Category: Tax

Only 369,000 taxpayers paid CGT in 2023, resulting in a £2.5bn drop in revenue to £14.4bn. Only 369,000 taxpayers paid capital gains tax (CGT) in the last tax year, a decrease of 40,000 from the previous year. Despite the overall reduction, CGT from residential property sales rose to £1.6bn. High-income individuals had a significant impact, … Continued

Debt charity StepChange reports a 50% rise in the average debt among its clients, from £1,146 in 2019 to £1,726 in 2023. As councils nationwide face financial constraints, council tax debt has surged by 9% in the past year. This represents a 71% increase since pre-pandemic levels, when the debt stood at £3.5bn, as more … Continued

Targeted efforts yield high returns from unpaid IHT as HMRC recovers £285 million from 3,028 investigations. The amount of tax collected from unpaid inheritance tax (IHT) investigations is soaring, but HMRC could recover even more. Over the past five years, HMRC has conducted thousands of investigations into estates suspected of owing IHT, collecting £1.39 billion … Continued

Provisional claimants are urged to make a valid claim by 31 January 2025. HMRC is writing to taxpayers who made a provisional business asset roll-over relief (ROR) claim on asset sales in 2020/21 and haven’t replaced it with a valid claim. The deadline for making a valid claim is 31 January 2025. If a valid … Continued

1.6m additional retirees dragged into income tax levy. 8.5m currently paying income tax, up from 4.9m in 2010. New research for the House of Commons has shown that due to the income tax threshold freeze of £12,570 until 2028, an additional 1.6m pensioners will have to pay income tax in the next four years. This … Continued

Plans to simplify tax could require other increases. In 2022/23, NICs generated £178bn, with £103bn from employers, £65bn from employees, and around £10bn from the self-employed. The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has suggested the possibility of eliminating National Insurance contributions (NICs) for workers, following another 2% cut announced during the Budget. National Insurance, established in … Continued

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said that there is little scope for further tax cuts in the Spring Budget. In last year’s Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced various tax breaks, including a cut to the main rate of National Insurance from 12% to 10%. In January, he suggested that he intended to reduce taxes in the … Continued

Starting on 4 February 2024, HMRC is writing to company owners regarding the potential under declaration of dividend income. The correspondence is prompted by a decrease in company reserves despite reported profits, hinting at undisclosed dividend payouts. Recipients are urged to acknowledge the letter by either disclosing any unreported dividend income or confirming no additional … Continued

In a bid to tighten tax regulations and combat tax evasion, HMRC is implementing measures affecting sellers on platforms such as eBay, Vinted, Airbnb and Etsy. Effective from 1 January, many digital platforms are now mandated to collect under new international rules adopted by the UK through the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). … Continued

HMRC has rolled out a new initiative enabling taxpayers to voluntarily disclose unpaid tax on cryptoassets covering exchange tokens, non-fungible tokens, and utility tokens.  The tax authority has initiated contact with selected taxpayers engaged in cryptoasset transactions who may not have fulfilled their tax obligations. Taxpayers must report transactions incurring capital gains during the 2022/23 … Continued