NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS TO SAVE TAX
At this time of year we think about New Year’s resolutions. It is also a good time to start planning your tax affairs before the end of the tax year on 5th April. An obvious tax planning point would be to maximise your ISA allowances for the 2018/19 tax year (currently £20,000 each). You might […]
GIFTS OF UP TO £50 TO EMPLOYEES
From April 2016 new rules were introduced to allow employers to provide their directors and employees with certain “trivial” benefits in kind tax free. The new rules were brought in as a simplification measure so that certain benefits in kind do not now need to be reported to HMRC as well as being tax free […]
NOT ALL SHARES QUALIFY FOR CGT ENTREPRENEURS’ RELIEF NOW
As the result of changes announced in the Autumn Budget, and now incorporated into the latest Finance Bill, not all ordinary shares necessarily qualify for the 10% CGT entrepreneurs’ relief rate on disposal. As mentioned in last month’s Budget newsletter the definition of a personal company was tightened up so that from 29 October the […]
COLLECTING UNPAID TAX FOR 2017/18 THROUGH YOUR PAYE CODING
Under certain circumstances it is possible to arrange the collection of unpaid tax through your PAYE coding rather than making a balancing payment on 31 January. This will depend upon the amount outstanding and the amount of income taxable under PAYE. There is a further condition that the return is submitted to HMRC online before […]
GIFTS TO CHARITY
Where possible higher rate taxpayers should “Gift Aid” any payments to charity to provide additional benefit to the charity and for the individual to obtain additional tax relief on the payment. For example where an individual makes a £20 cash donation to charity the charity is able to reclaim a further £5 from HMRC making […]
CERTAIN GIFTS CAN HAVE CAPITAL GAINS TAX CONSEQUENCES
Although there will be no CGT on gifts of cash there may be CGT to pay where the gift comprises shares or other assets. This is because the transaction will generally be deemed to take place at market value between connected persons even though no money changes hands. The amount of the gain would normally […]
GIFTS OUT OF INCOME ARE NOT TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT FOR IHT
A more generous inheritance tax exemption applies where the donor can prove that he or she is not transferring capital but is making gifts out of their income. There are detailed conditions for this exemption to apply requiring records to be kept of income and expenditure in order to prove that there is sufficient surplus […]
THE IHT ANNUAL EXEMPTION – USE IT OR LOSE IT!
Although not particularly generous at £3,000 per donor per annum if this annual IHT exemption is not used by 5 April it is lost, although it is possible to carry the allowance forward one year if unused. This means that if the annual allowance for 2017/18 was not used an individual may make gifts of […]
CHRISTMAS IS THE TIME FOR GIVING
Those thinking about making gifts at Christmas should take advantage of the various inheritance tax (IHT) exemptions and reliefs available to them. Note that certain gifts can also have capital gains tax (CGT) implications.
MORE RATES RELIEF FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
There has been much lobbying from the small business sector to reduce business rates to enable traditional retailers in particular to compete with internet traders. The Chancellor has announced a one third reduction in business rates for small businesses with premises with a rateable value up to £51,000.
