May 2009 Tax Update May 10, 2009 In view of the extensive news coverage following Alistair Darling’s 2009 Budget in the press we are only providing a brief summary of the main issues that will affect business and personal clients in the coming months. There are some other items that will be of general interest to you which we will mention later.   Announcements prior to the proposed budget: Here is a reminder of some of the more important changes announced over the last few months: removal of the £12,000 ‘expensive car’ limit for capital allowance purposes availability of non-repayable tax credit on overseas dividends received by any individual removal of tax charge for companies on overseas dividends extension of HMRC compliance powers across all the taxes dealt with by HMRC.   2009 Budget Summary Introduction of a 50% top rate of tax for those with income over £150,000 from 2010 and phased reduction of personal allowances for those with income over £100,000 Trusts will be subject to taxation of all income at 50%... [More] Tags: 2009, budget, capital allowances, france, hmrc, news, penalties, state pension, update, wealth tax Posted at: 06:06 AM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink | | del.icio.us March 2009 tax update March 24, 2009 Medical check-ups for employees In future the Treasury will treat as exempt from tax the provision of yearly health screening and medical check ups by employers to their employees without the proviso that they have to be available generally on similar terms to all employees with effect from 6 April 2009. There has been a concessionary arrangement on this basis since August 2007. Beneficial loans: the official rate of interest   The official rate of interest is set by Treasury regulations and relates to interest free loans and loans given to employees at less than a commercial rate, giving rise to a taxable benefit.. Where possible changes are made from the start of a tax year, because this makes calculation easier. Because events have moved fast the official rate of interest changed from 6.25 per cent to 4.75 percent from 1 March 2009. The average rate for the 2008-09 year is 6.10 per cent. NIC and State Pension For those who will reach retirement age soon and qualify for a state pension there is some important reading here if you have missed some qualifying years because you were abroad or not working. I am not a financial adviser and you... [More] Tags: beneficial loan, check-up, dividend, health screening, march 2009, medical, nic, pension, retirement, self assessment, state, tax, update, vat Posted at: 09:00 AM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink | | del.icio.us Pre-Budget Report 2008 and other news December 5, 2008 I imagine that you have probably already seen the headlines and know that VAT is being reduced for 13 months and that we will all be paying much more tax and NI in the years that follow the recession.   This note is therefore intended to provide some slightly more detailed information in relation to three matters, most of which will concern the majority of my clients.   Personal Allowances   The chancellor announced that the increase in the personal allowance is to be made permanent so virtually every tax payer should have recently noticed a welcome increase in net income that will continue into the 2009/10 tax year. However, as with all of the changes it is likely that this will not be permanent and will be clawed back in future years.   The allowances are:     2008-09 2009-10 Basic personal allowance £6035 £6475 Personal allowance (65-74) £9030 £9490 Personal allowance (75+) £9180 £9640 Blind person’s allowance £1800 £1890 Married couple’s allowance (age less than 75 and born before 6... [More] Tags: news, pbr, tax, uk Posted at: 06:02 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink | | del.icio.us As ye sow... November 15, 2008 It is always difficult to write in advance of the Pre-Budget Report, now confirmed as being on 24th November. In some past years the PBR has been in October, but the Government would say it has had other things on its mind; in other words the “credit crunch” and the apparent impending recession. Of course, it depends on what business you are in as to whether you think there is a recession now, and the effects will bite on different people and businesses at different times. However, clearly the collective spending power of the nation will be affected. The delay in the PBR is we assume because the Government is thinking about what measures it can take to address an immediate problem. Normally the twice yearly Budgets we have got used to take a longer term view. In the meantime we have been left with the spectacle of the Bank of England desperately cutting lending rates in an attempt to kick start the economy or at least relieve beleaguered mortgage holders (most of us) and ironically stimulate the housing market. Of course this points to a good part of the problem. Anyway, the Bank says it is cutting rates... [More] Posted at: 01:07 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink | | del.icio.us Ulterior motives and deadline woes November 3, 2008 Well, the deadline for submitting paper tax returns for 2007-08 has passed with Halloween, and with it the Government’s trick or treat. The trouble is that this messing around with deadlines really is a trick. We have until 31st January 2009 to submit Self Assessment Returns online, and the real reason for the earlier deadline for submitting paper ones is to force online submission to save costs. HM Revenue & Customs probably hoped that people would not get their acts and papers together by the end of October, and would be forced to investigate the online process, either doing it themselves if computer literate, or otherwise having to employ an agent. Then they will be locked in for the future to the online system.   Now, as an agent this will bring me more business, but the truth is that HMRC have got their cost cutting in early; they have already cut so many staff and are so short of resources that they take a long time to process paper returns. It... [More] Tags: carter, consultation, customs, hm revenue, hmrc, online, tax, tax returns, tax software Posted at: 09:21 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink | | del.icio.us Posts by Date Recent Posts » May 2009 Tax Update » March 2009 tax up... » Pre-Budget Report... » As ye sow... » Ulterior motives ... Archives » May 2009 » March 2009 » December 2008 » November 2008