Latest blogs for Specialisms

Owners of commercial properties that do not have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of ‘A’ to ‘E’ will need to carry out sufficient works to urgently improve the rating before 1 April 2023, unless specifically exempt. Whilst not directly tax or accountancy related, this change is affecting a lot of landlord clients. The current…

Annual tax on enveloped dwellings (ATED) is an annual tax charge payable by companies, partnerships (with at least one corporate partner) and certain collective investment schemes that own UK Residential properties exceeding £500,000.   Revaluation dates For ATED purposes, properties need to be revalued at fixed revaluation dates, regardless of when the property was acquired.…

From 1 April 2023 there are a few changes to the ‘super-generous’ R&D tax relief rules: The Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) rate will increase from 13% to 20%, The SME additional deduction will decrease from 130% to 86% and the SME tax credit (surrender) rate will decrease from 14.5% to 10%. Additional costs…

HMRC have guidance on their website to assist landlords, that now includes a couple of useful webinars, which you can find here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/help-and-support-for-landlords.   This is however just a general overview and, as there are many aspects of letting businesses which are not clear, we would always suggest getting advice from the outset. Failure to…

Former rugby player and Sky commentator, Stuart Barnes, has won his £695k appeal against HMRC. HMRC determined his contract for Sky from 2013 to 2019 should be subject to Income Tax and National Insurance.   Using previous case law, it was agreed there was mutuality of obligation (MOO) and a sufficient degree of control by…

Do you jointly own a property? Is this actually funded/owned other than 50:50? Are you a high earner and your spouse a basic earner?   If you have answered yes to these, then tax election notification Form 17 is an easy way to help save tax as a couple! Without this, HMRC will default to…

After Press speculation over the weekend, it’s official, HMRC have now confirmed that the introduction of Making Tax Digital for income tax is to be delayed for 2 years: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2022-12-19/hcws465 The mandate of MTD for ITSA will now be introduced from April 2026, with businesses, self-employed individuals, and landlords with income over £50,000 mandated to…

In the 2020/21 tax year, record amounts of CGT was recorded, with the total CGT liability increasing by 42% from the previous year. This does not come as much of a surprise, as 2020/21 was the first year the ‘CGT on UK property service’ was introduced.   However, HMRC have recently reported that, in the…

Unlike other properties, FHL’s benefit from a number of tax advantages including capital allowances on domestic items and full deductibility of mortgage interest. FHL’s also benefit from Capital Gains Tax (CGT) reliefs on disposals including Business Asset Disposal Relief, Rollover Relief and Holdover Relief.   For a property to qualify as an FHL for the…

Landlords currently using self-assessment will be required to switch to using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment (MTD for ITSA for short) and applies to all landlords whose total property income is in excess of £10,000 per year, including: • Rental income from UK rental properties   • Other UK property income such as…