If you have recently started to receive your State Pension, you may, or may not, have noticed that it is paid without deduction of tax. This can have a number of unforeseen tax consequences: If your total income including your State Pension is less than your personal tax allowance then there is no tax to pay and you can spend your...
Tax Diary April/May 2014
1 April 2014 - Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 30 June 2013. 19 April 2014 - PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 April 2014. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 April 2014.) 19 April 2014 - Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 April...
Investing in plant and equipment?
If expenditure on plant and equipment qualifies for the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) 100% of the cost can be written off against taxable profits. The amount that can be written off as AIA expenditure has changed a number of times in the past few years. Immediately before 31 December 2012 the (AIA) was set at a maximum spend of £25,000. From 1 January...
Budget highlights
We have reproduced two of the more surprising changes announced in the Budget notes published immediately following George Osborne’s presentation last week. HMRC to be given powers to raid bank accounts: “The government will modernise and strengthen HMRC’s debt collection powers to recover financial assets from the bank accounts of debtors who owe over £1,000 of tax or tax credit debts, have...
Budget Statement 19 March 2014
Personal Tax, Stamp Duty Land Tax and miscellaneous matters Personal Tax allowance The personal allowance for those born after 5 April 1948 will be: For 2014-15 - £10,000 For 2015-16 - £10,500 Income Tax rate bands There was significant press commentary prior to the Budget announcements lobbying for an increase in the threshold at which tax payers are liable to the 40% Income Tax rate. The...
HMRC to use Mr Bean film makers
In a bizarre attempt to create positive PR for HMRC, Channel 4 has been given unprecedented access to HM Revenue and Customs as they pursue tax evaders and collect unpaid tax. Tiger Aspect Productions, the production company behind Mr Bean, will be filming HMRC staff as they target the so-called high risk sectors: the building trade, health sector, off-shore bank account...
Treasury hungry for ideas
George Osborne is delivering his Budget speech Wednesday of this week. It will be interesting to see if his plea for ideas to help smaller businesses has received a sympathetic ear. Here’s what a number of organisations have requested: British Chambers of Commerce The BCC have made three recommendations: A £100m scheme to pay businesses £1,000 if they hire long term unemployed young...
Reducing tax evasion and avoidance
Just in case you have missed the news – that HMRC are stepping up their campaigns to stop tax avoidance and evasion – you may be interested to read the following quotes from HMRC and the Treasury: “Issue The difference between the revenues that in HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) view should come in, and the total actually collected by HMRC, is...
Small Business Rates Relief
According to Gov.uk you can get small business rates relief if you only have one business property and its rateable value is under £12,000. Here’s a summary of the relief on offer: Current relief on offer: Until 31 March 2015 you’ll get 100% relief (doubled from the usual rate of 50%) for properties with a rateable value of £6,000 or less. This means...
Budget speculation
Speculation is rife that George Osborne is under pressure to pre-empt possible interest rate increases next year by offering tax cuts in the forthcoming Budget announcements on 19 March. Polling day for the 2015 general election is 7 May so an announcement to increase the basic personal allowance (presently £10,000) may be an option as this would feed into taxpayers’ pockets...