Category: Tax

In his recent Budget the Chancellor announced “We will abolish the annual tax return”. This has attracted a lot of media attention, so what is proposed and will we really see an end of self assessment tax returns? There is not a great deal of information available at the moment but essentially individuals and businesses … Continued

Trivial benefits On 6 April 2015 the change to the trivial benefit rules comes into effect. This will exempt from tax (and Class 1 or Class 1A NI) any benefit in kind given to an employee that has a cash equivalent value of £50 or less including VAT. Such items would typically include small gifts … Continued

It’s been over a year since the Chancellor first announced reforms to how people can access their pension savings. We look at what you need to know about the changes: Flexibility in retirement From this April, people aged over 55 will be able to take their defined contribution pension funds in multiple cash lump sums. … Continued

The VAT registration limit has been increased by £1,000 to £82,000 from 1 April 2015. The de-registration limit also increased by £1,000 to £80,000.

As already announced  in the 2014 Autumn Statement, companies  that are Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) carrying out qualifying Research and Development can currently claim a corporation tax deduction of 225% of their qualifying spend. This relief is being increased to 230% with effect from 1 April 2015. In order to improve the cash … Continued

A single corporation tax rate of 20% will apply from 1 April 2015 whatever the level of your company’s profits. As already announced in the 2014 Autumn Statement there will be a new 25% rate of tax on profits artificially diverted by multi-national companies away from the United Kingdom, being labelled “Google Tax”.

The Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) provides a 100% tax write off for the cost of most plant and machinery acquired by businesses, a notable exception being motor cars. In Budget 2014 the Chancellor announced that the allowance would be increased to £500,000 per annum for expenditure incurred between 1 April 2014 and 31 December 2015 … Continued

The Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) allows charities to treat small donations such as those in collecting boxes as if Gift Aided. With effect from 6 April 2016 the maximum annual donation amount which can be claimed through GASDS will be increased from £5,000 to £8,000 allowing charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs to … Continued

You may recall that in the 2014 Autumn Statement it was announced that it is no longer possible to claim CGT entrepreneurs’ relief against the gains arising on the sale on or after 3 December 2014 of goodwill by a sole trader or partnership to a limited company in which they have a controlling interest. … Continued

It had already been announced that the CGT annual exempt amount would increase to £11,100 for 2015/16. With a top CGT rate of 28% this allowance potentially saves £3,108 a year, or £6,216 for a married couple. There has been no change in the inheritance tax nil rate band which remains at £325,000 until 2018.  … Continued