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Retirees taxed £4bn more than previously thought
Pensioners are paying around £4 billion more in income tax than previously estimated, the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) has claimed. The latest figures published by HMRC show that pensioners paid £17.9bn in income tax on their pensions in 2016/17, which increased to £18.4bn in 2017/18. A footnote in the paper said the method for…
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Small business owners hit out at ‘unfair’ UK tax system
Most small business owners in the UK do not think the tax system treats their business fairly, according to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). In a survey of 1,000 firms, 58% of SME owners said they think the UK tax system is unfair, with different tax rules applying to different types of business. More…
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Risk assessment and contingency planning
How to minimise disruption in your business. It has been a challenging and eventful three years for UK businesses with a series of high-profile incidents highlighting how situations can change suddenly and often without warning. From the continued pressure of uncertainty relating to Brexit, terrorism, fire, extreme weather and cyber-attacks, how would your business cope…
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Accounting for charities
An overview of accountancy issues in the third sector. If you’re in charge of running a charity, you will know how it differs from operating a business and how its motives and goals vary. Non-profit organisations are treated very differently under the law, and managing a charity’s accounts can offer some unique challenges as a…
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Making Tax Digital
More than a million VAT-registered businesses have now been mandated into the Government’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) programme, which came into force on 1 April 2019. Under the scheme, businesses that are registered for VAT with a turnover of more than £85,000 are required to keep digital records and submit their VAT returns using MTD-compatible…
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Landlords feeling the pinch as tax measures begin to bite
Most buy-to-let landlords saw their tax bills increase in 2017/18, suggesting the effects of changes to mortgage interest relief were beginning to be felt one year after they were introduced. In a survey by Paragon, 58% of landlords said their tax bill for 2017/18 was higher than a year before, with an average annual increase…
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Delay to increase in probate fees
Changes to probate fees – due to take effect last month – have been delayed as Parliament wrangles to resolve the Brexit stalemate. Bereaved families currently pay a flat fee of up to £215 to obtain the grant of probate needed in England and Wales to administer estates worth more than £5,000. That system was…
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MPs call for break-up of Big Four’s accountancy services
The UK’s largest accountancy firms should be split into audit and non-audit businesses, according to recommendations from a Government committee. The Big Four accountancy giants conduct 97% of large companies’ audits, while also supplying those companies with other accountancy services. The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee published a report highlighting a potential conflict…
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Personal tax planning – What you need to know for 2019/20.
With the Brexit process rumbling on, Making Tax Digital finally coming into force, and Easter around the corner, now is the time to put your financial plans in place for 2019/20.
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Making Tax Digital – it’s here………
MTD zero-hour is here. The moment has come: if your business has a taxable turnover above the VAT-registration threshold, which is currently £85,000, you’re now obliged to keep records in digital form and to file your VAT returns using HMRC-approved software. You probably got a bit fed up of being reminded about the deadline for…
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Apprenticeship ‘starts’ fall by a quarter
The number of people starting apprenticeships has fallen by 26% since the Government’s reforms to the apprenticeship system, according to a report from the National Audit Office (NAO). In April 2017, the Department for Education (DfE) introduced several changes to the apprenticeships scheme, including a levy on large employers and a co-funding requirement from smaller…
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IHT and the probate charge
Affluent families in England and Wales face paying probate charges of up to £6,000 from this month after ministers confirmed it as a fee rather than a tax. Families have been used to paying flat fees of up to £215 to obtain the grant of probate needed in England and Wales to administer estates worth…
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Thousands face huge tax avoidance bills
Contractors whose employers paid them through loans from offshore trusts are being urged to speak to HMRC as soon as possible or risk receiving massive tax bills. Up to 50,000 contractors in the UK are believed to have benefitted from the lower income tax rates applied under loan advances, instead of being paid salaries. Those…
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Stamp duty surcharge for the oversea buyer
The Government is considering introducing a new stamp duty surcharge, which is designed to clamp down on overseas wealth being used to buy homes in England. Ministers have expressed concerns that affluent foreign investors, particularly those buying properties in London, have been driving up house prices for domestic buyers. Figures from the Land Registry showed…
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Are we leaving the EU?
What can your firm do before 29 March 2019? As the clock continues to tick down to the 29 March 2019, when the UK is scheduled to officially leave the EU at 11pm, there is still much uncertainty around what Brexit will mean for UK business. What is certain is that it will bring change…
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The politics of tax breaks
How did we end up with such a complex system of tax reliefs? If there’s one thing accountants love, it’s identifying obscure tax reliefs to which you may be entitled and using them to reduce your tax bills. Tax reliefs, or tax breaks as they are sometimes called, aren’t without controversy, however. There are too…
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Government launches service to prepare firms for EU exit
The Government has launched a new website service to help businesses prepare for the UK’s exit from the EU later this month. ‘Prepare your business for leaving the EU’ is an online tool that provides information on specific rules and regulations, and aims to inform business owners of what is changing in their sector. The…
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Making Tax Digital for VAT: one month to go
The first batch of VAT-registered businesses have less than a month to go until they enter into the Government’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) regime. All VAT-registered businesses turning over more than £85,000 will be mandated into MTD by 1 October 2019, with the majority of firms adopting the scheme by 1 June 2019. Firms with…
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Minimum contributions rise to 3% for employers in April
Most employers in the UK will see minimum contributions towards their workers’ occupational pension schemes rise from 2% to 3% next month. Businesses are legally obliged to automatically enrol all staff aged between 22 and state pension age, and earning more than £10,000 a year, into a workplace pension. The first workers were automatically enrolled…
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HMRC error hits early-paying self-assessment taxpayers
HMRC admitted an error which saw hundreds of early-paying taxpayers wrongly issued with late-payment notices before the deadline for self-assessment tax returns. The deadline for 2017/18 self-assessment submissions and any tax owed came and went at midnight on 31 January 2019, with £100 penalties in place for not filing on time.
