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Major Budget U-Turns

Over the last few days, we have seen a gradual dismantling of the mini-budget of Friday 23 September 2022, along with the economic policies that Prime Minister Liz Truss based her leadership campaign on. On Friday 14th October, Ms Truss announced a change of Chancellor, from Kwasi Kwarteng to Jeremy Hunt. This was swiftly followed […]

Read more October 18th, 2022

Self Assessment Scam Alert

HMRC is urging their Self Assessment customers to be vigilant of fraudsters and scams asking for personal information or bank details. Self Assessment customers, who are starting to think about their annual tax returns for the 2021 to 2022 tax year, should guard against being targeted by fraudsters, warns HMRC. Fraudsters target customers when they […]

Read more October 17th, 2022

Focusing On Being More Effective

Don’t focus on being busy – focus on being effective. There will always be pressure to run faster, that’s just part of business life. Clients want things yesterday; the team might need more time to deliver and there will always be more to do. Stop focusing on how busy you are and focus on being […]

Read more October 14th, 2022

End Of Online VAT Submissions Portal

HMRC has announced that businesses will no longer be able to use their existing VAT online accounts to file quarterly and monthly VAT returns. The current HMRC online portal is closing on 1 November 2022. After this date, all VAT returns will need to be filed through digital-compatible software to stay compliant and avoid potential […]

Read more October 10th, 2022

New Investment Zones

The Government is in discussion with 38 local authority areas in England to set up ‘Investment Zones’ in specific sites within their area. Each Investment Zone (IZ) will offer generous, targeted and time-limited tax cuts for businesses along with liberalised planning rules to release more land for housing and commercial development. These will be hubs […]

Read more October 7th, 2022

IR35 U-Turn

The much criticised “off-payroll” working rules were introduced for the public sector from 6 April 2017 and then extended to large and medium-sized private-sector organisations from 6 April 2021. The rules replaced the ‘IR35’ rules where workers supplied their services to these organisations via a personal service company (PSC) or other intermediary. The effect was […]

Read more October 6th, 2022

Dividend Rates Reduced From 2023/24

Many directors/shareholders of family companies pay themselves a small salary and take the rest of their “pay” in dividends. With dividends being free of NIC, this would have allowed them to avoid the extra 1.25% NIC charge when it was originally introduced. Consequently, the Government added 1.25% to the dividend income tax rates for 2022/23. […]

Read more October 5th, 2022

Health And Social Care Levy Scrapped

It was on 7 September 2021 that we first heard about a new 1.25% Health and Social Care Levy, imposed on employers, employees and the self-employed, coming in from 2023/24. Further, this was to be effectively accelerated into 2022/23 by a 1.25 percentage point rise in National Insurance contributions (NICs). As expected, and despite changes […]

Read more October 4th, 2022

Corporation Tax Rate Increase Scrapped

In the March 2021 Budget, Rishi Sunak announced that the rate of corporation tax would increase to 25% from 1 April 2023 where a company’s profits exceeded £250,000 a year, with the current 19% rate continuing to apply where profits were no more than £50,000 a year. There was also scheduled to be an effective […]

Read more October 4th, 2022

Stamp Duty Threshold Increased

Chancellors always like to pull rabbits out of the hat and make surprise announcements at the end of their Budget speech. Although rumoured in the run up to this mini-budget, the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) announcement was still a surprise as house prices have been steadily rising. Increases in mortgage rates are likely to […]

Read more October 3rd, 2022

Mini-Budget Summary September 2022

The week leading up to Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s ‘Mini Budget’ may have been a short one due to the Queen’s funeral but the new government managed to fill it with a stream of policy announcements. Before Mr Kwarteng stood up to make his statement on ‘The Growth Plan’ much of what he had to say […]

Read more September 24th, 2022

Self-Employed Need To Plan For Big Tax Bills In 2023/24

The changes to the basis of assessment of self-employed profits are scheduled to change from 6 April 2024. The new rules mean that profits (and losses) will be assessed based on the amounts arising between 6 April and 5 April instead of the profit/loss of an accounting period ending in the tax year. This means […]

Read more September 7th, 2022

Back To School – Childcare Vouchers Or Tax-Free Childcare Account?

There continues to be poor take-up of the Government’s Tax-Free Childcare Accounts which provide a 25% subsidy towards the cost of childcare. The system operates by topping up savings of up to £8,000 per child by 25%, potentially an extra £2,000 from the Government to spend on qualifying childcare. The scheme applies to children under […]

Read more September 5th, 2022

Variable Rate Mortgages Causing BTL Profits To Plummet

Variable rate mortgages are becoming increasingly popular in the UK. However, as interest rates rise, so do mortgage payments. This increased cost is cutting into profits and, in some cases, causing investors to default on their loans. Some landlords have even seen their mortgage payments increase five times (and by over 20%) just this year! […]

Read more August 24th, 2022

Housing Shortage Causing Tenant Bidding Wars

Tenant bidding wars have become increasingly common as the number of homes available to rent has failed to keep pace with demand. This shortage of rental properties has led to landlords receiving multiple applications for every vacancy, and in some cases, tenants are even willing to pay above the asking price in order to secure […]

Read more August 23rd, 2022