The past week, and who knows for how long into the future, has been a crazy week for politics in the UK. Brexit is challenging the way manage our democracy and it will be interesting to see how matters are resolved to observe the results of the EU referendum and cope with the apparent splits amongst members of parliament. And yet,...
No tax when you sell your home?
The private residence relief allows you to sell your home without paying any capital gains tax (CGT) on the profit you make on the sale. If only life was that simple. Unfortunately, there are occasions when CGT may be payable. For example, if part of your home has been used exclusively for your business a proportion of any gain would be...
Spring Statement 13 March 2019
The following comments were written on the 13th March 2019 immediately following Philip Hammond’s presentation of the 2019 Spring Statement to Parliament. In theory, the Government uses the Spring Statement to respond to the most recent forecasts made by the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR). In a nut-shell, the OBR forecast that: the UK economy will continue to grow, and Government borrowing, and...
Holiday entitlement
According to government sources if you work a five day week, you are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year. This is known as our statutory or annual leave entitlement. At first sight, 5.6 weeks looks to be an odd number of days, but it refers to a normal working week of five days. Accordingly, the 5.6 weeks translates to...
Register your trade mark
As we take steps to disentangle ourselves from the EU and make our mark in the wider global economy this may be a good time to consider any brand recognition marks you may be using and give serious consideration to getting them registered. There is a formal registration process linked to the gov.uk website, see https://www.gov.uk/how-to-register-a-trade-mark/apply A summary of what you can...
Tax Diary March/April 2019
1 March 2019 - Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 May 2018. 2 March 2019 – Self assessment tax for 2017/18 paid after this date will incur a 5% surcharge. 19 March 2019 - PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 March 2019. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 March...
Changes to minimum wage rates
From April 2019, minimum pay rates will increase as set out below. National Living Wage (NLW) rates for workers aged 25 and over - from £7.83 to £8.21 per hour. National Minimum Wage rates: workers aged 21–24 — from £7.38 to £7.70 per hour workers aged 18–20 — from £5.90 to £6.15 per hour workers aged 16–18 — from £4.20 to £4.35 per hour apprentice rate...
Last call for VAT traders to prepare for new filing regulations
As we have mentioned before in this newsletter, VAT returns filed for periods commencing on or after 1 April 2019, may need to be filed using the new Making Tax Digital (MTD) protocols. The new filing obligations will apply to VAT registered businesses with turnover above the current VAT registration limit, £85,000. To comply with MTD firms will need to file...
Limitations of tax relief when you sell your home
It is a commonly held point of view that when you sell your home you won’t pay any tax, and in particular, that you won’t pay any Capital Gains Tax on the difference between the purchase and sales prices. Unfortunately, there are circumstances when this is not true. For example, you may have some tax to pay if you have let...
Loans to employees
A reminder that if your business makes a loan to your employees or their relatives this can create tax problems for both employees and employers. And please don’t forget that the term “employee” includes directors, and also that loans to family members may be caught. For example, the employer will have an obligation to report a beneficial loan to HMRC (and...