Category: Tax

A petition calling on the Government to relax the criteria for self-employed people to access income support during the coronavirus crisis has received more than 300,000 signatures. Though at first given a cautious welcome, the coronavirus self-employment income support scheme (SEISS) announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak on 26 March soon came under fire for allowing … Continued

HMRC has deferred rolling out the second phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for 12 months due to the coronavirus. Phase one of MTD kicked in for VAT return periods starting on or after 1 April 2019, with what HMRC described as a soft-landing period. This included the use of basic bridging software and waiving … Continued

HMRC intends to contact millions of people eligible for the self-employed income support scheme by the middle this month. Those workers who have lost profits due to COVID-19 will be invited to submit online claims for payments, which will be made by early June. The scheme provides taxable grants worth 80% of a self-employed worker’s … Continued

VAT rules for food and drink in the UK are “overly complex” and in need of reform, the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) has claimed. Chancellor Rishi Sunak used his Spring Budget to scrap the so-called ‘tampon tax’ when the Brexit transition period ends on 1 January 2021. The ATT hopes the decision to abolish … Continued

The point at which tapering of the annual pension allowance kicks in will increase by £90,000 for both threshold income and adjusted income in 2020/21. The move, which was announced in last month’s Spring Budget, means the taper will not affect anyone with income of less than £200,000. It brings to an end a long-running … Continued

Finance Act 2019 (s. 30) introduced a new Structural Buildings Allowance. Although this legislation has now been around for nearly 16 months (it was available from 29 October 2018), it remains an unfamiliar area. The Capital Allowances Act 2001 did not give any provision for relief to be claimed on the vast majority of structures … Continued

The rental profits of UK property businesses generated by non-UK resident companies currently fall within the UK Income tax (IT) regime, with profits charged at a rate of 20%. However, from 6 April 2020, such profits will fall within the UK Corporation Tax (CT) regime, which is currently charged at a rate of 19%. Generally, … Continued

Under the current self-assessment system, reporting property disposals and paying any resulting capital gains tax (CGT) is not due until the deadline for submitting a self-assessment form. For UK-residents and some non-residents, this can be up to 22 months after the disposal took place, whereas for most non-residents reporting, and settling any CGT due on, … Continued

Property owners disposing of a dwelling, which at some point of ownership was used as their only or main residence, are currently entitled to claim principal private residence relief (PPR) for the period of ownership as well as the final 18 months regardless of the use of the property. Several changes to PPR relief were … Continued

The Treasury is to raise the National Insurance threshold for 2020/21, saving the average employee around £104. According to legislation approved in Parliament back on 30 January 2020, the £8,632 threshold at which employees start paying class 1 national insurance contributions (NICs) will increase by more than 10% to £9,500. The same £9,500 threshold will … Continued