The biggest international tax story of recent years broke just as we went to press last month. Thanks to the efforts of hackers some 11.5m documents belonging to the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca were obtained by the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The ICIJ then worked with journalists from 107…
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Reducing your NI bill
It’s a fact that the vast majority of taxpayers in the UK are on PAYE, whether they work for large or small firms, government organisations or even their own limited companies. So we make no apologies, in this new ‘season’ of tax-planning articles, for reviving the ever-relevant topic of how to take your remuneration, as a cog in the business…
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Are you someone with ‘significant control’?
If you have ten minutes, you may like to go online and read Section 1, Schedule 3 of the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, which has introduced new provisions to the Company’s Act 2006. In plain English, it is now necessary for a UK company to keep a beneficial owners’ register, which is open to the public. This…
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The new trading loss relief restrictions (and how to avoid them)
There’s no doubt that, in its erratic and seemingly naive and thoughtless way, HMRC is tightening the noose round the neck of business. One particularly vicious recent attack, which hasn’t really hit the headlines because it only affects the minority of people in this country who are entrepreneurs, involves the ever more draconian restrictions on trading loss relief. It seems…
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What now? Post Brexit thoughts
Whatever your personal opinion about the result of the EU referendum and whatever happens next we are in for a period of uncertainty. As there was no concrete, agreed exit plan prior to the 23rd June and none has yet emmerged it is impossible to do more than guess at what the future holds. In no area is this uncertainty…
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The ex-pat
Following on from the referendum result some 1.5 million British expatriates resident in EU countries are faced with the potential loss of their right to own property, live in it on a permanent basis, work without visas, access healthcare on the same terms as other locals and draw their state pensions after retiring. Many, concerned that the British government will…
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The benefits of loss relief
Over the years I’ve managed to claim sideways expenses and loss relief in relation to horses, classic cars, a yacht and even a small plane. In each and every case I was able to satisfy the Inland Revenue – and later HMRC – that the asset in question was needed as part of a proper, commercial business. To satisfy the…
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Is incorporation worth it?
Traditionally it has been worthwhile for self-employed taxpayers to incorporate their businesses – dividends being taxed at a lower rate than other income. How has the situation changed now that corporation tax is set to fall and dividend tax is increasing? The answer is that in the short term taxpayers will still be marginally better off and that – if…
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A very useful relief
On initial examination I was not that excited about Investor’s Relief. In a nutshell, shareholders can benefit from the 10% capital gains tax rate on the disposal of ordinary shares in an unlisted company for which they have subscribed after 16 March 2016, as long as they have held the shares for at least three years. The three-year period cannot…
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Escaping IHT on family homes
In the first Budget speech of this parliament, George Osborne promised to ‘take the family home out of the inheritance tax net’. If only it were true. In fact, what Osborne has introduced is something called the maximum residence nil rate band (RNRB) – an additional inheritance tax (IHT) allowance available if an individual passed their family home (with a…
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