TAKING A LODGER? DON’T FORGET TO CLAIM “RENT A ROOM” RELIEF
HMRC are carrying out a review of rent a room relief to discover whether the scheme, introduced back in 1992 provides the right incentives for the rental market. The current scheme exempts from tax, gross rents up to £7,500 where rooms within the taxpayer’s main residence are rented out. Most accountants that responded to the […]
TAX EFFICIENT EXTRACTION OF PROFIT FROM COMPANIES FOR 2018/19
The new tax year means that many directors of family companies will be considering the most tax efficient method of paying themselves. For many years accountants and tax advisors have suggested that director/shareholders should extract profit by paying themselves a low salary with the remainder of their income being extracted in the form of dividends. […]
SCOTTISH INCOME TAX RATES DUE TO RISE FROM 6 APRIL 2018
The Scotland Act 2016 provides the Scottish Parliament with the power to set all income tax rates and bands that will apply to Scottish taxpayers’ non-savings, non-dividend (NSND) income for tax year 2018/19. From 6 April 2018 there will be significant discrepancies between the Scottish rates of income tax and the rates paid by taxpayers […]
CHARITIES GIFT AID SMALL DONATIONS SCHEME
Whilst on the subject of the reduction in cash transactions, we take the opportunity remind you of the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDC). Under this scheme a charity or community amateur sports club (CASC) can claim top-up payments on small donations up to £20. From 6 April 2017 charities have also been able to […]
New Consultations
The Chancellor did however announce a number of tax consultations into possible future changes. One of the consultations concerns possible changes to the VAT registration threshold as it is concerned that some businesses deliberately operate below the VAT threshold (currently £85,000) as that adds 20% to the price of the goods and services. One suggestion […]
NO MAJOR TAX CHANGES IN CHANCELLOR’S SPRING STATEMENT
As announced last year, the Chancellor’s Budget will in future take place in the Autumn each year as opposed to the Spring. There was however a Statement by the Chancellor on 13 March, but he made little mention of tax changes, instead choosing to focus on the state of the economy and stating that there […]
WANT TO JOIN THE MAKING TAX DIGITAL VAT PILOT?
HMRC have announced that they are looking for suitable businesses to sign up for the pilot testing of the new system of digital reporting of VAT information. Turkeys voting for Christmas springs to mind? After a period of testing the new system is scheduled to go live in April 2019 for VAT registered businesses with […]
BBC PRESENTER LOSES LANDMARK IR35 CASE
The IR35 personal service company legislation has been on the statute book since 2000 and has never really worked as intended. The main reason for this is that the interpretation of the legislation is based on the same employment status tests referred to previously, which lack clarity and are open to interpretation by the courts. […]
NO INDEXATION OF COMPANY GAINS AFTER DECEMBER 2017
Indexation allowance was introduced in the 1970s to provide relief from paying tax on inflationary gains based on increases in RPI. The relief was abolished in 1998 for individuals and trusts, and replaced with taper relief. However, it was retained for companies. The Autumn Budget announced that indexation for corporation tax would cease for disposals […]
TAX RELIEF FOR ENERGY SAVING TECHNOLOGY
For a number of years there has been a generous 100% tax break for businesses that install energy saving technology in their premises. This is in addition to the £200,000 annual investment allowance for plant and machinery. The technology that qualifies for this 100% tax break includes energy efficient boilers and energy saving lighting systems. […]
