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Small businesses / 217 posts found

Tax-free childcare now open to under 9s

by M Tombs
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In April 2017 HMRC started rolling out tax-free childcare, a scheme designed to help working parents with the cost of childcare with up to £2,000 of support per child per year, or £4,000 for disabled children. The scheme is now open (from 15 January 2018) to parents whose youngest child is under 9, or who turned 9 on that date. All remaining eligible families with children under 12 can apply from 14 February 2018. This means that all eligible parents will have the opportunity to apply for tax-free childcare before the end of the current financial year. Parents, including the self-employed, can [...]

Latest MTD progress

by M Tombs
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Draft regulations, together with a draft explanatory memorandum and a draft VAT Notice, covering required changes to the VAT regime under the Making Tax Digital (MTD) project were published for consultation in December 2017. The consultation runs until 9 February 2018, and it is expected that live pilot testing will then begin in spring 2018. With this in mind, the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) has recently been urging software houses and HMRC to identify MTD-compliant software packages urgently to allow businesses to make an informed decision on which to use and help to avoid the need to make a [...]

Two million couples still missing out on Marriage Allowance

by M Tombs
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Recent government statistics indicate that out of four million eligible couples, around half are still not benefiting from the income tax Marriage Allowance (MA). The allowance was first introduced in April 2015, which means that a backdated claim made in 2017/18 could be worth up to £662. It's worth checking to make sure claims are made, where appropriate. In brief, Marriage Allowance is a way for couples to transfer a proportion of their individual Personal Allowance between them in a tax-efficient manner. Where a couple satisfies the following criteria, it should be possible to claim the allowance: The couple must be [...]

February questions and answers

by M Tombs
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Q. I own several properties jointly with my son. Most of them are rented out, but my son has lived in one of them for five years. My son is now considering buying a house on his own and this will become his main residence. Will he have to pay the higher stamp duty land tax charge on the purchase? A. Broadly, if the value of your son's share of the rental property is more than £40,000, he will be liable to the higher rate of SDLT when he purchases a new property. Further information can be found in the HMRC guidance on [...]

New Budget timetable and Spring Statement date confirmed

by M Tombs
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HM Treasury has confirmed that the Spring Statement will take place on Tuesday 13 March 2018. At Autumn Statement 2016, the Chancellor announced that in future there will be a single fiscal event each year - the annual Budget statement, which will be delivered in the autumn. Autumn Budget 2017 was the first Budget in this new cycle. From Spring 2018, an annual Spring Statement will accompany an updated economic and fiscal forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility. The Chancellor has said that he will not make significant tax or spending announcements at the Spring Statement, unless the economic circumstances [...]

Fulfilment House Due Diligence Scheme

by M Tombs
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The new Fulfilment House Due Diligence Scheme will open for online applications on 1 April 2018. From that date, businesses in the UK that store any goods imported from outside the European Union (EU) owned by, or on behalf of, someone established outside the EU, will need to apply for HMRC approval if those goods are offered for sale. The deadline for applications from existing businesses falling within the scope of the scheme is 30 June 2018, and there are penalties for late applications. For businesses that commence trading on or after 1 April 2018, the application deadline date is [...]

Consider a partnership

by M Tombs
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Whilst forming a partnership can be an extremely flexible way for two or more people to own and run a business together, it is important to appreciate that under this type of trading vehicle, the partners themselves do not have individual protection. If one of the partners resigns, dies, or goes bankrupt, the partnership has to be dissolved, even though the business itself may not need to cease. Although there is no legal requirement to do so, it is highly recommended that, on forming a partnership, a formal partnership deed is drawn up. Many partnerships ask a solicitor to help with [...]

January 2018 Q&A

by M Tombs
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Q. I have recently bought a residential property to rent out. To enable me to purchase this property I took out a mortgage on my own home and I used the money to buy the rental property. Can I claim tax relief for mortgage interest against my rental income? A. You should be aware that the rules for residential landlords claiming tax relief on interest paid changed from April 2017. The answer to your question is, yes, you can offset the interest you are paying on this mortgage against the rental income you are receiving from the purchased property. The HMRC [...]

Employment status case turned on right of substitution

by M Tombs
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Employment status tax cases often make the headlines in the professional press and the recent case involving Deliveroo riders was no exception. The meal delivery firm won the case in the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), confirming that its riders are not 'workers'. This is the latest challenge to the employment status of 'gig economy' workers. In this case, the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) sought to argue that riders were workers, so that they could claim union recognition, thus affording them certain collective rights regarding the minimum wage entitlement, holiday and sick pay, and pension contributions. The CAC rejected [...]

Abolition of Class 2 NICs delayed

by M Tombs
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On 2 November 2017, the Government announced a one year delay to the abolition of Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs). Class 2 NICs will now be abolished from 6 April 2019 rather than 6 April 2018. The delay will allow time for the government to engage with interested parties and Parliamentarians with concerns relating to the impact of the abolition of Class 2 NICs on self-employed individuals with low profits. The relevant legislation will be contained in the National Insurance Contributions (NICs) Bill, which will now be introduced in 2018 with the measures it will implement taking effect one year later, [...]