Monthly Archives: November 2019

As a general rule, if you use your private transport for trips related to your employment, you may be able to claim tax relief if you are not reimbursed for this business use by your employers. Exceptionally, any normal travel between your home and your place of work will always be excluded from this calculation […]

We are fast approaching the deadline for filing self-assessment tax returns in the UK for 2018-19. As readers will be aware, this deadline is 31 January 2020. Unfortunately, this coincides with a pick-up in scamming activity by fraudsters pretending to be the tax office. HMRC have recently posted an alert for taxpayers and this is […]

The following extracts from HMRC’s website explain how certain benefits to employees can be tax-free. Surprisingly, HMRC describe these as “trivial” benefits. You don’t have to pay tax on a benefit for your employee if all of the following apply: it cost you £50 or less to provide it isn’t cash or a cash voucher […]

We are approaching the end of the calendar year, goodbye 2019, and the end of the of the current tax year, 2019-20, will draw to a close 5 April 2020. Add to this self-assessment deadlines, Brexit changes, election results and will we – won’t we – have a budget speech any time soon, and it’s […]

Most buy-to-let property is let on short leases to a single tenant. The income from rents is treated as a property business, but a number of reliefs available to other trading businesses are not available to buy-to-let landlords. However, if these same properties were let as Furnished Holiday Let (FHLs) property, more advantageous tax benefits […]

Businesses that have a significant number of workers who are paid at the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (NLW) rates should probably read the recent independent report that suggests rates of NLW could rise, as internationally, there is evident that realistic rises have little impact on employment levels but do have a positive […]

Believe it or not, HMRC will consider you are the employer of a nanny, housekeeper, gardener or anyone else who works in your home if both the following criteria apply: you hire them, and they are not self-employed or paid through an agency. If these criteria do apply this means you have certain responsibilities, like […]

As a general rule, if you sell shares for more than you paid for them, any profit you make will be chargeable to Capital Gains Tax (CGT). Shares and investments you may need to pay tax on include: shares that are not in an ISA or PEP units in a unit trust certain bonds (not […]

1 November 2019 – Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 January 2019. 19 November 2019 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for the month ended 5 November 2019. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 November 2019.) 19 November 2019 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 […]

Occasionally, the tax system in the UK throws up an issue that does not make sense. For example, how can you create a tax loss for capital gains tax (CGT) purposes without disposing of the asset? After all, CGT applies when an asset subject to CGT is sold or otherwise disposed. If you sell an […]