Small businesses / 217 posts found
Increase in the cash basis threshold
As announced at the 2017 Spring Budget, the threshold for traders using the cash basis for accounting purposes is increasing from 6 April 2017. This change forms part of the Government's initiative for simplifying tax paid by unincorporated businesses and runs alongside the Making Tax Digital project. Under the cash basis, small businesses are taxed on the basis of the cash that passes through their books, rather than being asked to spend their time doing calculations designed for big businesses. General partnerships may use the cash basis - as long as the partnership meets the receipts and other entry criteria, [...]
Registration for tax-free childcare opens
The long-awaited tax-free childcare scheme launches on 28 April 2017 and will be rolled out during the course of the year. In conjunction with this, the government's new Childcare Choices website is now operative, allowing parents to find out about available support. The website includes a childcare calculator for parents to compare all the government's childcare offers and check what works best for their families, including the new 30-hour free childcare offer, tax-free childcare or universal credit. Through the website, parents can also pre-register for email alerts that will notify them when they can apply, as well as providing details [...]
Salary v dividend
The questions surrounding the issue of how best to extract profits from a company in a tax-efficient manner remain as popular as ever. Despite the introduction of the dividend allowance, and the personal savings allowance, extraction by remuneration and by way of dividend remain the two most widely used methods. The tax effects of these methods may be broadly contrasted as follows: Provided the amount is justifiable, remuneration is generally allowed as a deduction in arriving at the taxable profits of the company. The recipient is taxed on the remuneration through the PAYE system at the date of payment including [...]
Changes to IR35 rules confirmed
HMRC have recently announced changes to the way the intermediaries legislation (known as the 'IR35 rules') will be applied to off-payroll working in the public sector. In particular, contractors who provide their services to a public authority through an intermediary will need to be aware for the changes, which take effect from 6 April 2017. Broadly, from 6 April 2017, responsibility for deciding whether the legislation should be applied will move from the worker's intermediary to the public authority the worker is supplying their services to. Where the rules apply, the fee-payer (the public authority, agency, or other third party [...]
Changes to company carry-forward of losses confirmed
Initially announced at the time of the 2016 Budget and following a period of consultation, Finance Bill 2017 contains provisions to reform the tax treatment of certain types of carried-forward loss for corporation tax purposes with effect from 1 April 2017. Losses arising from 1 April 2017, when carried forward, will have increased flexibility and can be set against the total taxable profits of a company and its group members (referred to as the 'loss relaxation'). For all carried-forward losses, whenever they arose, companies will be able only to use the losses against up to 50% of profits (known as [...]
March 2017 Q&A
Q. Will I have to pay stamp duty land tax on a property I am about to inherit? A. Stamp duty land tax (SDLT) is generally payable on land transactions. There is a land transaction when land passes to a beneficiary under a will, or by virtue of the law on intestacy. However, the legislation governing SDLT (Finance Act 2003, Schedule 3, para. 3A) provides that the acquisition of property by a person: in or towards satisfaction of his entitlement under or in relation to the will of a deceased person, on the intestacy of a deceased person is exempt [...]
Coming soon: tax-free childcare
Plans for the introduction of a new scheme called 'tax-free childcare' were initially announced way back in the 2013 Budget. The original proposals have since been amended and the scheme is now set to be implemented during 2017. Broadly, the new scheme, which aims to help working parents with the cost of childcare, will replace the current system of employer-supported childcare (ESC) which is offered by less than 5% of employers and used by around 450,000 families. Parents will be able to open an online voucher account with a voucher provider and have their payments topped up by the government. [...]
HMRC’s tougher approach to offshore tax evasion
HMRC have implemented various measures over recent years designed to encourage those not paying the right amount of tax across their offshore tax affairs to make full disclosures. Whilst there has been a positive approach to the facilities provided, HMRC have recently reminded taxpayers that things are about to get even tougher for those who try to hide investments offshore. To date, over 100 countries have committed to exchange information on a multilateral basis under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Common Reporting Standard (CRS) ,which means that HMRC will be receiving new financial information about their customers from [...]
February 2017 Q&A
Q. Due to unforeseen circumstances I have recently had to sell my house and down-size to a smaller property. I sold the house for £20,000 less than I paid for it. Can I offset this loss against income from my business and reduce my income tax liability for this year? A. Unfortunately the tax law does not permit you to do this. I am assuming that you are not trading in properties and the house was either your main residence or an investment asset. Losses on the sale of a principal private residence are generally not allowable losses for tax [...]
Company cars: Ultra Low Emissions
At Budget 2016, the government said it would consult over the summer on changes to the ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEV) bands for taxing company cars to 'focus incentives on the very cleanest cars'. As a result of the consultation, HMRC have now published details of eleven new bands, which will be introduced for ULEVs with emissions below 75gCO2/km from 2020/21, including a separate zero emission band. Some of the lowest CO2 bands are based on the 'electric range' of the vehicle, as well as the CO2 emissions. This is the maximum distance the vehicles can travel in pure electric mode [...]