There was good news for individual taxpayers in the Budget; the personal allowance will rise from £11,850 to £12,500 on 6 April 2019. This will provide taxpayers on the basic rate (20%) with an income tax saving of £130 per year. Those who pay tax at higher rates will also…
Read More
When you sell your only or main home, you expect any gain you make to be free of CGT. But that CGT exemption only applies if you have occupied the property as your main home for the entire period of your ownership. If you move out of your home before…
Read More
When you sell a business or shares in your personal company, the gain made on that disposal will normally qualify for entrepreneurs' relief which applies capital gains tax (CGT) at 10%. Up to £10m of gains can qualify for this relief in your lifetime. For a company to qualify as…
Read More
Employees who charge their electric vehicles at work without being required to pay for the electricity have received a benefit of free power. Few employers would recognise this as a taxable benefit, but from April 2018 the law will be changed to make it clear there is no taxable benefit…
Read More
When UK property is held by overseas landlords, the rental income should be taxed in the UK, but any gains made on selling the property often escape UK tax. Since 6 April 2015 non-resident individuals and private companies must pay non-resident capital gains tax (NRCGT) on any gains accrued since…
Read More
First-time buyers can now take advantage of a permanent exemption from stamp duty land tax (SDLT) when purchasing a property which they intend to occupy as their main home. The exemption removes the SDLT charge for the first £300,000 of the purchase price, for deals completed on and after 22…
Read More
The 'staircase tax' is an increase in business rates suffered by businesses who occupy two or more sections of a shared building. Each section must be treated as a separate rateable unit if it is not possible to move between the sections without entering a common area (such as a…
Read More
Bad News When an asset is sold for a profit, part of its increased value since acquisition is due to the general rate of inflation. Since 1 April 1982 companies have been able to exclude the inflationary element from taxable gains by deducting the indexation allowance. This reduces a chargeable…
Read More
Registration The UK's VAT registration threshold is the highest in the EU at £85,000; some people argue that it holds back growth as businesses deliberately reduce sales to remain outside the VAT net. This may be true and the Treasury is going to look at how the VAT 'cliff edge'…
Read More
When an individual is married or in a civil partnership and has little or no income so that they don't use their entire personal allowance (£11,500 for 2017-18), that person can elect to transfer 10% of their allowance to their partner. This is called the marriage allowance. The recipient must…
Read More
