Child benefit tax trap
This post is a reminder that a family claiming the weekly Child Benefit (currently, £20.70 a week for eldest or only child and £13.70 a week for additional children) may get an unwelcome tax bill if either parents’ income exceeds £50,000 during a tax year. If either parent had income over £50,000 for the tax […]
How are dividends taxed?
Dividends received from shares held in UK companies form part of a tax-payers self-assessment. The payments are made by the paying company without any deduction of tax and therefore the amount received is the sum that needs to be declared. Dividends are paid out of the company’s retained profits – these are profits after any […]
Brexit , no end in sight
On the 12 March the government updated its advice to traders with the EU. The advice assumes a no-deal outcome. On the basis that being prepared for the worst possible outcome, and a no-deal result is universally accepted to be a disaster for UK businesses, we are reproducing in full the text of the letter […]
Pension shakeup
The past week, and who knows for how long into the future, has been a crazy week for politics in the UK. Brexit is challenging the way manage our democracy and it will be interesting to see how matters are resolved to observe the results of the EU referendum and cope with the apparent splits […]
No tax when you sell your home?
The private residence relief allows you to sell your home without paying any capital gains tax (CGT) on the profit you make on the sale. If only life was that simple. Unfortunately, there are occasions when CGT may be payable. For example, if part of your home has been used exclusively for your business a […]
Spring Statement 13 March 2019
The following comments were written on the 13th March 2019 immediately following Philip Hammond’s presentation of the 2019 Spring Statement to Parliament. In theory, the Government uses the Spring Statement to respond to the most recent forecasts made by the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR). In a nut-shell, the OBR forecast that: the UK economy […]
Holiday entitlement
According to government sources if you work a five day week, you are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year. This is known as our statutory or annual leave entitlement. At first sight, 5.6 weeks looks to be an odd number of days, but it refers to a normal working week of five days. […]
Register your trade mark
As we take steps to disentangle ourselves from the EU and make our mark in the wider global economy this may be a good time to consider any brand recognition marks you may be using and give serious consideration to getting them registered. There is a formal registration process linked to the gov.uk website, see […]
Loans to employees
A reminder that if your business makes a loan to your employees or their relatives this can create tax problems for both employees and employers. And please don’t forget that the term “employee” includes directors, and also that loans to family members may be caught. For example, the employer will have an obligation to report […]
Limitations of tax relief when you sell your home
It is a commonly held point of view that when you sell your home you won’t pay any tax, and in particular, that you won’t pay any Capital Gains Tax on the difference between the purchase and sales prices. Unfortunately, there are circumstances when this is not true. For example, you may have some tax […]
