Throughout 2021/22, COVID-19 has continued to dominate. Millions of employees and directors on payroll were furloughed, and the self-employed continued to rely on grants available via the income support schemes. Arranging your financial affairs as tax-efficiently as possible before the start of the new tax year on 6 April 2022 is arguably more important than…

Once you’ve set up an incorporated business and become a director, you have to be smart about how you extract profit to avoid paying more tax than you need to.  There are three main routes for a director to extract profits from their own limited company – salary, dividends and pension contributions. Usually, combining these…

If you’re looking to join the 4.3 million people in the UK who made the jump into self-employment, you might be wondering how to start your new business.  Assuming you’ve weighed up the pros and cons involved and decided launching a startup is right for you, one of the first things to consider is how…

HMRC issues last reminder for 2020/21 personal tax returns  Some 407,510 startups were created during the 2020/21 tax year, despite the challenges presented by the pandemic.  Those who are unincorporated require a unique taxpayer (UTR) code to file their first tax returns via self-assessment for the 2020/21 tax year. But the tax authority is experiencing…

The construction industry remains one of the UK’s key sectors, which also helps to underpin the UK economy, despite experiencing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.  In September 2021, construction output grew by 1.3% on the previous month – placing the sector just 1% below its pre-pandemic level – and it’s still worth a decent…

Making Tax Digital for income tax (MTD for ITSA) looks certain to affect sole traders and landlords from April 2024, following the recent news of a one-year delay.  This was the latest in a long line of delays and deferrals in the rollout of MTD, which was first proposed by then-Chancellor George Osborne in late…

Reforms to the ways in which unincorporated businesses pay income tax – known as basis periods – will go ahead, one year later than planned.  Proposals and draft legislation were published in July 2021, suggesting the new rules would commence from 6 April 2023.  Instead, sole traders and most business partnerships will be subject to…

A new levy on large residential property developers’ profits intends to raise around £2 billion over the next 10 years, starting from next spring.  The ‘cladding tax’ will be a 4% tax on developers with company profits of £25 million or more from residential development, although student and build-to-rent developments are exempt. It expects to…