A reminder that making loans to your employees or their relatives can create tax problems for employees and employers. For example, the employer will have an obligation to report a beneficial loan to HMRC and the deemed benefit would be a taxable benefit in kind for the relevant employee. A beneficial loan is one that is interest free or the...
Inheritance tax in for an overhaul
The Office for Tax Simplification (OTS) has been tasked by government to review key aspects of the inheritance tax (IHT) legislation. According to information posted to the government’s website recently, the review would appear to be wide ranging. Issues to be examined include: The process around submitting IHT returns and paying any tax, including cases where it is clear from the...
Tax-free childcare support expanded
From 14 February 2018, tax-free childcare is available to all remaining eligible families: parents whose youngest child is under 12. The new scheme aims to help working parents with the cost of childcare. According to government, it is quick and easy to apply, and parents could save thousands of pounds each year. For every £8 parents pay into their childcare account,...
Claiming expenses by the mile
A reminder that employees can make a claim for the business use of their own cars, motorcycles or cycles by logging their business mileage and applying an approved mileage rate. Mileage allowance payments (MAPs) are the HMRC approved rates used by most employers to reimburse employees when they use their own transport for business purposes. The current rates have remained unchanged...
Tax Diary March/April 2018
1 March 2018 - Due date for corporation tax due for the year ended 31 May 2017. 2 March 2018 – Self assessment tax for 2016/17 paid after this date will incur a 5% surcharge. 19 March 2018 - PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 March 2018. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 March...
Just a few weeks to the end of the tax year
The 5 April 2018, is the next key marker for tax advisors, the end of the current tax year. Why is this date especially important? Each tax year, taxpayers are granted a number of tax-free allowances, exemptions and reliefs, and in most circumstances, if you don’t take advantage of these reliefs they are lost; they cannot be carried forwards. Basic allowances...
Muras Matters: Company Cars – Changes to Advisory Fuel Rates
Company Cars Changes to Advisory Fuel Rates This Bulletin is aimed at company car drivers (and their employers) who are not provided with fuel for private mileage HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have changed their advisory fuel rates for company cars with effect from 1 March 2018. The rates are intended to give guidance to employers about what is an acceptable fuel...
Inheritance tax due for a shakeup
The government has tasked the department charged with simplifying our present tax system with taking a fresh look at inheritance task. The scope of their review has just been published. It says: The review will consider how key aspects of the current IHT system work and whether and how they might be simplified. This will include a combination of administrative and...
Requirement to correct tax due on offshore assets
A new legal requirement is included in the Finance (No. 2) Act 2017 that creates an obligation for anyone who has undeclared UK tax liabilities that involve offshore matters or transfers to disclose the relevant information about this non-compliance to HMRC by 30 September 2018. Failure to disclose the relevant information to HMRC on or before 30 September 2018 will result...
This takes the biscuit
In a recent hearing before a tax tribunal, HMRC led the charge to insist that bicarbonate of soda (BoS) was a chemical not a food of a kind used for human consumption. Why was this important? HMRC had issued an assessment amounting to £291,000 to hapless food company, Phoenix Foods Ltd, as they had treated the sale of BoS to their customers...