Change to Class 4 NIC rate reversed
The Government has confirmed that the proposed increase in the rate of Class 4 National Insurance Contributions, paid by the self-employed on profits from a business, will not now take effect from April 2018. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip...
Apprenticeship Levy
The new Apprenticeship Levy takes effect from 6 April 2017. Although the levy affects employers in all sectors, it will only be paid on annual pay bills in excess of £3 million - this means that, according to government estimates, less than 2% of UK...
Spring budget 2017
Summary Chancellor Philip Hammond has delivered his first, and seemingly last, Spring Budget Statement. At the 2016 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that, following the spring 2017 Budget, the government would be moving to a single major...
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...
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...
Tax-free access to pension advice
The Treasury has confirmed details of the new Pension Advice Allowance, which will take effect from April 2017, and which will enable people to withdraw £500, on up to three occasions, from their pension pots tax-free to put towards the cost of...
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...
February questions and answers
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...
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...
Employers beware of plans to change Scottish income tax threshold
Shortly before Christmas, the Scottish draft budget contained an announcement that Scottish taxpayers will start paying the 40p higher rate of income tax at a lower point than taxpayers elsewhere in the UK. This announcement means that businesses...