July 2019 – Making Tax Digital Software

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 ...

June 2019 – Choosing the benefit

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 ...

June 2019 – Land tax accelerated

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 ...

June 2019 – Off-plan purchase trap

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 ...

June 2019 – Check your pension forecast

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 ...

May 2019 – Interest from PPI claims

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 ...

May 2019 – Claim for the right journey

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, ...

May 2019 – Child Benefit tax

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 ...

May 2019 – Tax is constantly changing

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 ...

April 2019 – VAT registration issues

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 ...

Apr 2019 – The ATED trap

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 ...

Apr 2019 – Timing is everything

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 ...