TRACING LOST PENSION PLANS

Helping you plan for your retirement is one of our core services, ensuring you are prepared when the time comes to call it a day.

With medical advances enabling more people to live for longer, the average person who retires at 65 lives for another 20 years.

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TAX IMPLICATIONS OF PROVIDING COMPANY CARS

Offering a company car as a benefit can be a valuable and attractive perk to any valued employee.

Unfortunately, it is not necessarily a tax-free perk and it may be liable for PAYE because HMRC considers the private use of a company car to be a benefit-in-kind.

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Tax Insider 2020

Included in this month’s article:

  • RELIEF AS SUNAK EXTENDS FURLOUGH SCHEME UNTIL THE END OF OCTOBER
  • BUSINESSES CLAIM BILLIONS IN STATE SUPPORT TO EASE CASHFLOW FEARS
  • CORONAVIRUS IMPACT PLACES THE UK ECONOMY INTO ‘SIGNIFICANT RECESSION’
  • HMRC RELAXES STANCE ON HOME OFFICE EQUIPMENT UNTIL 2021/22
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THE CAPITAL GOODS SCHEME FOR VAT

The VAT capital goods scheme affects input VAT recovery
relating to high-value capital assets. Input VAT is a tax incurred
on most purchases made by VAT-registered firms, and they can
usually reclaim it from HMRC in full.

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HMRC RESUMES INVESTIGATIONS AFTER COVID-19

After temporarily pausing tax investigations as COVID-19
business support measures rolled out earlier this year, HMRC
has restarted probes into businesses and individuals’ tax affairs.

The Revenue has also started to direct its attention towards the
misuse of coronavirus support schemes, such as the furlough
scheme and the self-employed income support scheme.

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TRUSTS AND PASSING ON WEALTH

There are many ways to reduce or eliminate the inheritance tax
payable on your estate without using trusts.

But for some, especially if you are very wealthy, they may not be
enough. For others, the control that trusts give over who benefits
from your wealth, and how, is vital for estate planning.

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July 2020 Tax Insider

Included in this month’s issue:

  • UK ECONOMY SLUMPS INTO RECESSION AFTER RECORD CONTRACTION IN APRIL
  • BUILDERS’ CASHFLOW CHAOS PROMPTS FURTHER REVERSE CHARGE VAT DELAY
  • GOVERNMENT CLARIFIES FURLOUGH SCHEME STANCE FOR EMPLOYERS
  • SELF-EMPLOYED GRANTS ‘ARE LIABLE FOR TAX AND NATIONAL INSURANCE’
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2020 Budget Report

We are pleased to enclose out 2020 budget for your attention. Some of the more interesting/concerning points are:
 
· The lifetime limit on qualifying disposals eligible for the 10% tax rate is reduced from £10m to £1m for disposals made on or after 11 March 2020.
· Cash grants for businesses with a rateable value of less than £15,000
· A temporary loan scheme for SMEs
· A 30-day window for paying capital gains tax on property sales kicks in from 6 April – you will need to prepare your calculations before you sell any property.
· Corporation tax to stay at 19%
· Firms with rateable values of less than £51,000 in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors won’t have to pay business rates from April 2020 for a full year
· A 6.2% increase in National living wages to £8.72 from 6 April 2020
· Principal private residence relief to fall to 9 months in the final period (originally the last 3 years)
· Reverse charge VAT in the construction industry confirmed to start the 1 October 2020
· A significant increase in the pensions taper relief
· Class 1 & Class 4 National Insurance threshold will rise to £9500 from April 2020
· Employment Allowance will rise to £4,000pa from April 2020
 
Enjoy your read and please contact us to discuss any points – clearly there is a lot of new information here and it will take a few weeks for the Government to filter down how everything will work.

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April 2020 Tax Insider

INCLUDED IN THIS ARTICLE:
– COVID-19 POSTPONES OFF-PAYROLL EXTENSION TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR
– CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC PROMPTS ONE-YEAR BUSINESS RATES HOLIDAY
– CHANCELLOR UPS ANNUAL PENSION ALLOWANCE THRESHOLDS BY £90,000
– ENTREPRENEURS’ RELIEF LIFETIME LIMIT SLASHED FROM £10M TO £1M

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2019-20 Year End Tax Guide

The last few months of the tax year are the ideal time to pause and reflect, and to make sure you’ve organised your finances as efficiently as possible before the new tax year begins on 6 April 2020.

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TQOTW: LOANS TO EMPLOYEES

Many of my small company clients often have overdrawn director loan accounts. When considering minimising the beneficial loan charge, what interest can be taken into account to reduce or cancel the benefit charge?

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TQOTW: TRAINING COSTS

My client is a surgeon who is currently employed by the NHS. During the year, he has attended various training courses to enable him to keep up to date with changes in the profession and gain new qualifications to further his career. Can he deduct the cost of attending these courses from his employment income?

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VQOTW: RECOVERY OF VAT INCURRED PRIOR TO VAT REGISTRATION

My client ran his decorating business for three years as a sole trader and is now going to incorporate. As a sole trader his turnover never quite reached the registration threshold but he will VAT register when he incorporates as a lot of his customers are now contractors. Will he be able to recover VAT on his limited company registration on the van, tools, and equipment he bought as a sole trader and will still use in the company?

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TQOTW: DEFERRED STATE PENSION

Anne (aged 66) and Brian (aged 68) are a couple who could have started to draw their state pension a few years ago but they chose instead to keep on running their own trading company and defer taking it. From a look at their records for 2018/19, it’s clear that they both started to draw on their state pension in the year but with different effects on their income tax calculations for the year because Brian has received a lump sum but Anne hasn’t.

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TQOTW: JOINT RENTAL INCOME

My husband and I jointly own a rental property, the income of which we declare 50:50 on our Tax Returns. I have been promoted and will be a higher rate taxpayer going forward. Is it possible for my husband to be taxed on a greater proportion of the rental income as he is a basic rate taxpayer?

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R&D TAX CREDITS IN PRACTICE

The UK tax system is complicated but research and development
(R&D) tax credits can be especially tricky to understand.

That’s partly because what counts as R&D, and what amounts
to true innovation, is judged on a case-by-case basis against
criteria that can seem almost abstract.

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DIFFERENT TYPES OF BUSINESS STRUCTURES

You’ve got a business idea, you’ve got the skills, the concept,
the motivation and maybe even someone that’s keen to pay for
your services, but where do you start? What will you call your
business? What business structure will suit it best?

It may be that as your business grows you run through several
different structures, but most firms will set up one way and
remain just that, even as their turnover grows or falls.

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TQOTW: RESIDENCE NIL RATE BAND

My client has left their main residence to their children through a discretionary trust in their will. If a deed of variation is done within 2 years of the date of death would the residence nil rate band still be available?

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TQOTW: ANNUAL INVESTMENT ALLOWANCE (AIA)

My client company has a year-end of 31st May 2019 and throughout the year the company incurred capital expenditure that qualifies for the annual investment allowance (AIA). How do we determine the amount of AIA available and how do we allocate the AIA to the qualifying expenditure given that the amount of AIA went up from £200,000 to £1m in January 2019?

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TQOTW: LOANS TO EMPLOYEES

Many of my small company clients often have overdrawn director loan accounts. When considering minimising the beneficial loan charge, what interest can be taken into account to reduce or cancel the benefit charge?

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HR EXPERT: IVF TREATMENT

My client has been informed by an employee that they are planning to undergo IVF treatment, do they have to make any special accommodations for them at work?

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VQOTW: AMAZON SELLERS

My client is a recently retired police dog handler. He has decided to start up a business selling dog-training and pet accessories online through Amazon. Do you have some pointers for what we need to think about in terms of VAT compliance obligations?

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TQOTW: RENTAL INCOME ALLOCATION

My Client owns 100% of an investment property and wishes to transfer a beneficial interest in the property to his wife. I have just read an article on the internet that states he can do this by passing on a 99% entitlement to the income from the property but only a 1% interest in the capital proceeds. The author claims that HMRC Manual PIM1030 supports this view.

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LOW-RISK WAYS TO START A BUSINESS

So you’ve got a business idea, and you think it might be a runner.
But then again, just as you’ve geared yourself up to commit, all
sorts of midnight worries start to creep in.

Is now the time? Are people spending money? What about the
sluggish housing market? What about Brexit? And the state of
the local high street – does anyone even go there anymore?

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GEARING UP FOR SELF-ASSESSMENT

With only two months left until the 31 January deadline for online returns, self-assessment is very much on our minds.

There’s a first flurry of activity around the deadline for paper
filing at the end of October, now far behind us, but December
and January are when things really get hectic.

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VQOTW: USE AND ENJOYMENT

We have been approached by a new client who is VAT registered, and their business activity is the hire of audio visual equipment. They are looking to invoice a Canadian music company for the hire of sound and lighting equipment.

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VQOTW: VAT MYTHS

Client is adamant that their car dealer has advised them that VAT incurred on the purchase of an electric car is recoverable in full.

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VQOTW: DIRECT AND INDIRECT EXPORTS

My client has been asked to supply footballs for use by a youth team in Kenya. They will deliver direct to the shipper, but will invoice a UK charity. Please could you confirm whether they can zero-rate the sale under the export rules?

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CAPITAL GAINS TAX PLANNING

From 6 April 2020, HMRC is proposing three significant changes which will potentially increase the capital gains tax paid on the disposal of any residential property by an individual.

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