Category: Tax

HMRC have recently announced that they have wound down their business record checks and will no longer initiate new checks using this process. HMRC say that they “remain committed to helping businesses to keep better records”. At the same time HMRC have updated their factsheet on compliance checks. However HMRC may still need to visit … Continued

Annual Investment Allowance: Reduction from £500,000 to £200,000 with effect from 1 January 2016                      In the July 2015 Budget, the government announced that from 1 January 2016 the maximum amount of the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) is to reduce to a new permanent level of £200,000. This reduction will have an impact on many businesses … Continued

A two-year plan aims to increase the use of research and development tax relief by raising awareness among small businesses and making it easier for them to claim. HMRC have launched the plan in response to a consultation which identified four themes – awareness, design, understanding and assurance – that were the key factors influencing … Continued

No doubt you are familiar with savings products such as ISAs and pensions. These products offer generous tax advantages because the government wants to encourage you to save for your future. When you invest through an ISA, for example, all the returns you make are free from all personal income tax and capital gains tax. … Continued

It is reported that tax staff are being taken on to work in the evening and more online services introduced in a bid to improve performance at HMRC as it emerged that only half of calls were answered successfully between April and June 2015. HMRC are apparently struggling to cope and although there has been … Continued

The issues and assets to be considered when discussing death planning have expanded radically. People increasingly have a complex digital life that can be more private and less well recorded than their physical one. For example you may own music on iTunes, books on Kindle, store family photos in the cloud and blog, tweet and … Continued

The government spends around 0.49% of GDP on funding research and development (R&D), prompting business groups to call for an increase to help increase growth. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is calling on the government to increase total R&D spending to 3% of GDP as research shows that the current level of spending is … Continued

Where a company makes a trading loss that cannot be relieved against other profits that year, or the previous year, the unrelieved loss can be carried forward against future profits from the same trade that incurred the losses. This carry forward also applies where the trade is transferred to another company under common control (basically … Continued

In the Summer Budget Newsletter we outlined the new rules for the taxation of dividends that will apply from 6 April 2016. Further guidance has now been published by HMRC setting out how the new rules will operate and it seems the rules don’t work as many people expected. As previously reported, there will be … Continued

From 6 April 2017 an additional Inheritance Tax (IHT) Residence Nil Rate Band (RNRB) starts being phased in to enable individuals to pass on their family home to direct descendants. The additional nil rate band starts at £100,000 and rises to £175,000 for deaths after 6 April 2010. When fully phased in the additional nil … Continued