No, nothing to do with cakes, sadly, but a way of nominally spreading a chargeable event gain (CEG) over a number of years to calculate the income tax due. You pay tax as if you had received the CEG as the top slice of your income over several tax years (the top slice years) instead […]
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Why it’s not too early to sort out your 2018/19 Tax Return
It’s May! We are now comfortably in to the new tax year, the bluebells are out, those April hail-showers are hopefully behind us, bank interest statements and P60s are being received, and H M Revenue & Customs are sending out notices to submit your 2018/19 Tax Return. But, with the 31st January 2020 filing deadline […]
Year end tax planning 2018/19
Avoid hitting critical ‘income thresholds’ There are four fundamental income thresholds to avoid: £46,350. At this level of income the higher rate of tax kicks in: earnings and other income are taxed at 40%, dividends are taxed at 32.5% and the tax-free interest allowance drops to £500. £50,000. At this level of income child benefit […]
No SDLT surcharge on derelict property
From 2016, anyone buying a property in England has to pay an additional 3% SDLT surcharge if they own more than one property at the end of the day, and have not replaced their main residence. Simply put, this surcharge is intended to make it more expensive for individuals to acquire a buy-to-let property when […]
Tax-Free Childcare Account
What is the Tax-Free Childcare account? This is an online account that can be opened by parents that enables you to save for childcare costs. For every £8 you pay into the account, the government will add £2, up to a maximum of £2,000 per child, per year. The account can be used to pay […]
Making Tax Digital – What do I need to do?
Most VAT registered businesses with an annual turnover above £85,000 will have to comply with MTD requirements from 1 April 2019. Please see my blog ‘Making Tax Digital – where are we now?’ If you are not sure whether this applies to you. There are two main requirements for MTD: Digital record keeping Digital submission […]
Making Tax Digital – where are we now?
Remember 2015? Star Wars Episode VII – The Force Awakens was finally released, as was Adele’s ‘25’ album, the Coalition government came to an end and the Brexit Referendum had yet to be announced. 2015 was also the year that the government first began to talk about their revolutionary idea ‘Making Tax Digital’ and the […]
Autumn Budget 2018
So, what did everybody think of the Budget today? The big headline was probably the increase in the Personal Allowance to £12,500 and the Higher Rate threshold to £50,000 from April 2019; both changes had been promised already but were not expected until April 2020. The impact is that those with income over £50,000 will […]
Can I claim Private Residence Relief for an off-plan purchase?
UPDATE: This case has now been heard at the Court of Appeal which overturned the Upper Tribunal decision. See When does ownership of an off-plan residence begin? Can you own a property that doesn’t exist? According to a decision made by the Upper Tribunal yes, you can. The case involved Mr Higgins, who had purchased […]
Have you paid too much tax? Check your P60
Have you paid too much tax? I have a client who has had too much tax deducted at source from her employment income in 2017/18. This isn’t because her PAYE code was wrong (it wasn’t) but because the tax was calculated on a monthly basis not a cumulative basis. Please don’t assume that because your […]
I’m self-employed – what expenses can I claim?
People often ask me what expenses they can claim as a self-employed individual. As a result, I have drafted a short factsheet which I use as a reference for myself as well as for clients and which lists some of the more common expenses such as travel & subsistence and working from home, and sets […]
Offshore income: disclose now or face heavy penalties
You may have heard of the Requirement to Correct which has been introduced to combat offshore tax-evasion. But do you understand what this is, and what impact it might have on you? What’s happening? The Requirement to Correct obliges any person with with UK tax liabilities in respect of offshore assets at 5 April 2017 […]
Parents: Register for Child Benefit to protect your state pension
Many stay-at-home parents could be missing out on their state pension entitlement by not registering for Child Benefit. Since January 2013, couples where one partner has income of more than £50,000 have had to begin repaying Child Benefit through the High Income Child Benefit Charge. Once one partner’s income reaches £60,000 all of the Child […]
Transferable married couples allowance: don’t miss out!
The transferable married couples allowance is worth up to £900 over the last four years, yet HMRC estimate that as many as 1 million eligible couples have not made a claim. The allowance is available for married couples and civil partnerships where one person earns less than the personal allowance (£11,850 in 2018/19) and the […]
VAT: Are milkshakes the new Jaffa Cakes?
Every now and then a tax case comes along that catches the attention not just of fanatics like me but of the wider public; remember the Jaffa Cake question – is it a cake or a biscuit?* In recent weeks we’ve seen another case which has the potential to join those Jaffa Cakes in the […]
