London has a particular attraction for overseas investors seeking to buy property. The UK taxation landscape has however changed significantly in the last couple of years and investors should consider carefully how each of the various taxes might impact on them and whether they should buy as an individual or through a corporate or other…
Sometimes the failure of clients to take professional advice can mean paying significantly more tax than is necessary. This failure may result from not realising that there might be a different way of structuring a transaction or simply a reluctance to incur professional fees. The following cases are examples of where significant tax savings may…
HMRC published new guidance on 4th August 2014 in respect of the remittance rules surrounding offshore loans to non domicilaries. Previously, non-doms were able to secure their offshore loans against offshore assets (income/gains) and bring the loan to the UK without triggering a remittance as long as the interest/capital loan repayments were not made from…
Last month the UK coalition government released a consultation document proposing the implementation of a capital gains tax charge on non-residents in respect of sales of UK residential property. The details of the proposal remain relatively vague and are likely to be amended throughout the consultation and legislation process. However at this stage the following…
This year’s budget contained a number of tax tightening measures but also some relaxations. View our 2014 Budget Report .
Relief When an unincorporated business makes a trading loss, there may be some consolation to the sole trader or partner, if for tax purposes he or she may be able to claim relief for that loss by deducting it against other income and possibly obtain a tax refund. The tax legislation allows some flexibility over…
Pensions During 2013/14 you can pay up to £50,000 gross into a pension plan (provided you have sufficient earnings). That limit reduces to £40,000 with effect from 6th April 2014. To the extent that you have not used up your £50,000 contribution limit in the three previous tax years, you may be able to increase…
Arnold Hill is currently mid way through its inaugural environmental awareness week. All of our staff members have been tasked with challenging the policies and processes currently adopted within our workplace. By doing so we hope to better understand the impact that we are having, both locally and globally. At the end of this week…
Ever since LLPs were introduced it has been HMRC’s practice to treat all members as self-employed even if they would otherwise have been regarded as salaried partners/employees. This led to significant numbers of individuals being made members of LLPs because of the significant National Insurance Contributions savings which were possible. Perhaps with this in mind,…
The festive season is upon us and although the first thought should not be of the taxman, he’s worth bearing in mind! Most employers should be aware of the long-standing rules whereby staff entertaining (e.g. Christmas parties) are tax-free if the cost, including VAT, is not more than £150 per head. This ‘per head’ limit…
Income Tax and National Insurance From 2014/15 a spouse/civil partner will be able to transfer £1,000 of his or her personal allowance to his or her spouse/civil partner. Employer National Insurance Contributions for employees under the age of 21 are to be abolished from April 2015 (unless their annual earnings exceed the upper earnings limit,…
Many people will be aware of Airbnb, the online community marketplace for people to list accommodation and to invite guests to stay. Indeed, Airbnb (www.airbnb.co.uk) suggests that it has assisted more than 9,000,000 guests with their stays away from home and its success and take up is incredible. Whilst we understand that tax would not…
Increasingly, individuals are travelling abroad to carry out duties in relation to their employment in addition to carrying out some of their duties in the UK. It is important for those individuals to consider the tax implications surrounding this and the effect on their UK tax position. If you are a non-domiciled individual who has…
Trustees are taxed under the Self Assessment regime in the same way that individuals are. Tax Returns for the year ended 5 April 2013 should be submitted by 31 January 2014 if they are submitted online, however if a paper Return is being filed the deadline is 31 October 2013. If Returns are submitted after…
The SRT, which came into effect on 6th April 2013, allows individuals to determine whether they are UK resident for tax purposes in any tax year. The following steps should be followed in order and as soon as you have determined your residence status, no further steps are required: Individuals are separated into 3 different…
HMRC has launched a consultation on the possible reform of close company loans to participators. The proposed changes will affect many companies. A close company is one controlled, directly or indirectly, by five or fewer participators (these are usually the shareholders), or by any number of directors. The current rule is that where a shareholder…
For clients who have some source of income or gain which has not been disclosed to HM Revenue and Customs, there is currently available an opportunity to make a disclosure on very favourable terms. Failure to disclose income or gains is viewed seriously by HMRC and can often lead to a long and worrying investigation…
HMRC’s website sets out the registration threshold and the time limits for registering when the threshold is exceeded, but there are a couple of planning points to be aware of that are not so clearly flagged. Reverse Charge Rules The reverse charge rules require UK VAT registered businesses to account for purchase VAT and sales…
The high income child benefit charge which came into effect on 7th January 2013 maybe a key consideration whilst gathering the information necessary to prepare your tax return for the year ended 5th April 2013. How does it work? Individuals (or their partners) whose income lies between £50,000 and £60,000, will be subject to a…
An individual who transfers his business to a company avoids an immediate capital gains tax charge on chargeable assets that are transferred to the company, provided that the whole of the business or the whole of business excluding cash, is transferred to the company in exchange for the issue of shares. Whilst this relief is…
Drawing more than the 5% annual allowance Insurance Bonds are commonly used by investors to provide a regular form of income, which if limited to withdrawals each year of 5% of the initial premium, will be not be taxed for the first 20 years. These bonds, which may be taken out in the UK or…
Gains realised on the disposal of the house or flat which an individual occupies as his or her main residence are generally exempt from UK capital gains tax. Nevertheless clients’ affairs are often not as straightforward as this. For example an individual may have more than one residence, spending part of the time in each, or…
Funds taken out of the company as a loan (i.e. not salary or dividend) that is not repaid within nine months of the end of accounting period will attract a liability to Section 455 tax of 25% of the outstanding loan balance. Where the loan is repaid within 9 months of the year end the…
For cars purchased prior to 6 April 2009 (1 April 2009 for companies), expenditure was required to be allocated to a separate pool for each vehicle costing more than £12,000. These were known as “expensive” car pools. Annual writing down allowances were limited to £3,000 per annum for each car until its tax value fell…
By concession, if a taxpayer incurs capital expenditure on replacing plant or machinery in a trade or a property business, a claim can be made for a deduction for the replacement expenditure when calculating taxable profits. This concession is withdrawn in relation to expenditure on replacing plant and machinery which is incurred: (a) on or…
Taxpayers can sometimes overlook the fact that when moving into a new leasehold property and undertaking substantial refurbishment work, they might be inadvertently be entering the Capital Goods Scheme for VAT purposes. Input tax recovered on refurbishment or fitting out of land and buildings, where the cost of taxable supplies is more than £250,000, is…
A summary and overview of the Budget Tax Table (2013) – open post to download
Fuel and Alcohol 1p off the price of a pint of beer, and the fuel escalator has been scrapped. The 3p per litre increase in the fuel duty scheduled for September is cancelled. Income Tax The personal allowance limit to be increased to £10,000 from 6th April 2014 a year earlier than originally planned….
Partnership tax rules have been a feature of many avoidance schemes closed down by HMRC in recent years. The Government announced in Autumn Statement 2012 that it would consider whether partnerships should be reviewed, as part of the rolling examination of high risk areas of the tax code. In the Budget 2013, the Government has…
From 22 April 2013, Charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs can sign up with HMRC to make repayment claims electronically using Charities Online. HMRC intends that the Charities Online service will go live on 22 April 2013. They expect to provide a step-by-step guide on what you will need to do to sign up for…