The pension savings annual allowance
The pension savings annual allowance for tax relief on pensions has been fixed at £40,000 since 6 April 2014. The annual allowance is further reduced for high earners. Since 6 April 2020, the tapered annual allowance increased from £150,000 to £240,000. This means that anyone with income below £240,000 is not affected by the tapered […]
HMRC’s shared workspace
HMRC’s Shared Workspace is a service that allows businesses and tax agents to share sensitive data, for example, accounts or employee information, with HMRC. According to HMRC, the service allows members to ‘share’ information in a ‘space’ where they can work together in real time. More than one person can view or edit material at the […]
Taxable and tax-free State Benefits
Whilst there are a large number of state benefits available, it is not clear which of these benefits are taxable and which are tax-free. HMRC’s guidance provides the following list of the most common state benefits that are taxable i.e., Income Tax is potentially payable, subject to the usual allowances and reliefs: Bereavement Allowance (previously […]
PAYE Settlement Agreements
A PAYE Settlement Agreement (PSA) allows employers to make one annual payment to cover all the tax and National Insurance due on small or irregular taxable expenses or benefits for employees. The expenses or benefits included in a PSA must be defined as one of the following; minor – e.g., a small birthday present; irregular […]
Back to school – help with childcare costs
As children have returned to school, HMRC is reminding parents that they may be eligible for Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) to help pay for breakfast and after school clubs. The TFC scheme can help parents of children aged up to 11 years old (17 for those with certain disabilities). The TFC scheme supports working families with […]
Interest rates on student loans from September 2022
Student loans are part of the government’s financial support package for students in higher education in the UK. They are available to help students meet their expenses while they are studying. It is HMRC’s responsibility to collect repayments where the borrower is working in the UK. The Student Loans Company (SLC) is responsible for collecting […]
UK residence and tax
UK Income Tax is generally payable on taxable income received by individuals including earnings from employment, earnings from self-employment, pensions income, interest on most savings, dividend income, rental income and trust income. The tax rules for foreign income can be overly complex. However, as a general rule if you are resident in the UK you will […]
VAT Capital Goods Scheme
The VAT Capital Goods Scheme (CGS) is a means of adjusting the initial VAT recovery in respect of certain assets over either 5 or 10 years. The scheme seeks to agree a fair and reasonable attribution of VAT to taxable supplies and non-taxable supplies relating to the use of an asset over its lifetime. The […]
Accommodation expenses and benefits
There are special rules for the provision of living accommodation to employees under certain circumstances. In most cases, employees will pay tax on any living accommodation provided by an employer unless they qualify for an exception. However, where an employee qualifies for an exception, there is no tax to pay on the provision of living accommodation. […]
Tackling the cost-of-living crisis
The new Prime Minister, Liz Truss has, as promised, sought to tackle the cost-of-living crisis in her first few days in office. She is the fourth Conservative Prime Minister to govern the UK in a little over six years. The government has seen many major changes over this time including Brexit, the corona pandemic and […]
