n a bid to encourage more people to save into stocks and shares, the current £20k per annum allowance for investing in ISA will be restricted to £12k per annum for investment into a cash ISA.

As expected, a new High Value Council Tax Surcharge was announced which will kick in from April 2028 and apply to homes worth over £2m.

Under current rules, if you sell more than 51% ownership of your business to an Employee Ownership Trust then there is a 100% relief, and no Capital Gains Tax has to be paid on the sale.

Two new, lower, multipliers will be introduced for these sectors from April 2026, in a bid to permanently reduce business rates for affected businesses.

As widely anticipated in the lead up the Budget, it was today announced that NIC will apply to pension contributions from April 2029, but only insofar as there will no longer be an NIC saving for employees and employers that sacrifice more than £2k pa of their salary to pay into a pension.

It was today announced that the government are introducing a new Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028 which will impose a charge of 3p per mile.

The Budget documents confirm that the current 100% capital allowance that applies to the purchase of new electric vehicles and charge points will be extended for a further year until 31 March 2027.

It was also announced today that the government will introduce a new 40% first-year allowance for the purchase of main rate assets, to encourage investment, although this does not include the purchase of cars or second-hand assets.

Currently, assets which are not eligible for the Annual Investment Allowance or First Year Allowances, including hybrid cars, and second-hand electric cars, are subject to the main rate writing down allowance of 18% per annum.

The Labour government announced last year that the current 100% Inheritance Tax relief for shares and other business/agricultural assets will be restricted to £1m from April 2026 and, unlike other Inheritance Tax allowances, it would not transfer between spouses.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: How do you put up tax without putting up tax?

In a further attack on landlords (and savers), Rachel Reeves announced that the income tax rate paid on savings and rental income will increase by 2% from April 2027, creating a separate tax rate for these sources of income.

In a bitter blow for company owners, the Chancellor announced that dividend tax will rise by 2% from April 2026.

The Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) scheme offers a tax efficient way to incentivise key employees by offering them options to buy shares in the company.

Widespread changes were announced in last year’s Budget that affect Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief, which will apply from April 2026 onwards.

Limited companies are a useful and flexible structure for holding investment assets, and are often used by families to pass on wealth to younger generations.

We’ve been busy recruiting at KRW HQ, and we’re pleased to introduce you to the latest additions to our ever-growing team.

With the next Labour Budget fast approaching, and lots of talk of tax rises in the press, there is a feeling of impending doom among many business owners.

In welcome news for these struggling sectors, the Chancellor announced today that the current 75% business rates relief for business premises in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will be extended for a further year until March 2025.

It was announced today that the current R&D Expenditure Credit (RDEC) and SME schemes for R&D tax relief will be merged from April 2024 into a simpler single system. The scope of the enhanced R&D tax relief for R&D intensive businesses will also be widened, with the intensity threshold lowered from 40% to 30%, and a one-year grace period introduced, also from April 2024.

Originally unveiled in this year’s Spring Budget as a 3-year temporary measure, Full Expensing Relief allows companies buying new plant and machinery to get (up to) 25% Corporation Tax relief on the amount spent, with no upper cap, and it was announced earlier today that this tax relief will be made permanent.

Jeremy Hunt announced in his statement that a 9.8% increase will be applied to the National Living Wage, which will go from £10.42 per hour to £11.44 per hour from April 2024. Alongside this the minimum age at which the National Living Wage kicks in will be reduced from 23 to 21 years of age, meaning that the National Living Wage now effectively replaces the National Minimum Wage.

A further tax cut was announced by Jeremy Hunt for self-employed workers, who will see the Class 4 NIC charge on their annual profits between £12,570 and £50,270 cut from 9% to 8% from April 2024. This equates to a further tax cut of up to £377 per annum (based on profits of £50,270+) in addition to the £179 Class 2 NIC saving mentioned above.

Self-employed workers with annual profits over £12,570 currently pay a fixed rate Class 2 NIC charge of £3.45 per week (£179 pa), but the Chancellor announced earlier that Class 2 NIC will be abolished completely next tax year, delivering a useful tax cut to those operating their business as a sole trader, partnership or LLP, without affecting their entitlement to state pension/benefits.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced earlier this afternoon that the main rate of National Insurance that applies to salaries between £12,570 and £50,270 per annum will be cut from 12% to 10% from 6 January 2024.

With the end of the current tax year fast approaching, you might be wondering what actions you can take to minimise your tax bills.

Every tax year the National Insurance and tax thresholds change, and clients ask us what level of salary they should pay themselves from their companies?

Companies House have recently carried out a review of their filing charges, based upon which they are going to increase the annual Confirmation Statement filing fees.

In the Spring Budget earlier this month, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that the income threshold for paying back Child Benefit will increase to £60,000 from next month.

With Corporation Tax rates up from April, there’s even more to be gained from finding tax efficient ways for business owners to draw income from their companies.

In our Tax Tip article we take a look at the merits of paying interest on Directors Loans to the company, which works out more tax efficient than taking equivalent dividends.

MACK: Misunderstood Associated Company Kalculation…..well it almost worked! With two rates of Corporation Tax back from April 2023, so too are the dreaded associated company rules.

In our Q&A article we explore how the associated company rules might apply to your company, in determining the Corporation Tax rate you will pay on your profits.

We are pleased to introduce the newest member of our team: Eliza Marshall.

In our Insight article we introduce Eliza, who runs our reception, along with various important administrative tasks.

In the Spring Budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that the additional rate threshold for income tax would be reduced from £150,000 to £125,140 from April 2023.

Our Tax News article looks at this change, which leads to (up to) £1,243 more tax per annum for higher earners, and possible ways to mitigate the impact

Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) invest in emerging businesses and offer similar tax breaks to the investor as EIS and SEIS, but there are notable differences.

In our Tax Tip article we take a look at the reliefs available, and look at who these kinds of investments might be best suited to.

Every tax year the National Insurance and tax thresholds change, and clients ask us what level of salary they should pay themselves from their companies?

In our Q&A article we confirm the NIC thresholds and rates, and summarise the optimum salary levels we’ll be recommending for Directors.

Fanfare please! This month sees the launch of a brand new independent financial advice service for our clients: KRW Financial Planning.

In our Insight article we unveil this new joint venture that will offer help to our clients with pensions and investments and introduce you to our IFAs, Ben Foster and Alan Tytherleigh.

In last month’s Budget, Jeremy Hunt announced the end of the lifetime allowance for pensions, plus an increase in the annual allowance for pension contributions to £60,000, from this month.

Our Tax News article looks at these changes, plus the freezing of the tax-free lump sum amount, alongside increases in the money purchase annual allowance and lower threshold for high earners.

A 3 point plan was also announced to boost productivity and growth in the private sector, which will include more tax incentives for capital expenditure, better schemes for training and apprenticeships, and a reform and potential boost to R&D tax credits, all of which will be set out in the Chancellors Autumn Statement later this year.

Amidst rapidly rising cost of living, and the already announced 1.25% National Insurance hike from April, Rishi Sunak announced some welcome and much needed relief, by confirming an increase in the Employees NIC threshold from July 2022, which will align it with the tax-free personal allowance. This is an increase from the planned level of £9,880 per annum to £12,570 per annum from July.

Our Tax News article looks at this change, which leads to (up to) £1,243 more tax per annum for higher earners, and possible ways to mitigate the impact

The current £1m annual investment allowance which allows businesses to claim tax relief on 100% of capital expenditure has been extended by a year until 31 March 2023. 

The Chancellor referred to post-Brexit freedoms allowing a reform of the eligibility conditions to qualify for reduced VAT on the installation of energy saving materials (ESMs), such as solar panels, to widen its scope, while also reducing the VAT rate on the installation of ESMs from 5% to 0% temporarily, from April 2022.

The Chancellor also confirmed the government’s commitment to reduce income taxes by the end of parliament by announcing the first cut to basic rate income tax in 16 years, from the current rate of 20% to 19%, from April 2024.

Our Tax News article looks at this change, which leads to (up to) £1,243 more tax per annum for higher earners, and possible ways to mitigate the impact

Every tax year the National Insurance and tax thresholds change, and then last week Rishi Sunak announced an alignment of the NIC and tax thresholds from July 2022.

In our Tax Tip article we take a look at the new NIC thresholds and rates, and summarise the optimum salary levels we’ll be recommending for Directors.

Against the backdrop of the 1.25% increase in the rate of Employers NIC from April 2022, Rishi Sunak announced a welcome increase in the Employment allowance from £4k to £5k per annum.

In our Q&A article we take a look at what the Employment Allowance is, how it works in practice, and who qualifies for it.

As a result of some team changes, we are pleased to report that Paul Brown and Candice Jackson-Hobbs both joined the team earlier this month.

In our Insight article we bring you up to speed with recent changes, introduce you to Paul & Candice, and also bring news of promotions for both Mollie & Ann.

For self-employed taxpayers, Class 4 NIC applies to all profits over the lower profits limit, and this limit will also increase from the planned £9,880 per annum to £12,570 per annum from July 2022, while the threshold for paying Class 2 NICs will also increase to £12,570 from April 2022. However, the 1.25% increase in Class 4 NIC will still go ahead as planned next month.

Our Tax News article looks at this change, which leads to (up to) £1,243 more tax per annum for higher earners, and possible ways to mitigate the impact

OK, so this isn’t exactly breaking news, and we’ve been speaking to affected clients about it for months, but from April 2022 all VAT registered businesses must use MTD compliant software.

Businesses turning over £85k+ per annum have been signed up for MTD since 2019, but our Tax News article looks at what smaller businesses now need to do to be MTD compliant from April 2022.

With fuel prices soaring, Mr Sunak announced a very welcome cut in fuel duty by 5p per litre from midnight tonight. This cut will continue for 12 months.

Alongside the increase to the NIC threshold for employees, the Chancellor also announced some help for employers facing the 1.25% increase in Employers NIC from next month, by increasing the Employment Allowance from £4,000 per annum to £5,000 annum from April 2022. 

Our Tax News article looks at this change, which leads to (up to) £1,243 more tax per annum for higher earners, and possible ways to mitigate the impact

Employer funded relevant life insurance can provide a useful tax-free benefit for company owners, with the company able to save Corporation tax on the premiums.

In this month’s Tax Tip we look at the possible tax savings available with relevant life insurance, which can now also offer significant illness cover in some cases.

As we move into Self Assessment silly season this month, we’ve come across a couple of clients that sold properties during 2020/21, but weren’t aware of the new CGT reporting requirement.

In our Q&A article we take a look at the requirement to report and pay CGT on the sale of UK residential property within 60 days of completion in further detail.

With our normal newsletters making way for COVID related updates over the last couple of years, it’s been a while since we’ve updated you on our awesome team.

In this month’s Insight article we give a belated welcome to Lauren, Matt, Chloe and Anish who joined the team in 2021, and bid a fond farewell to Laura and Jessica.

HMRC confirmed earlier this month that they will waive late filing penalties for Self Assessment tax returns, providing they are filed by 28 February 2022.

Our Tax News article looks at this COVID related measure, which also sees the late payment penalty for late paid tax under Self Assessment delayed by a month until 31 March 2022.

Anyone selling a residential property since April 2020 has had to report and pay their Capital Gains Tax to HMRC within 30 days of the sale completing.

Buried in the Budget documents was some welcome confirmation that company car tax rates and bands will be frozen from 2022 through to 2025.

The Budget documents confirm that the Recovery Loan Scheme to help businesses get back on their feet following the pandemic, will be extended until 30 June 2022.

A new temporary 50% business rates discount was announced for these sectors, in a bid to help their recovery after the pandemic, which will apply from April 2022 to March 2023, capped at £110,000 per business.

Following the consultation launched at the Spring 2021 Budget, the Chancellor confirmed that R&D tax reliefs will be reformed from April 2023.

The Chancellor confirmed that the current £1 million Annual Investment Allowance, which provides tax relief on the full cost of purchasing plant and machinery (and vans) for your business (whether new or second hand), will remain at that level through to March 2023.

This measure was also announced last month (see previous Tax Bulletin), alongside the NIC increase, in a bid to bring parity for limited company owners that often remunerate themselves with a low salary plus dividends.

The Budget documents confirm Rishi’s announcement last month that NIC will increase by 1.25% for both employees and employers from April 2022, with all wage levels over the NIC threshold affected.

In a bid to encourage those on lower incomes to work more without such a significant drop in their universal credit, the Chancellor announced a permanent reduction in the taper rate at which universal credit is withdrawn for every extra £1 earned, from the current 63% to 55%.

As already released to the media ahead of the Budget Speech, Rishi Sunak confirmed that the National Living Wage for employees aged 23 and over will increase from £8.91 to £9.50 from April 2022, an above inflation increase of 6.6%.

In a bid to level the playing field with business owners who take lower salaries and supplement their income with dividends which do not attract NIC, the government also announced an increase in dividend tax rates by 1.25% from April 2022.

In order to bring parity between employed and self-employed workers, it was confirmed that the 1.25% increase will also be applied to the Class 4 National Insurance rates paid by the self-employed (which includes partners in a partnership or LLP).

Alongside the increase to employee NIC rates, it was also announced that the 1.25% increase will also apply to employer NIC contributions, from April 2022.

The Prime Minister announced that in order to fund wide ranging reform to the health and social care sectors, it would be necessary to increase the rate of National Insurance paid by employees by 1.25% from April 2022.

With recent changes to Entrepreneurs Relief (now Business Asset Disposal Relief) many fear that the days are numbered for paying 10% tax when you sell your business.

Now that we’re into the full swing of preparing 2020/21 Self Assessment Tax Returns, we’ve had a number of clients query their tax bills, which include tax and NIC owed on SEISS grants.

As set out in our Tax News article, the fifth SEISS grant opens at the end of this month, but this time there are two levels of grant dependent on your reduction in turnover as a result of COVID-19.

Earlier this month, HM Revenue & Customs issued some guidance about the fifth, and potentially final, Self Employed Income Support Scheme grant which kicks off at the end of this month.

The Chancellor confirmed that there will be two further three-month grants for self-employed taxpayers once again set at 80% of past profits, and capped at £7.5k.

Almost a year ago, on the eve of the first lockdown, the Chancellor announced that businesses could defer their quarterly VAT liability falling due in April/May/June 2020 until the end of the tax year.

Every tax year the National Insurance and tax thresholds change, and we think carefully about the most tax efficient salary levels to recommend to company Directors.

Rishi Sunak certainly bigged up the new super-deduction in the Budget earlier this month, prompting many clients to get in touch to see how they can benefit from it.

It was confirmed in the Budget earlier this month that two further SEISS grants will be available to self-employed taxpayers whose businesses continue to be adversely affected by Coronavirus.

With the current Bounce Back and Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Schemes due to end soon, a new 80% government backed Recovery Loan Scheme has been announced offering loans between £25k and £10 million to support businesses through the next stage of their recovery.

£5 billion has been pledged to fund new Restart Grants which provide a one-off cash grant of up to £18,000 per premises for hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym businesses in England.

The current business rates holiday for certain sectors including retail, hospitality and leisure has been extended to 30 June 2021, as expected, with a 2/3rds discount then applied for 9 months up until 31 March 2022, to allow businesses in these sectors time to recover.

n a bid to help businesses adversely affected by COVID, the usual rules that allow a business to carry back losses for one year have been amended to allow losses made in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 tax years to be carried back and offset against profits in the previous 3 years.

Alongside the freezing of the tax-free personal allowance and higher rate tax thresholds, the Chancellor also announced that the VAT registration threshold will be frozen at £85k for 3 years, while the Capital Gains Tax annual exemption of £12,300, the pensions Lifetime Allowance of £1,073,100, and the current Inheritance Tax thresholds will be frozen for 5 years until April 2026.

The current £500,000 threshold for Stamp Duty on residential properties that was due to end on 31 March 2021 has been extended to 30 June 2021. After this the usual threshold of £125,000 will be temporarily doubled to £250,000 for a further 3 months up until 30 September 2021.

The current much needed VAT cut to 5% for the hospitality and leisure sectors was due to end on 31 March 2021, but the Chancellor announced earlier today that it will be extended until 30 September 2021, after which it will be increased to 12.5% until 31 March 2022.

Rishi Sunak announced that from April 2021 until March 2023 a super-deduction will be offered to any companies that invest in new equipment, by allowing 130% of what they invest to qualify for tax relief (currently 100% but subject to limits).

In better news, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been extended to 30 September 2021, although businesses will need to contribute 10% of the 80% wages paid to furloughed workers in July, and 20% of their 80% wages in August and September 2021.

The Chancellor also announced that the new personal allowance of £12,570 which arrives in April 2021 will be frozen for 5 years until 2026.

Let’s start with the worst news first. In a bid to rebalance the books post COVID, Rishi Sunak announced a rise in the Corporation Tax rate to 25% from April 2023 which was higher than expected.

The government have yesterday launched a new loan scheme for small businesses which is simpler and quicker to access than the existing Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

As part of a package of measures to assist businesses, the Chancellor announced £10,000 grants for businesses that qualify for Small Business Rates Relief.

The Coronavirus Self-Employment Income Support Scheme was announced back in March, and gives the self-employed a grant of up to £7,500 if their business has been affected by COVID-19.

The Job Retention Scheme allows for 80% of a furloughed employee’s wages to be reclaimed from HM Revenue & Customs, providing they are doing no work for the business.

HMRC will usually accept a small amount of incidental private use, for example stopping off for a sandwich on the way back from a business journey, but beyond that they are highly likely to challenge any recovery of VAT on the car’s purchase.

In last year’s Budget, the Chancellor announced the introduction of a new capital allowance for new commercial structures and buildings, known as the SBA.

Due to our continued growth, and with one of the team retiring, we’ve been on the lookout for another bookkeeper and a Payroll Manager to join our team.

Regular readers will know that the combination of a low salary and dividends is usually the most tax efficient way for a Director/shareholder to be paid by their company.

Most business owners will do some of their work from home, but what tax relief can they claim for this? An unincorporated taxpayer (i.e., a sole trader or partner in a partnership) may be able to claim a proportion of its costs for working from home for things like:

Changes to VAT on vouchers were introduced on 1 January 2019 for vouchers sold on or after that date.

Prior to this change, the sale of a voucher was treated as two separate supplies for VAT purposes; the supply of the physical voucher or gift card; and the underlying goods/services it can be exchanged for.

Buy-to-let landlords have been under attack in recent years with the 3% stamp duty surcharge, the restriction of tax relief for mortgage interest, and now changes to letting relief.

The Employment Allowance covers the first £3,000 pa of Employers National Insurance, and is currently available to all but the very smallest employers.

However, what if you instead employed your nanny through your company, by adding them to the company’s payroll?

In April 2017 the government introduced two new £1,000 per annum tax-free allowances in relation to property and trading income.

The Chancellor announced a new structures and buildings capital allowance, which will be set at a rate of 2% per annum, will apply to all newly constructed non-residential buildings and structures where construction works commenced on or after Budget Day.

It was announced that, with effect from April 2020, the current extension of private residence relief to periods where a private residence is let out (known as ‘letting relief’) will only apply where the owner is in shared occupancy with the tenant.

Following a call for evidence on the design of the UK VAT threshold (which is higher than most other countries), the government have decided to freeze the registration threshold at £85,000 until 2022. With Making Tax Digital for VAT arriving in April 2019, which only applies to VAT registered businesses with a turnover above the VAT registration threshold, this provides greater certainty.

From 6 April 2019, the minimum period that the conditions must be met to qualify for Entrepreneurs Relief will be extended from 12 months to 2 years.

In a measure designed to reduce tax leakage where multinational companies operate online platforms and pay little or no tax in the UK, a new 2% digital services tax will be levied on revenues from the UK market in relation to search engines, social media platforms, and online marketplaces.

In a bid to help independent retailers (shops, cafes etc) on our high streets, a one third business rates discount will be given on retail properties with a rateable value below £51,000 for a 2 year period, commencing April 2019.

While not referred to in the speech itself, the Budget document confirmed that the National Living Wage for workers aged 25 and over is set to increase from the current level of £7.83 per hour to £8.21 per hour from April 2019, an increase of almost 5%.

The Annual Investment Allowance allows businesses tax relief on 100% of qualifying expenditure on plant and equipment, and is currently set at £200,000 per annum.

When you are alone for days or weeks at a time, you eventually become drawn to people. Talking to randos is the norm. After a long time I could witness the sunrise. I could feel the sun rays falling on my body.

The Chancellor confirmed that the government’s target of reaching a tax-free Personal Allowance of £12,500 and a higher rate tax threshold of £50,000 by 2020 will be met one year early, with those amounts being introduced from April 2019.

With Making Tax Digital for VAT arriving in April 2019, we are holding a free seminar exploring the forthcoming changes and how your business will be affected.

Rental property owners that live in the property for a period of time may be able to mitigate their potential Capital Gains Tax liabilities on an eventual sale through careful planning.

Taper relief reduces the Inheritance Tax payable on gifts made during a taxpayer’s lifetime, providing they survive at least 3 years from making the gift.

We are pleased to report that Callum Andrews passed his final ACCA exams last month, and is now fully ACCA qualified.

The additional 3% surcharge rate of stamp duty land tax that applies on the purchase of a second property is notoriously hard to avoid.

Entrepreneurs’ Relief applies to the sale of business assets or shares in a trading company, reducing the Capital Gains Tax rate to 10% for qualifying disposals.

Due to our continued growth, and also to enable some role changes with existing staff, we’ve been on the lookout for another accountant and a Payroll Manager to join our team.

The transferrable marriage allowance arrived in 2015 but was widely considered to be a bit of a damp squib as very few couples could claim it and a separate claim needed to be made.

Many readers are probably blissfully unaware of the Corporation Tax quarterly payment regime, since this only applies to companies with annual profits in excess of £1.5 million.

With GDPR now live, we want to ensure that all of our clients are made aware of our privacy policy.

With company car tax based on CO2 emissions and the list price when new, company cars are rarely tax efficient for company owners, usually due to the type of cars they want to drive!

Most readers are probably familiar with the general block on reclaiming VAT on costs associated with entertaining customers or suppliers. But are there any exceptions?

As KRW continues to grow we have been on the lookout for another administrator to join the team.

Several clients have asked this question over the years, and for a very good reason. There is no VAT on wages, so surely recharging wages to another business is VAT-free too?

For a number of years now we have been offering our clients a pre-year-end tax planning meeting, and these are becoming increasingly popular.

There are many reasons to consider holding the shares in your trading company through a separate holding company, the main one being to safeguard retained profits.

Rent-a-room relief allows you to let out part of your home without any income tax liability, providing your rental income does not exceed £7,500 per annum.

By now all existing employers should be aware of Auto Enrolment and should have a qualifying scheme in place.

With the 31 January Self Assessment tax payment deadline looming, we often encounter clients that want to reduce their tax liabilities. But surely it’s too late now?

We all know that company car tax rarely makes it tax efficient to run a company car, but what about a company van? Are the rules the same?

Company car tax is based on the car’s list price when new, and its Co2 emissions, and with annual increases, the tax/NIC on a company car benefit can soon mount up.

As KRW continues to grow we are always on the lookout for talented individuals to join the team, so that we can continue to improve our service.