If you personally disposed of an asset that is subject to a capital gains tax (CGT) charge, at any time during the tax year ending 5 April 2019, any CGT due will need to be paid 31 January 2020. Accordingly, if you know the amount of the taxable gain, and the amount of CGT payable, you still have more than ten...
What is a Debt Relief Order?
The first Debt Relief Order (DRO) was approved 10 years ago in April 2009 with the aim of assisting people with small levels of assets and little surplus income deal with their debts*. Since then, the Insolvency Service has approved more than 254,000 DROs to people with debts worth an average of £9,400. People apply for a DRO through an authorised debt...
Can\’t pay your tax?
A reminder that HMRC may consider extended options for settling your outstanding tax bill. The key is to contact HMRC, explain why you can’t pay on time, and discuss how you can settle any outstanding liabilities. If you can’t pay before the deadline, call the Business Payment Support Service. Anyone can use this service, not just businesses. Business Payment Support Service Telephone: 0300...
Green light for pension dashboards
The government has given the green light to allow pension providers to create user-friendly services that display pension information for individuals on-line. Savers will be in the driving seat with all the facts and figures about their pensions and potential retirement income at their fingertips in one place for the first time - on smartphones, tablets and computers. Work and Pensions Secretary...
Tax-free property and trading allowances
Since April 2017, you can earn £1,000 from a trading activity and £1,000 of property related income, without being liable to income tax. These tax-free allowances on property and trading income are useful as families can generate an extra £2,000 a year of income without increasing their tax bills. Obviously, these small amounts will not be a replacement for your day-job, but...
What will HMRC avoid telling you?
There are three things that you can count on that HMRC will do: Calculate the amount of tax you owe based on the information they have gathered. Chase you for payment of this tax if not recovered by PAYE. Pursue you if they believe you have under-declared your taxable income or made excessive claims to reduce your tax. What they will not do is...
Retaining business records
Sole traders If you are self-employed, and obliged to submit a self-assessment tax return, you must keep your tax records for at least five years after the 31 January submission deadline of the relevant tax year. For example, if you submit your 2018-19 tax return online on or before 31 January 2020, you must keep your records until at least the...
Spring Statement 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). However, what follows is a short summary of the points Philip Hammond did raise. Employment Since 2010 there...
BREXIT update
The last few weeks have seen some of the most extraordinary political manoeuvrings in the UK parliament, and as we complete the edit of this article, the EU parliament seems to have given us a few extra weeks to complete the withdrawal agreement and get a final draft agreed by parliament. The formal statement issued late last night (22 March...
Can’t pay your tax?
A reminder that HMRC may consider extended options for settling your outstanding tax bill. The key is to contact HMRC, explain why you can’t pay on time, and discuss how you can settle any outstanding liabilities. If you can’t pay before the deadline, call the Business Payment Support Service. Anyone can use this service, not just businesses. Business Payment Support Service Telephone: 0300...