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TAX BRIEFING
AUTUMN 2024

RTI REPORTING CHANGES DELAYED

HMRC has delayed planned changes to real-time information (RTI) reporting requirements for employee hours worked.

Draft legislation was published in May aimed at improving the range of data collected by HMRC. The proposed changes will require businesses to provide more detailed information to HMRC via self assessment (SA) and PAYE RTI returns in three main areas:

• start and end dates of self-employment;
• dividend income received by shareholders in owner-managed businesses; and
• employee hours worked.

Summer Tax Briefing 2024

CASH BASIS BY DEFAULT

From 6 April 2024 the cash basis has replaced accruals as the default method for preparing sole trader and partnership accounts for tax purposes.

Previously, only unincorporated businesses with total receipts below £150,000 were entitled to opt out of accruals and file their accounts with HMRC using the cash basis. That restriction has now been lifted so that the cash basis is available to unincorporated businesses of any size and they now need to opt out of the cash basis if they want to continue filing using accruals.

The accruals basis will remain the most appropriate method for most businesses. Those choosing to continue to file their accounts in this way need to opt out of the cash basis for 2024-25 and this preference will be automatically carried forwards for future years.

Spring Tax Briefing 2024

STUDENT LOANS AND BASIS PERIOD REFORM

New guidance from HMRC confirms that profits used to assess student loan repayments and entitlement to student finance will include transitional profits from basis period reform.

Student loan repayments for self-employed taxpayers are based on the profits reported in each tax year. For the tax years 2023-24 to 2027-28 this will be your normal profit plus the portion of the transitional profits you decide to bring into that year. The additional profit could cause a dramatic increase in your student loan repayments in one or all of the five years.

Spring Budget 2024

NATIONAL INSURANCE RATES CUT AGAIN

The headline news from the Spring Budget was further cuts to national insurance contributions (NIC) of 2% each for self-employed taxpayers and employees.

The main rate of primary Class 1 NIC paid by employees on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 per year will be cut from 10% to 8% from 6 April 2024. Combined with the 2% cut announced in the Autumn Statement 2023, this will save the average worker earning £35,400 over £900 a year.

TAX BRIEFING WINTER 2023

The Chancellor has announced cuts to national insurance contributions (NIC) for self-employed taxpayers and employees.
The headline news from the Autumn Statement was the reduction of primary Class 1 and Class 4 NIC and the removal of compulsory Class 2 NIC.

TAX BRIEFING AUTUMN 2023

In Spring Budget 2023 the Chancellor announced a welcome change to the tax treatment of pensions – the scrapping of the Lifetime Allowance (LTA).

TAX BRIEFING – Summer 2023

Occasionally you may reward your employees with something special such as a holiday or a hamper. If the value exceeds the tax-free amount permitted under the rules for say long service awards, trivial benefits or staff suggestions it will be taxable.

BUDGET BRIEFING – SPRING 2023

Owners and directors of family businesses often take a small salary from the company and any extra funds as dividends.

TAX BRIEFING – SPRING 2023

Last Autumn the Chancellor cut the enhanced deduction for expenditure by SME companies on R&D projects from an extra 130% to 86% and the payable tax credit from 14.5% of the loss surrendered to 10%.

TAX BRIEFING 2022

Dividends are taxed at much lower rates than other forms of income and they are not subject to national insurance contributions (NIC).

AUTUMN BUDGET 2022

INCOME TAX CUTS NEXT YEAR
In last week’s Budget the Chancellor stunned his audience by announcing that both the basic rate of tax and the highest ‘additional’ rate would be reduced from 6 April 2023

Autumn 2022

Tax Briefing

COST OF TRAVELLING TO WORK
We can help you ensure that any assistance given to your employees meets the tax legislation requirements. Travelling to the workplace may now be unaffordable for some employees but employers who help by reimbursing travel expenses could be creating an extra tax burden for themselves and their employees.

SUMMER 2022

Tax Briefing

CHANGING NIC IN JULY
The rates for national insurance contributions (NIC) increased by 1.25 percentage points for everyone on 6 April 2022. From 6 July the NIC starting threshold will rise to £12,570 per year (£1,048 per month) for employees

BUDGET BRIEFING – SPRING 2023

Owners and directors of family businesses often take a small salary from the company and any extra funds as dividends.

TAX BRIEFING – SPRING 2023

Last Autumn the Chancellor cut the enhanced deduction for expenditure by SME companies on R&D projects from an extra 130% to 86% and the payable tax credit from 14.5% of the loss surrendered to 10%.

TAX BRIEFING 2022

Dividends are taxed at much lower rates than other forms of income and they are not subject to national insurance contributions (NIC).

AUTUMN BUDGET 2022

INCOME TAX CUTS NEXT YEAR
In last week’s Budget the Chancellor stunned his audience by announcing that both the basic rate of tax and the highest ‘additional’ rate would be reduced from 6 April 2023

Autumn 2022

Tax Briefing

COST OF TRAVELLING TO WORK
We can help you ensure that any assistance given to your employees meets the tax legislation requirements. Travelling to the workplace may now be unaffordable for some employees but employers who help by reimbursing travel expenses could be creating an extra tax burden for themselves and their employees.

SUMMER 2022

Tax Briefing

CHANGING NIC IN JULY
The rates for national insurance contributions (NIC) increased by 1.25 percentage points for everyone on 6 April 2022. From 6 July the NIC starting threshold will rise to £12,570 per year (£1,048 per month) for employees

Spring 2022

Tax Briefing

For VAT periods starting on and after 1 April 2022 all VAT records must be recorded digitally and returns must be submitted under the Making Tax Digital (MTD) regime

December 2021

Tax Briefing

Filing VAT returns using making tax digital (MTD)-compatible softwarewill be compulsory for all VAT registered traders for periods beginning on or after 1 April 2022 unless HMRC agrees that the taxpayer is exempt.

November 2021

Autumn Budget 2021

The national living wage (NLW) will rise to £9.50 per hour for pay periods starting on and after 1.4.22
along with the other national minimum wage rates (see table). Since 6.4.21 the NLW rate has applied to
workers aged 23 and over.

June 2021

BUSINESS RATES ON EMPTY PROPERTIES

As a landlord you may have lost income during the pandemic as tenants have left or gone into liquidation

March 2021

TAX BRIEFING
BUDGET 2021

CORPORATION TAX COMPLEXITY

The Chancellor announced that taxes would have to rise, but not
quite yet, as all tax rates except for VAT are frozen for 2021-22

September 2020

Tax Briefing

IS IT A CAR OR A VAN?

Whether your business buys a car or a van can make a big difference to the tax relief given on the cost of the vehicle and to the tax payable by the driver who uses it for private journey

June

SELF-EMPLOYED GRANTS

If you are self-employed and your business has been adversely affected by
COVID-19 you may be eligible to claim a grant from HMRC of up to £7,500

March

TAX BRIEFING – BUDGET

SURCHARGE ON HOME PURCHASES

Stamp duty land tax (SDLT) is payable on the purchase of property in England and Northern Ireland; Scotland and Wales levy their own taxes for property purchases in those countries

December

TAX BRIEFING

If you bought your home brand new and ‘off-plan’ you may realise a significant capital gain when you sell that property.

September

TRADING AND MISCELLANEOUS INCOME

Most businesses start small with a few occasional sales. Only once the trader is convinced that they can deliver the product or service effectively do they launch their business properly.

June

Paying the right NIC

Your workforce may include people of all ages from school leavers to those past state pension age, with some working part time or holding down two jobs concurrently.

March

Employee Benefits

Happy employees are productive employees, but different individuals require varying benefits with their remuneration package

Winter 2018

Gains from off-plan purchases

Most people understand that when you sell your main home the profit you make on the sale is exempt from tax. However, for this exemption to apply in full you must generally occupy the residence throughout your period of ownership. If the property has been acquired before it is fully constructed, the ownership condition will be met for the period before it is inhabited but the occupation condition will not.

Autumn Budget 2018

Entrepreneurs’ relief curtailed

When you sell a business or shares in your personal company, the gain made on that disposal will normally qualify for entrepreneurs’ relief which applies capital gains tax (CGT) at 10%. Up to £10m of gains can qualify for this relief in your lifetime.

Autumn 2018

MTD: What, when and how

If your business is VAT registered, and the turnover for the last year has exceeded £85,000, you should soon receive a letter from HMRC stating that you must comply with the making tax digital (MTD) rules from April 2019.

Summer 2018

Time to choose childcare support

Parents are faced with a bewildering choice of how to fund childcare costs. Employers can help by giving employees tax- and NIC-free childcare vouchers; by directly contracting with a childcare provider to provide places for employees’ children; or by running a workplace nursery.

Spring 2018

Paying your child from the business

Winter 2017

Simple assessments have arrived

The self assessment tax return system has been with us for over twenty years now and it is certainly not simple. Pensioners in particular find that they are required to submit a tax return each year to report their various different sources of pension and savings income and to pay a small amount of tax.

Autumn Budget 2017

Diesel bad, electric goodish

The benefit of having a company car is taxed as a percentage of the vehicle’s list price when new. For 2018-19 this percentage will range from 13% for a car with zero CO2 emissions, to 37% for emissions of 180 g/km or more.
Diesel cars tend to have lower CO2 emissions than petrol-powered vehicles of a similar engine size. However, diesels also emit more harmful particles, so a diesel supplement is added to the percentage of list price to increase the taxable benefit of using a diesel company car.