Latest Private Client Tax

HMRC Locks Down 100,000 Personal Tax Accounts After Organised Crime Breach HMRC has locked down up to 100,000 online personal tax accounts after discovering unauthorised access linked to a sophisticated scam by organised crime groups. The breach, which resulted in £47 million being fraudulently claimed from HMRC—not from individual taxpayers—was first identified nearly a year…

The Self Assessment return second payment on account deadline is approaching (31 July 2025). Your Whitings contact will be sending out payment reminders with the details of how much income tax you need to pay and what payment reference is needed. These details are also shown on your tax return letter or email for your…

The estate administration period refers to the time between a person’s death and the final distribution of their estate to beneficiaries. During this period, any income generated by the estate, such as interest, dividends, or rental income, is subject to Income Tax and potentially Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on a sale of chargeable assets. Understanding…

Most businesses and personal taxpayers should by now have noticed HMRC’s rollout of Making Tax Digital (MTD). Different colours of Government have tinkered with the timing of the introduction of this new tax administration system, but not the direction of travel.     The launch is working its way through the taxes, starting a few…

The Ely Office held an MTD for ITSA seminar on 30th April which invited clients to have an insight into the upcoming changes for self-employed business owners and landlords with total combined turnover above £50,000. What Did The Day Include? The seminar started with a brief summary of the upcoming changes along with 3 summaries…

Many people choose to donate to charity for a range of reasons, often influenced by personal experiences or the impact of someone they know. While tax benefits are rarely the primary motivation, there are several reliefs and considerations to keep in mind.   My recent article, for the Suffolk Community Foundation, highlights some of the…

Redefining ‘Exceptional Circumstances’: A Human-Centric Approach to the Statutory Residence Test (SRT)   The case of ‘A Taxpayer v HMRC [2025]’ is a significant decision by the Court of Appeal redefining the interpretation of ‘exceptional circumstances’ for the purposes of the UK’s Statutory Residence Test (SRT), and rules that a sufficiently compelling moral obligation can…

Happy New Tax Year!   Now that the new tax year has begun it is time to look at taking advantage of the tax opportunities provided by the renewal of your tax allowances whilst also being the best time to gather and prepare your information for the previous tax year (2024/25).   We will be…

Following Rachel Reeves’ recent Spring Statement, it is clear the government will be cracking down harder on tax advisors, unveiling a 6- week consultation to give HMRC more power to tackle those facilitating non-compliance. Proposals are set to increase scrutiny and issue fines of up to £3,000 a day on UK firms if HMRC suspect…

As I am sure we are all aware, HMRC are able to open investigations into the accuracy of tax returns, VAT returns, payroll, etc. via targeted, or random tax enquiries. With an ever increasing budget deficit we fully expect HMRC to raise more enquiries in the coming years to increase tax revenues.   How Can…