Articles

1 April 2012 represents an important date for business owners, with significant changes in respect of capital allowances (tax relief for capital expenditure).

Currently claims for capital allowances on fixtures within buildings can be made retrospectively for purchases of second hand commercial property purchased at any point if still owned by the claimant. Although the allowances can only be claimed for the previous two years it does not matter how long ago the property was acquired.

There's a common myth that children don't pay tax - that's simply not true. In fact, they're taxed in exactly the same way as adults; which means that in the tax year 2012/12 each child can earn up to £7,475 tax free from earnings, savings or investments. The difference is, unlike most adults, the majority of children don't use up their Personal Allowance, so their savings interest remains tax free.

Under the Extra Statutory Concession ESC C16, companies undertaking an informal striking off are able to distribute their assets to the shareholders and the shareholders could receive capital treatment on this distribution for tax purposes, which is usually a more tax efficient route than treating the distribution as income; provided that the share capital did not exceed £4,000. In December 2010 the consultation process was opened by the Government into the capital treatment of distributions made by companies undergoing an informal striking off procedure.

It’s that time of the year again, when we draw a line under the successes and failures of the past year and shift our thoughts towards ideas of perhaps stopping smoking, eating less and exercising more, etc. However, it’s often a case of another year another list of New Year resolutions only half completed.

2011 seemed to start brightly, but global economic gloom soon set in and with those clouds still on the horizon at the start of 2012, here are my top New Year resolutions for getting your finances in order.