HMRC have the right to enquire into any type of tax return, with common areas of investigation being self-assessment tax returns, corporation tax returns, PAYE submissions, and VAT returns. Some enquires are carried out at random, but the majority are selected by way of risk assessment. HMRC have a sophisticated risk assessment computer system,…
Many businesses invest in science and technology research and development to improve their competitiveness. The UK Government encourages companies to develop new processes, products and services, as well as improvements to existing solutions by giving tax relief as a proportion of qualifying R&D expenditure. From April 2023 there are a few changes to the rules:…
Maximising future entitlement to state pension may not be at the forefront of people’s minds, but following the introduction of the new State Pension in 2016, the ability to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions to ‘fill’ gaps will become far more limited from April next year. You can usually only pay for gaps in…
As the British pound falls to record lows against the dollar, this generally has severe consequences for many businesses, especially those buying from the US. Unless companies have already bought forward or hold dollars, the impact will be much higher purchase prices for their goods. For low margin businesses, this could have the potential to…
Whitings Wealth Management is pleased to announce that we have been recognised by Citywire New Model Adviser publication as one of the Top 100 adviser firms in the UK. Our aim, as it has always been, is to help make your difficult investment, pensions and protection financial decisions a little easier , through support…
With a different Chancellor in the driving seat once again, we have seen the government announce further changes since their ‘Growth Plan’, which was delivered on 23 September. In a statement on Monday 17 October, the Chancellor announced a reversal of almost all of the tax measures set out in the Growth Plan that have…
If you were interested in offering your employees the Cycle to Work Scheme, there are three main methods you could use: Salary Sacrifice Loan Pooled cycles Method 1: Salary Sacrifice Under this method, your employee would be agreeing to sacrificing part of their salary before tax and you would provide the hire of…
What is a scheme pays election? Scheme pays is a facility that allows you to ask NHS pensions to pay some or all your annual allowance excess charge. However, by making a scheme pays election you suffer a permanent reduction in the pension benefits that you will receive in retirement. If I make a scheme…
The Prime Minister has announced today that she will reverse her recent mini-Budget plan to scrap next years increase in corporation tax rates. From April 2023, the main rate of corporation tax for companies with profits of £250,000 (assuming no associated companies) or more will be 25%. For those with profits of £50,000 or less the…
From Monday 3 October 2022, the UK government has changed the ‘small’ company threshold, which is expected to remove 40,000 businesses from certain reporting regulations. Since January 2016, a company qualifies as ‘small’ in the year that it does not exceed two or more of the following: Annual turnover: £10.2m Gross Assets: …