The stamp duty land tax-free threshold in England and Northern Ireland reduced last month, as the tax holiday introduced in July 2020 began to be phased out. The first cliff edge for residential property buyers came and went on 30 June 2021, marking the end of a three-month extension announced on 3 March 2021. Buyers … Continued
UK tax incentive ‘fails to deliver extra R&D spending’
The UK’s research and development (R&D) tax credit system is failing to prompt companies to increase spending and could prove a “costly failure”, a report claims. The Centre for Business Research (CBR) said aggregate business expenditure on R&D in the UK is as much as 15% lower than it was before the scheme was introduced … Continued
OTS considers bringing the end of the tax year forward
The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) is to explore changing the end of the tax year from 5 April to either 31 March or the end of the calendar year. The OTS published a document last month setting out the scope of a review into the benefits, costs and wider implications of changing the date. … Continued
Families hit with big bills after believing gifts would not be taxed
Almost 2,000 people who thought they’d reduced the values of their estates by making gifts have seen an inheritance tax break stripped away. Inheritance tax is charged at 40% on individual estates worth more than £325,000, and this can double for married couples. Other allowances and exemptions are available to increase this threshold or taper … Continued
HMRC seeks to remove VAT repayment supplement
The 5% VAT repayment supplement is set to be replaced with the 0.5% repayment interest rate for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2022. VAT repayments are usually made within 30 days of HMRC receiving a business’s VAT return, but the tax authority can enquire into the VAT return before processing the repayment. … Continued
HMRC rolls out new measures to ‘tackle CIS abuse’
Four new measures affecting the construction industry scheme (CIS) were enacted from 6 April 2021 as HMRC cracks down on tackling abuse of the scheme. First, the tax authority can now amend the CIS deductions suffered and reclaimed on real-time information via the employment payment summary to an amount matching any evidence HMRC holds. If … Continued
VAT-registered firms start using digital links under MTD
A million businesses need to have digital links in place to submit VAT returns and comply with phase two of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT. All VAT-registered firms have until their first VAT return period, starting on or after 1 April 2021, to put digital links in place. A digital link is an electronic … Continued
Super-deduction tempts 51% of manufacturers to invest
Investment in the UK’s manufacturing sector is poised to rise as a result of the capital allowances super-deduction. The super-deduction enables companies that invest in qualifying new plant and machinery to benefit from a 130% first-year capital allowance. The policy kicked in on 1 April 2021 and allows companies to cut their tax bill by … Continued
VAT-registration and deregistration thresholds frozen until 2024/25
The Treasury has frozen the UK’s VAT thresholds for a further two years in a bid to start repairing tattered public finances following COVID-19. Businesses with annual taxable turnover of more than £85,000 have to register for UK VAT and file digital VAT returns through compatible software. This VAT-registration threshold for 2021/22 remains at £85,000 … Continued
Treasury issues guidance on the final two self-employed grants
More help for the self-employed has been announced, with the final two income support grants available until the end of September 2021. The fourth taxable grant available through the self-employed income support scheme (SEISS) covers a three-month period from 1 February to 30 April 2021. As with two of the previous SEISS grants, the fourth … Continued