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Monthly Archives: March 2017

One week to go

Next week sees the end of the 2016-17 tax year. On the 6 April 2017, any action you take to minimise your tax liabilities for 2016-17 will be largely ineffective. So what, if anything, can you still action this week? Capital gains tax (CGT) The amount of tax free gains you can make during 2016-17…
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New childcare funding choices

The government have launched a new website aimed at parents who may be able to claim for support with childcare costs. The web address is https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/. How Tax-Free Childcare works Working parents will be able to apply, through the childcare service, to open an online childcare account. For every £8 that families or friends pay…
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Follow companies for free

If you want to keep an eye on documents filed with Companies House for a particular company, you can register for a new service that will do just that at Companies House. The new service is called “Follow” and it allows you to receive email alerts. Follow lets you receive email alerts of company transactions.…
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Reduction in the dividend allowance

Unless there are further political objections, one of the few remaining revenue raising changes in the recent spring budget was the reduction in the £5,000 dividend allowance from April 2018. From this date the allowance will drop to £2,000. This measure will increase the tax charge for investors with significant, quoted share portfolios and the…
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Making Tax Digital – a step closer

Another matter that received some clarification last week was the government’s move to implement MTD for the self-employed from April 2018. When the scope of MTD was first published it was proposed that the self-employed (including unincorporated property businesses) would need to commence the quarterly upload of summarised accounts data, direct to HMRC’s digital accounts,…
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Self-employed NIC increase

Although there was little of substance to Philip Hammond’s budget last week, one particular issue caused some political controversy. It was the proposal to increase the National Insurance contributions for the self-employed from 9% to 11% over a two-year period starting April 2018.   From this date, April 2018, the weekly Class 2 contributions will…
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Employment boost for older workers

A new strategy is calling on employers to boost the number of older workers and ensure they are not writing people off once they reach a certain age, helping to build a country that works for everyone. It’s estimated that by mid-2030s people aged 50 and over will comprise more than half of the UK…
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Budget Statement 8 March 2017

Personal Tax and miscellaneous matters Personal Tax allowance The personal allowances for 2017-18 is £11,500 (2016-17: £11,000). Transferrable allowances The maximum amount of free personal allowance that can be transferred between spouses is increased to £1,150 in 2017-18. Couples can only make a claim if one partner has spare personal tax allowance and the other…
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The budget crystal ball

Today Philip Hammond will present his first budget to parliament; forecasting any changes he may be considering to the UK tax system is perhaps unwise. If he remains committed to austerity, anticipating any potential fall-out from the Brexit process and maintaining (or more likely slowing down) the repayment of national debt, it is difficult to…
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Marriage Allowance

Although the financial impact of this allowance is relatively low, it is surprising that there has not been more uptake of the Marriage Allowance since its inception 6 April 2015. In fact, taxpayers that qualify can still backdate a claim for 2015-16 as well as make a claim for the current tax year, 2016-17. Marriage…
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