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Tax and electric cars
The rise of electric vehicles could create £30bn tax hole The Government is being urged to introduce a new road-pricing system, because the increasing popularity of electric vehicles risks leaving a £30 billion hole in public finances each year. Research submitted by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change called for a new system, with…
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New trust registration service
Millions of trustees need to register details of their trusts before next autumn, following the launch of a new trust registration service. The service was originally announced in draft form in 2017, at a time when it would only have applied to taxable-relevant trusts. Since then it has been expanded to include all UK-resident express…
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Stamp duty is back
The stamp duty land tax holiday in England and Northern Ireland has come to an end, more than 14 months after it first came into effect. The tax break saw most buyers who purchased residential homes for £500,000 or less pay no stamp duty land tax until 30 June 2021, although landlords still had to…
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Accounting for charities & non-profits
How the third sector is assessed for tax. Anyone who’s involved in operating a charity knows how it differs from running a business, both in terms of motives and objectives. HMRC treats non-profit organisations and charities very differently to businesses, offering some unique tax breaks in the process. If a charity is recognised by the…
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Unincorporated businesses – watch out…
What might this mean for your business? Unincorporated businesses could be about to see significant changes to the ways in which they are taxed, following the launch of a Government consultation. The Government plans to reform the basis period rules in a bid to simplify how unincorporated businesses, such as sole traders and business partnerships,…
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Capital gains tax receipts climb 3% to record-high
HMRC collected a record of £9.9 billion from capital gains tax receipts in 2019/20, according to official statistics published last month. The tax authority said this was 3% up on the previous tax year’s receipts, but the number of taxpayers paying tax on their gains fell 6% to around 265,000. Most of the liabilities collected…
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1 in 5 UK employers consider making redundancies
A minority of UK employers could be about to cut jobs, due to the withdrawal of the furlough scheme and rising costs. The scheme, which has protected around 11.6 million jobs since the start of the pandemic, will close on 30 September 2021. The Government currently pays 60% of a furloughed worker’s wages and employers…
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National Insurance contributions rates ‘poised to increase’
The Government could be set to raise National Insurance contributions (NICs) by 1% for both employers and employees, a report has claimed. The Times claimed senior ministers have agreed to increase rates to raise an extra £10 billion a year for the National Insurance Fund. This would initially be used to reduce NHS waiting lists,…
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Deadline approaches for fifth and final self-employed grant
The self-employed have until the end of the month to apply for the final grant available via the self-employed income support scheme (SEISS). Everyone who is eligible for the last SEISS grant should have received a personal start date from HMRC in recent months. These gave self-employed taxpayers a date from which they can apply…
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Thinking of starting a new business after COVID-19.
The pandemic has proven a huge challenge for businesses, with 396,155 UK firms closing in 2020 according to the Office for National Statistics. The FSB expects that an additional 250,000 small businesses could fold by the end of 2021. Yet, despite the challenges, 407,510 new businesses were formed during 2020. Businesses that were able to move…
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IHT planning – The basics
Increasing house prices raise inheritance tax risk. Soaring house prices coupled with certain thresholds being frozen in the most recent Budget have the potential to drag more estates into the inheritance tax net over the coming years. Back in March 2021, Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed the main inheritance tax thresholds will remain frozen at their…
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Pensions tax traps catch out thousands more savers
The number of savers who breached the annual allowance and the lifetime allowance increased in 2018/19, according to government statistics. Figures from HMRC show 34,220 people reported saving more in their pension pots than the £40,000 annual allowance in 2018/19, triggering total tax charges worth £817 million. The amount of people who exceeded their annual…
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Treasury seeks feedback on business rates revaluations
Business rates revaluations in England could take place every three years, following the launch of a recent consultation. The latest consultation forms part of a comprehensive review into business rates in England, with a report due to be published in the autumn. Business rates are similar to council tax for business properties in England. They…
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Employer costs increase as furlough scheme winds down
Employer contributions towards furloughed workers’ wages have increased again, as the furlough scheme prepares to close for good on 30 September 2021. Officially introduced at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the scheme has supported around 11.6 million jobs in the UK to date at a cost of £66 billion. For most of…
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Lower stamp duty land tax threshold in place until October
The stamp duty land tax-free threshold in England and Northern Ireland reduced last month, as the tax holiday introduced in July 2020 began to be phased out. The first cliff edge for residential property buyers came and went on 30 June 2021, marking the end of a three-month extension announced on 3 March 2021. Buyers…
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The basics of VAT for UK businesses
VAT is a business tax on the supply of goods and services. It is charged at varying rates depending on what is being supplied, who it is being supplied to and where it is being supplied to. But with Brexit, temporary rate changes due to COVID-19, the rollout of Making Tax Digital for VAT and…
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Self-employed, allowable expenses
If you’re self-employed, your business will rack up various running costs throughout 2021/22. Some of those you’re able to deduct as allowable expenses. By deducting these allowable expenses as part of calculating your business’s taxable profits, it’s possible for us to reduce your income tax bill in the process. For example, if your business has…
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UK corporation tax – the future
What’s ahead for companies, from rate rises to Making Tax Digital. For the past 40 years or so, corporate tax rates have decreased steadily around the world. In 1980, the global average stood at around 40%, but by the end of 2020 it was closer to 24% as various countries aimed to encourage business investment.…
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IR35 minefield …….
Exactly a year later than planned, changes to the off-payroll rules – known as IR35 – will take effect in the private sector next month. The emergence of COVID-19 put paid to the changes affecting large and medium-sized private-sector organisations this time last year, but now it’s for real. They were originally introduced back in…
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Employers to pick up the bill for 6.2% national living wage increase
The hourly national living wage rate for over-25s will increase from £8.21 to £8.72 for 2020/21. The Low Pay Commission published recommendations for the new rates, which kick in from 1 April 2020. The national living wage is the Government’s minimum wage for over-25s. The minimum wage for under-25s will also rise. Workers aged between…
