will focus on how banks handle your financial information, this means the connection between your bank and your accounting software may change. With Open Banking, you can choose who gets access to your data. You can grant permission (or withdraw it) at any time. What you need to do: These new feeds are now live, you’ll see a banner on the Banking page and if you’re the Master Admin you’ll get an email explaining the steps you need to take to update your bank...

For over 20 years the government has viewed independent contractors as tax avoiders if they work through their own Personal Service Company (PSC). This is why the IR35 rules were put in place – to get the contractor to pay approximately the same tax and NIC as an employee – if they work under conditions identical to the employees of their customer (the engager). In truth, the IR35 rules are frequently ignored, as in the private sector it has been up to contractors to apply the rules to...

Many businesses start slowly. At first there are a few occasional sales, and only after the individual has convinced themselves they can effectively deliver the product or service will the entrepreneur enthusiastically launch their business. You should tell HMRC about the start of your new business within six months of the end of the tax year in which it started. To do this you need to decide exactly when the new business commenced. Is it when the first sale was made, or was it much later when a...

Leaving the EU without an agreement in place (no-deal Brexit) is going to create some VAT challenges for businesses which import goods. Currently, import VAT is payable on goods imported from non-EU countries, and that has to be paid up-front. This import VAT would also have to be paid up-front on any goods coming in from EU countries after Brexit, unless other arrangements are put in place. The Government is proposing that, immediately following a no-deal Brexit, all import VAT will be paid...

Where individuals don’t submit an annual tax return, HMRC reconciles the tax which has been deducted from their pay or pension under PAYE with the total tax which should have been paid for the year. This reconciliation for the tax year 2018/19 takes place between June and November 2019. Where there is a discrepancy (under or over), HMRC will issue a tax computation on a form P800, or it may issue a form PA302, which will ask for tax to be paid.If you receive either type of tax statement, check the...

When you order goods online you don’t expect to pay any additional taxes when they are delivered. This is currently the case for goods ordered from a supplier in the UK or the EU. However, if you order goods from outside the EU you may receive a notice saying you must pay the import VAT before the goods can be delivered. If the supplier has already charged you the import VAT, you should not have to pay it twice. If the UK leaves the EU without other arrangements in place (no-deal Brexit),...

The Government is urging businesses to prepare for changes to customs, excise and VAT procedures when the UK leaves the EU. This is expected to happen at 11pm on 31 October 2019, but there could be a further delay until 31 January 2020. If there are no arrangements in place to temporarily keep the UK within the customs union (no-deal Brexit), import and export procedures will change immediately. Goods that travel over international borders will need to clear customs twice: 1. when the goods...

We are living in a state of unprecedented uncertainty. We don’t know if the UK will leave the EU on 31 October 2019 or not, although at the time of writing the current Prime Minister insists that this is the immoveable Brexit date. There may also be a general election before the year is out. As a business it is sensible to prepare for all likely outcomes, so gearing up for Brexit can no longer be put off. This newsletter contains some advice about what you need to do if you are an importer or...

Under the Making Tax Digital (MTD) rules, businesses must use software to submit their VAT returns unless their annual turnover is less than £85,000. If you have acquired new accounting software to comply with MTD for VAT, it’s worth checking whether it’s been set up to reflect the circumstances of your business. For example: • Have the opening balances for debtors and creditors been correctly entered?• Does the software recognise the use of the cash accounting scheme?• Is the software using the...

If you don’t submit your VAT return on time, or fail to pay the VAT due on time, HMRC will put your business on the fiscal naughty step. HMRC should tell you that your business is on its watch list by sending you a Surcharge Liability Notice (SLN), and a help letter if this is your first offence. If you repeatedly file VAT returns late or pay VAT late, the SLNs will carry on arriving and penalties will be charged. These start at 2% of the late-paid VAT (minimum of £400), and the percentage...

There are two valid reasons to cancel your VAT registration: • you have ceased trading and have no intention of making future sales• your sales in the next 12 months are expected to be less than £83,000 If your turnover for the last 12 months has been above the VAT registration threshold of £85,000, you will be required to submit VAT returns for periods starting on or after 1 April 2019 using MTD compatible software, until and unless you cancel your VAT registration. Where you are winding down your...

VAT registered businesses who need to file VAT returns under the Making Tax Digital (MTD) rules, also need to keep all of their VAT records in a digital format. This can be in a spreadsheet or in accounting software. You don’t have to take a picture of every purchase receipt, but you do need to record these three data points: • Date of the purchase• Net value of the purchase• Amount of VAT to be reclaimed Where you buy a lot of items from a supplier, you can record the totals from the supplier as a...

If you provide your personal services through your own company you may be familiar with the IR35 rules, which have been around for nearly 20 years. Those rules are designed to discourage avoidance of PAYE and NIC by organisations who engage workers through personal service companies or other intermediaries, rather than taking them on to the payroll. Who makes the decision about whether the worker is inside or outside the IR35 rules is changing. For private sector contracts, the worker...

Do you use the new HMRC starter checklist when taking on new employees? This form was updated in April 2019, and you should ask all new employees to complete it even if the individual presents you with a completed form P45. Page 1 of the starter checklist asks the new employee to tick a box next to statements summarised as: A. this is my first job since claiming state benefitsB. this is my only jobC. this is second concurrent job or pension. If all choices are left blank, you should choose...

Your employer should have sent you a P60 certificate for 2018/19 by now. This shows your income from that employer in the tax year to 5 April 2019 and the total amount of tax deducted. If you also received taxable benefits in that year, such as a company car, you should receive a form P11D detailing the value of those benefits. You will need both of those documents to complete your tax return for 2018/19, which must be submitted online by 31 January 2020, or by 31 October 2019 if you send in a...

Occasional treats for employees can be provided as tax-free trivial benefits if four conditions are met: 1. the treat is not cash or a voucher that can be exchanged for cash2. the cost of providing each treat doesn’t exceed £50 per employee3. the employee is not entitled to receive it as part of any contractual obligation4. it’s not provided in recognition of particular services performed by the employee as part of their employment duties. Say the employer promises to provide bacon rolls to...

A popular daytime TV programme follows people who renovate residential properties for a profit, but it rarely spells out the tax implications for those entrepreneurs.If the property development business is operated as a sole trader, or a partnership, the profits made on selling the properties are subject to Income Tax at rates of up to 45% (46% in Scotland) plus Class 4 NIC. Alternatively, if the renovated properties are held to generate rental income, the business is treated as property...

If you are planning to sell your main home, a holiday home, or an investment property, you need to be aware of the rule changes around the corner.When you sell your own home the gain is tax-free for the periods you lived in the property. If you move out before the property is sold, the gain for that final empty period is also tax-free, as long as that is no longer than 18 months. For sales from 6 April 2020, that final tax-exempt period will be limited to nine months, with an exception for...

Married couples tend to pool their resources and share fiscal burdens, but the UK tax system treats every individual as an independent person. This can lead to families paying more tax overall. Where one person earns the majority of the family income, he or she may pay more tax than if both individuals each earned approximately half of the same total, and hence use their full personal allowance and basic rate bands. Such inequality can be eased by the lower earner transferring 10% of their...

When you cash in a life assurance policy or bond, the taxable amount you receive is treated as the highest slice of your income. The taxable portion won’t be the full proceeds, but it can increase your marginal tax rate so you pay more tax in one year than you would have if you’d made regular withdrawals over the life of the bond. Top-slicing relief attempts to put you in the position you would have been in, had the lump sum been paid in equal amounts in each year of the bond’s life. It...

People who complete a Self-assessment tax return and owe more than £1,000 of tax, generally have to make two payments on account of tax due for the 2018/19 year, by 31 January 2019 and 31 July 2019. Those on account bills are based on the total amount of tax calculated as payable for 2017/18 in the tax return submitted by 31 January 2019. The HMRC computer should send taxpayers demands for those on account payments in good time to allow you to find the money before January and July 2019, but...

But forgiveness is not the HMRC way. Taxpayers are expected to get their tax returns right first time, and to diligently preserve all records relevant to their tax affairs for at least six years. However, HMRC has been shown to make systematic mistakes in tax computations, to provide incomplete information to taxpayers, and to have a lower standard of record retention than the courts would normally expect. Examples of all these HMRC short comings are included in this newsletter. If you feel...

There are three ways to reduce the tax payable by an employee or director who is provided with a company car: choose electric or hybrid, a ‘clean’ diesel, or take a van. Electric and hybrid cars with CO2 emissions of up to 50g/km currently attract a taxable benefit of 16% of their list price, which doesn’t encourage companies to buy the more expensive electric models. However, from 6 April 2020 the taxable benefit of having a purely electric car will be 0% of its list price. This is scheduled to...

A business must register for VAT when its turnover for the last 12 months exceeds £85,000. It must also look forward and judge if its turnover in the next 30 days alone will exceed £85,000. This threshold has been frozen since 1 April 2017, and it will remain at that level until at least 1 April 2022. This means that more businesses will be drawn into the VAT net simply by increasing their prices by inflation every year. If you don’t want to register for VAT, you either have to keep your total...

When you sell some or all of the shares in your company, you should expect to pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on any profits you make. This tax is normally charged at 20% for higher rate taxpayers, but Entrepreneurs’ Relief can reduce the CGT payable to 10%. To qualify for Entrepreneurs’ Relief you need to be a director or employee of the company and own at least 5% of the ordinary share capital and the related voting rights. New additional conditions require the investor to have a right to...

The Making Tax Digital (MTD) regulations came into force for periods starting from 1 April 2019 for most businesses which are required to be VAT registered because their annual turnover is £85,000 or more. They must keep their VAT records in a digital format and send VAT returns directly from MTD-compliant software to HMRC.If you use accounting software which automatically sends your VAT return to HMRC, you are 90% ready for the MTD regime. Ask your software provider when you will receive the...

If you allow your staff to pick a tax-free benefit, such as a parking space near work, a bicycle, or employer pension contributions, you would think that everyone would be happy. But where the employees have given up some of their salary to receive the benefit, some may be taxed on the benefit provided and others won’t. This is because of the tricky rules called optional remuneration arrangements (OpRA). These broadly impose tax on the employee according to the amount of salary sacrificed rather...

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is payable when you buy land or property in England or Northern Ireland. Buyers of property in Scotland pay Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and, for purchases in Wales, Land Transaction Tax (LTT) is due. Until recently all of these taxes were payable within 30 days of the completion date, but the deadline for SDLT has been halved to 14 calendar days from 1 March 2019. This is also the period for submitting the land transaction return which reports the SDLT...

When you sell your main home the profit you make is normally exempt from tax, but that depends on whether you occupied the property (or were deemed to occupy it) throughout your entire period of ownership. When you acquire a property before it has been fully constructed, you will own it for a period before it is habitable. This can apply where a property is purchased ‘off-plan’, but it will depend on the precise terms of the purchase contract. For Capital Gains Tax purposes, your ownership...

You can check how much State Pension you will receive by accessing your online personal tax account. It will tell you how many years of National Insurance Contributions (NIC) you have made and if there are any gaps in your NIC record. You need 35 full years to get the full State Pension, but will get some State Pension if you have 10 complete NIC years. You can make up gaps in your NIC record over the last six years by paying voluntary class 3 NIC at £15 per week. If you are self-employed you can pay...

There was a time when you couldn’t turn on the radio, or your phone, without getting an advert for PPI (Payment Protection Insurance) refund claims. If you made a successful claim, you may have banked the money thinking it was tax free. That is not entirely true. Each PPI settlement includes interest calculated at 8% on the refunded premiums, which is taxable. Some banks deducted 20% tax from the interest, but other lenders didn’t. The interest portion of the PPI settlement needs to be...

It’s easy to estimate your business mileage, but HMRC wants to see accurate figures recorded as close to the time of the journey as possible. There are a number of apps which can help you with this. To achieve the precision HMRC is looking for, you need to know where your business journey starts and finishes. That is not necessarily at your home if you are self-employed. HMRC will argue your work starts when you reach your customer’s site, and any activities performed at your home-office are...

Families who receive Child Benefit may have that money clawed back as tax where the higher earner in the family has a total net income of £50,000 or more. The full Child Benefit must be repaid where one of the parents has a total income of £60,000 or more. It is the responsibility of the higher earner to tell HMRC that they need to complete a tax return in order to self-assess their tax charges. Although HMRC manages claims for Child Benefit, it doesn’t know which claimants have a higher earning...

Businesses are constantly evolving to adapt to changing markets. The tax system similarly changes to keep up with new business structures and innovative ways to avoid tax. One such tax avoidance trick, which is perceived to be a particular problem in the construction industry, is when firms charge and collect VAT, but disappear before they pay that VAT over to HMRC. The solution is a ‘reverse charge’ mechanism that will apply to builders, contractors and other trades associated with the...

The VAT registration threshold has been fixed at £85,000 from 1 April 2017 until at least 31 March 2022. This may bring more businesses into the VAT fold, if they increase their prices with the rate of inflation. This threshold can be a cliff edge for many businesses as, once VATable turnover exceeds it, the business must charge VAT on all eligible sales. For your UK sales, you must check the cumulative total of your VATable sales (including zero-rated items) for every 12-month period and...

The Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) applies when a company (and certain other bodies) owns a UK residential property worth over £500,000. The charge applies for the year from 1 April, but the ATED return, and any payment due, must reach HMRC by 30 April within that period (i.e., by 30 April 2019 for 2019/20). This annual charge starts at £3,650 and increases, through valuation bands, up to £232,350 for 2019/20. The charge is based on the property’s value as at 1 April 2017, or the...

The end of the accounting period for your business is a key point for tax planning. You can save or delay tax by moving income and expenditure between accounting periods. For instance, advancing the acquisition of assets to just within your current accounting period will mean the capital allowances associated with those assets can be claimed earlier. The cost of qualifying assets which fall within the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) is given in full as a capital allowance in the year of...

Events don’t always turn out as expected. For example, you may need to wait for a later profit or loss to arise before you can judge whether it’s right to elect to change the tax treatment of an earlier transaction. This is why the law allows you extra time, after you have submitted your tax return, to submit a tax election or claim. The elections you may need to make by 31 January 2020 for the 2017/18 tax year include: • to set trading losses against your other income• to average the profits made...

For VAT periods beginning on and after 1 April 2019, most VAT-registered businesses will have to submit their VAT returns directly from some form of software, with no manual retyping of figures. All the VAT records also need to be kept in a digital format. This new approach to filing VAT returns and keeping records is part of the making tax digital (MTD) project, which will be expanded to include returns for all the main taxes in future years. For certain businesses, such as those that use the...

If you use your own car for a business journey, perhaps to travel to a customer, you can claim mileage expenses for that journey. Many employers pay the full tax-free amount of 45p per mile, which drops to 25p for miles in excess of 10,000 in one tax year. If your employer doesn’t pay the full rate, you can claim tax relief on the shortfall, either on your tax return or on form P87. You need to submit your claim within four years of the end of the tax year in which you made the business...

Most employees, with very limited exceptions, must be paid the National Minimum Wage (NMW) or the National Living Wage (NLW). These hourly rates vary according to the age of the worker, so it’s crucial to keep a sharp eye on the birthdays of your younger workers to ensure they are paid at the right rate for their age band. The second trap you can fall into is to ignore some of the hours worked. All overtime hours, time spent training, or standing in line for security checks, must be counted....

The 2019 Stockport Business Awards, organised and founded by Clarke Nicklin, are now officially open for entry. This year there are 13 categories for businesses in the borough to apply for, businesses can apply for as many as they like and its free to enter. See below the full list of categories. Business of the Year (over £5m) Sponsored by Handelsbanken (Headline Sponsor) Business of the Year (£1-5m) Sponsored by Gorvins Solicitors (Headline Sponsor) Business of the Year (up to £1m) Sponsored by...

If you are considering acquiring a new company car, take account of the changing tax incentives for electrics.The taxable benefit for having an electric company car is currently calculated at 13% of its list price when new, but this will rise to 16% on 6 April 2019. Strangely, from 6 April 2020 the taxable benefit for driving an electric company car will drop to 2% of its list price. Where a business buys a new electric car it can claim 100% of the cost as a capital allowance in the year of...

Companies which invent new production methods or products can claim enhanced tax relief for the Research and Development (R&D) costs. Small and medium sized companies can claim 230% of qualifying R&D costs, and a 14.5% payable tax credit if this extra deduction results in a loss! This is a very attractive relief and it’s really quite easy to claim. You can ask HMRC for an advance assurance that your company, and its R&D projects, will meet the requirements for R&D tax relief. We can help you...

The Government encourages individuals to make high-risk investments in small trading companies or charities byproviding Income Tax relief for investors in the following schemes (limits for 2018/19): • Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR): 30% relief on up to £1 million• Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS): 30% relief on up to £2 million• Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS): 50% relief on up to £100,000• Venture Capital Trust (VCT): 30% relief on up to £200,000 If you invest above £1 million...

Everyone has an annual exemption for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) of £11,700 for 2018/19. This is wasted if you don’t make capital gains in the tax year. You can’t carry forward any unused exemption to a different tax year, or transfer the exemption to another person. If you are planning to dispose of assets which will create capital gains, you can save tax if the disposals are spread over several tax years. This is easy to do if your assets can be split into separate chunks, like shares. Each sale...

What you need to know about the Spring Statement Economy The government’s efforts to build a stronger, fairer economy are paying off. The economy remains resilient, and is forecast to continue growing: • there have been nine consecutive years of growth, and the OBR has forecast further growth every year for the next 5 years• since 2010, the economy has grown faster than France, Italy and Japan• the OBR expects inflation to stay close to or on target for the duration of the forecast• business...

For many people the New Year prompts a review of their life goals. If you are wondering whether, or when, you should sell your business, a sensible first step is to form an outline plan for its disposal. The sale of a successful trading company will generate a capital gain, which would normally be taxed at 20% after deduction of your annual exemption (currently £11,700, increasing to £12,000 for 2019/20). Entrepreneurs’ Relief can reduce your tax rate to 10% on a gain of up to £10m. But there...

Buying property is always complicated, but now you must think about the different taxes you will pay on the purchase of properties located in Wales, Scotland, or the rest of the UK. In Wales, you will pay Land Transaction Tax (LTT), which starts at 3.5% for residential properties costing over £180,000 and has a top rate of 12% on the portion of the property price which exceeds £1.5 million. In England or Northern Ireland you will pay Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT). This starts at 2% for...

Individual landlords of residential properties are subject to restrictions on how much interest and finance costs they can deduct from rental income. In 2018/19 individual landlords are permitted to deduct just 50% of their interest and finance charges for tax purposes. From 6 April 2019 it reduces to just 25% and from 6 April 2020 all such finance costs will be disallowed. In place of the blocked interest the landlord receives a 20% tax credit to set against his Income Tax bill. This...

When you die, your executors or relatives need to sort out your affairs. This stressful task can be made easier if you leave a clear and up-to-date Will which has been drafted with tax in mind. They also need to pay Inheritance Tax (IHT) if the net value of your assets, including your home and any insurance policies that pay out to your estate on death, exceeds £325,000. Any wealth above this threshold bears IHT at 40%, or at 36% if at least 10% of your net estate has been left to charity. The...

You can save for retirement in a number of ways. The traditional route is via a pension scheme, but you could also use an ISA. Savers aged under 40 can open a lifetime ISA, and contribute up to £4,000 per year which attracts a 25% bonus from the Government. This bonus is withdrawn if the savings are accessed in circumstances other than used as a deposit for the saver’s first home, diagnosis of a terminal illness, or from age 60 onwards. The lifetime ISA savings are counted as part of the...

In the UK, everyone is taxed as an individual, but social security benefits, including Tax Credits and Universal Credit, are awarded on the basis of the family’s total income. Child Benefit is also withdrawn based on the income of the higher earner of a couple, irrespective of who claimed it. Families with an unequal distribution of income will often pay more tax than couples who earn just enough each to cover their basic Personal Allowance (£11,850 for 2017/18) and the basic rate band. The...

When you let rooms in your own home as residential accommodation, you can receive the rent tax-free if it falls within the limits for rent-a-room relief. This relief is currently capped at rents of £7,500 per year. Where more than one person receives the rent from the property, each person has a tax-free exemption for rent of £3,750. The conditions for rent-a-room relief stipulate that you must occupy the property as your main home – this relief can’t cover income from a holiday home or...

Giving to charity under Gift Aid can result in a win/win for both the donor and the charity. Making a Gift Aid donation will reduce your tax bill for the year in which the donation is made if your total income is above the 40% threshold (£46,350 for 2018/19). Taxpayers resident in Scotland can save tax with Gift Aid donations if their total income, including earnings, is above the 21% threshold (£24,000 for 2018/19). Alternatively, you can shift the tax benefit of some or all of that gift back...

If you are yet to reach State Pension Age (SPA), you will need to have accrued 35 complete years of National Insurance Contributions (NIC) to receive the full state pension. To receive any UK state retirement pension, you need at least ten complete NIC years.You can check how much state pension you are due to receive through your personal tax account on gov.uk. We can help you with this. It is possible to plug gaps in your NIC record by paying voluntary class 2 or class 3 NIC. This payment...

All interest you receive is taxable, unless it is from an ISA, but banks and building societies no longer deduct tax from interest paid to individuals. However, for most taxpayers the rate of tax payable on that interest is 0%, so no tax is in fact due. This zero tax rate applies where your savings income falls within your Savings Rate Band (SRB), which is worth up to £5,000, or within your Personal Savings Allowance (PSA), which is worth £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers or £500 for higher rate...

As you may be aware from April 2019 businesses above the VAT threshold (£85,000) will need to submit their VAT return through commercial software to be compliant with new HMRC legislation. You may already have cloud/compliant accounting software and ready for the changes that Making Tax Digital will bring. However, whilst you may have the basics covered, are you aware of what making better use of your software can do for you and your business to help you run more effectively and more...

If you have received a lump sum payment from your pension fund you may have had excess tax deducted from it. This happens, for example, because the pension provider tends to use an emergency PAYE code for the first payment you take from your fund. If you have had tax incorrectly deducted from a lump sum payment, you will get it back from HMRC if the pension scheme doesn’t refund it. However, there are several different claim forms, depending on the circumstances. We can help you with those...

The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) is specifically designed for young companies to raise relatively small amounts of start-up capital. The investors receive 50% income tax relief on the amount they subscribe for new shares, and those shares are exempt from capital gains tax (CGT) when they are sold after three years or more. There is no minimum amount the company may raise, and no minimum each equity investor is required to commit, but there are maximum limits. The company is...

The total amount of inheritance tax (IHT) paid to the UK Treasury increases by around 10% per year. This is largely due to rising residential property values and is frozen at £325,000 per person. IHT is payable at 40% above the nil band. If you have children (step or adopted children count) some IHT may be saved by leaving an interest in your family home to one or more of your direct descendants. Such bequests allow the residential nil rate band (RNRB) to come into play, which is currently...