Children (under 18s) can earn up to £11,500 in the current tax year and pay no income tax. This is the maximum that can be earned during 2017-18 and will include earnings from all sources subject to income tax. The most common are: Income from employment Income from self-employment Bank interest and dividends received – although see comments below. If you are aged 16...
Self-employed and using your own car
There are two options if you use a car in your self-employed business for business and private purposes. You can buy the car through your business, claim a capital allowance, and write off the costs of running the car as a business expense, and in both instances, you will need to adjust your claims to eliminate any private use. In practical...
Tax legislation
Readers may be forgiven for finding the recent rash of announcements by HMRC, regarding possible changes to tax legislation, rather confusing. On 8th September, we were informed that the remaining sections of the March 2017 finance bill, that were deferred due to the May election, were back in circulation and being dealt with by the appropriate committees and debates. Eventually, they...
What are tax-free transfers for Inheritance Tax purposes
There are many reliefs for IHT purposes. They include: Business Property Relief – 100% relief for business assets including an interest in a business, a controlling interest comprising unquoted shares including AIM listed shares, and unlisted shares in a private company. Agricultural Property Relief – 100% relief (occasionally 50%) A controlling interest in a listed company – 50% relief. Certain personal assets used in...
Self-employed tax payments
Self-employed persons and other individuals who submit a self-assessment (SA) tax return should bear in mind that there are only three months until the electronic filing and payment deadline for 2016-17, 31 January 2018. If you have not filed the 2016-17 SA return yet, or at the very least crunched the numbers to work out if you owe any arrears of...
Pay your VAT monthly
If you find it difficult to manage quarterly payments to HMRC to settle your VAT, why not consider the VAT Annual Accounting Scheme (AAS). With the AAS you: make nine payments on account towards your annual VAT bill - based on your last returns (or estimated if you’re new to VAT), and submit one VAT Return a year. When you submit your VAT Return...
Tax Diary October/November 2017
1 October 2017 - Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 December 2016. 19 October 2017 - PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 October 2017. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 October 2017.) 19 October 2017 - Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 October...
What can you do with tax losses
Tax losses can arise due to a difficult trading period. They can also be created if you invest in qualifying equipment and you are able to set this cost against your trading profits – if the cost of the assets exceeds your profits you will have a tax loss. There are three ways you can utilise these losses: Against income or possibly...
What is subject to Stamp Duty Land Tax
Most of us are aware that we pay Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), or the regional equivalents, when we buy a property, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. For example, if you give something of value in exchange for land or property, it will also count towards the chargeable consideration and therefore the amount of SDLT payable. As...
New Data Protection Bill
The Government has published the long-awaited Data Protection Bill that will incorporate most of the provisions set out in the EU General Data Protection Regulation. This will apply from 25 May 2018, and many businesses will need to update their data security arrangements to comply with the new regulations. The Bill will introduce safeguards to prevent and detect fraud, protect the...