Latest Tax Planning

In a bid to give companies more certainty over whether or not their R&D claim will be successful, HMRC introduced an advance assurance process in November 2015. If you pass this new test, HMRC will agree not to enquire into your R&D claims for the first 3 accounting periods of claiming this relief. So is…

Several years ago changes were made to the H M Revenue & Customs policy regarding recovery of output VAT paid over but which hadn’t been received within 6 months of the due date.  Relief for the output VAT can now be obtained much more easily than under the historic process whereby notification was required to…

All the clauses relating to Making Tax Digital (MTD) have been dropped from the Finance Bill, so many people have been asking if this means MTD will no longer go ahead?  We think that this is highly unlikely. The Finance Bill has been reduced from 762 pages to an expected 140 pages in order that…

Buy-to-let Mortgages: Tax relief restrictions soon to commence. The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) issued a press release today reminding residential property landlords that the first phase of the restriction of tax relief for mortgage interest commences in April. The change means that finance costs (including mortgage interest) will no longer be deductible in full…

Income Tax Married couples – consider transferring assets between spouses, to ensure income is taxed at the lowest marginal rate, Let properties – if you let property in need of re-decoration, repair, etc, consider bringing forward expenditure to accelerate tax relief, Family businesses – consider employment of spouse or increasing the employed spouse’s earnings, to…

Wed-8-Mar-17: Consider Advance Pension Contributions? Another budget looms, on 8th March. Tax planning would be much easier if we all had the benefit of a crystal ball, but we don’t.   We expect that there will be some announcements in the Budget surrounding Making Tax Digital and the promised review of the R&D regime, but…

Voluntary Payment of Class 2 NIC by Self-Employed: Protect your state pension ? Self-employed individuals and Partners in trading Partnerships now pay class 2 national insurance contributions annually on 31st January following the end of the tax year through their Self-Assessment Return. Prior to 5th April 2015 those on low incomes had to pay Class…

Securing Entitlement to a State Pension ‘Credit’ without actually paying any NIC. Entrepreneurs that trade through a limited company can set how and how much they are remunerated. It is possible to avoid paying any NIC, yet still obtain a ‘credit’ for that particular tax year for future state pension purposes, by paying a salary…

Although the amount of tax ultimately paid on profits will be the same if you obtain CIS gross payment status, improvements in cashflow and reductions in the cost of credit, such as overdraft interest, should easily make the application process worthwhile. To be eligible to gain CIS gross payment status and receive payments from contractors…

Minimising the tax paid on profits is a key aim of most SME businesses. The tax benefits of trading through a limited company, as compared to operating as a sole trader or partnership, soon becomes attractive as profits grow.