Budget bad news 27 October 2021

Readers should take note of the following changes: Income Tax Allowances frozen: The Income Tax personal allowance and the rates and bands are frozen until April 2026. Whilst this is not a direct tax increase, it does mean that any increases in earnings will be fully taxed and certain taxpayers may find that this process […]

Budget bonuses 27 October 2021

There was little good cheer in the Chancellor’s announcements to parliament on 27 October. A short summary of the good news is listed below: Annual Investment Allowance (AIA): The £1m limit to claims for tax relief when purchasing qualifying assets was due to return to a more modest £200,000 from the 1st of January 2022. […]

Business gifts and tax

Business gifts are not allowed as a tax deduction against profits. The legislation treats gifts in the same way as business entertaining expenditure, which is also disallowed. HMRC define a gift as: “… something that is given to a person without receiving anything in exchange. It is offered voluntarily and without any expectation of a […]

Christmas gifts for staff

Readers are reminded that there is a tax-free allowance for the provision of an annual party or other event for the benefit of staff and their partners. The present limit to tax relief is £150 per head. If this amount is exceeded, the full cost of the benefit is taxable not the excess over £150. […]

Increasing footfall

Footfall measures the number of times a customer returns to your business to purchase goods and services. Many business owners believe that the most effective way to increase turnover is to win more customers or to charge them more for purchases. Both of these strategies may work to increase sales, but both contain hidden costs. […]

Christmas shopping warning

If you are buying Christmas gifts online this year, take care that you are not presented with unexpected VAT, excise duty or customs duty charges before you can take possession of your purchases. HMRC is urging shoppers to consider certain custom’s issues before they start browsing to buy gifts online. Otherwise, they may be hit […]

Beware tax scams

HMRC have issued a press release that sets out the scale of criminal activity, convincing taxpayers to part with bank or personal details under threat of arrest or court action. The scale of these self-assessment scams is staggering, apparently over 800,000 tax-related scams were reported to HMRC is the past year. Why is this activity […]

Business exit planning

Unless you are committed to dying with your boots on, there will come a day when you desire to exit from your business and retire or try something different. The way that you organise your business, and in particular, the way you organise your finances, will have an impact on the value (£’s) you can […]