Latest Private Client Tax

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…

DIY Builder VAT Reclaims:  Get the detail right. A recent tax tribunal case highlighted the point of completion of a new build project in relation to DIY builder VAT claims. It noted that it is not necessarily the date on the Certificate of Completion which represents a building project as being finished. The Certificate can…

Pension Contributions: Maximum now restricted by tapered annual allowance. The annual allowance is the maximum value of pensions savings that you, your employer and other third parties can pay into your pensions each year without incurring a tax charge. The standard annual allowance for the 2016/17 tax year is £40,000. If you are a high-income individual…

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…

Untaxed Interest Letter from HMRC: Are you one of the ‘lucky’ ones? HMRC have recently sent out 10,000 letters to individual taxpayers whose Self Assessment Tax returns indicate that they have been in receipt of untaxed interest in the 2014/15 tax year. The letter invites the taxpayer to reconsider the entries on their return, to…

HMRC Personal Tax Account: Now able to obtain state pension forecast. HMRC’s Personal tax account has been in operation for 10 months now, and over 3.5 million users have registered to date. The account will be at the heart of the forthcoming ‘Making Tax Digital’ changes, and is currently in Public Beta testing. Whilst further…

Gift Aid: Claim your own tax relief… When we make gift aid donations to registered charities, the charity is able to reclaim 20% of what we give from HMRC, provided we have paid sufficient tax to frank the gift made.

Beware: Fake HMRC telephone call scam. We have recently been contacted by a couple of our clients saying they have received phone calls claiming to be from H M Revenue & Customs.  One such phone call started with an automated message stating that “This is Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs. We have been trying to reach…

Taxing Gains on Life Insurance Policies: HMRC start consultation. These investments take many forms but they’re perhaps most commonly known as single premium investment bonds. The way in which the proceeds of full or partial encashment is taxed can produce some bizarre results. HMRC are consulting on ways by which the unfortunate experience of one…