The Government has at last increased National Insurance (NI) and dividend tax by 1.25 percentage points after months of anticipation. The 1.25% uplift came into effect on 6 April 2022 and will apply until April 2023, after which a separate health and social care levy will apply on peoples’ income at 1.25%. The Government said … Continued
IR35 reform landing period ends
Penalties now apply to businesses that make mistakes under new IR35 rules for the private sector. The Government extended the off-payroll working rules reform to the private sector in April 2021, but promised to be lenient on mistakes in the first year. The landing period has now ended, so employers caught within the reformed IR35 … Continued
House of Lords raises concerns over IR35
The Economic Affairs’ Finance Sub-Committee of the House of Lords has written to the Government, listing key recommendations on off-payroll working rules known as IR35. IR35 legislation aims to prevent tax avoidance by workers who contract out their services through a personal limited company for tax purposes but enjoy the perks a regular employee would. … Continued
Over one million individuals use extra time to file tax returns
More than one million individuals completed their self-assessment tax return by the extended deadline at the end of February 2022. HMRC estimates 11.3m of 12.2m of the taxpayers who had to file a self-assessment tax return for the 2020/21 tax year did so by 28 February 2022. Individuals and trusts required to submit a self-assessment … Continued
HMRC eyes reform of stamp taxes and multiple dwellings
Changes to reform multiple dwellings relief and how stamp duty land tax is calculated on purchases of mixed-use properties could be in the pipeline. A 12-week consultation closed last month, after HMRC sought feedback on proposals to crack down on abuse by restricting homeowners from obtaining the relief. Multiple dwellings relief is available when at … Continued
Two million people missed self-assessment deadline
More than two million people missed a self-assessment tax return deadline on 31 January 2022, according to HMRC. The tax authority said more than 10.2 million returns were filed ahead of the original deadline, leaving 2.3 million still to file. Late-filers had until 28 February 2022 to file their 2020/21 tax returns online before being … Continued
HMRC waives penalties again for late self-assessment
Anyone who missed last month’s self-assessment deadline has until 28 February 2022 to file their tax returns online before being fined. HMRC said last month that fines would not be enforced on taxpayers who missed the 2020/21 deadline at midnight on 31 January 2022. The tax authority said COVID-19 had piled added pressure on individuals … Continued
Report sheds more light on changes to R&D regime
More details have emerged on upcoming changes to the UK’s research and development (R&D) regime, which will take effect from April 2023. The Treasury published a report on R&D following last year’s Autumn Budget, in which Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced several new measures. “If we want greater private-sector innovation, we need to make our R&D … Continued
One in four buy-to-let landlords ‘plan to sell up in 2022’
Almost a quarter of landlords plan to sell up over the next 12 months as buy-to-let becomes increasingly difficult to navigate, a report has claimed. Research from the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) found that 23% of property investors intend to dispose of an additional residential property this year. Buy-to-let landlords said tougher tax rules, … Continued
HMRC issues last reminder for 2020/21 personal tax returns
HMRC is reminding taxpayers that the deadline to submit 2020/21 personal tax returns through self-assessment is on or before midnight on 31 January 2022. Some 407,510 startups were created during the 2020/21 tax year, despite the challenges presented by the pandemic. Those who are unincorporated require a unique taxpayer (UTR) code to file their first … Continued