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Making Tax Digital... delayed

The treasury have recently announced fundamental changes to their Making Tax Digital roll-out. Not only has the timetable changed, but the nature of the information required by HMRC has changed too. There are a number of areas which still require further clarification from HMRC, but here are three things that we do know:

10 tax saving tips for small business owners

Whilst we have an Office of Tax Simplification advising the government on how we might reduce the tax compliance burden on small businesses and individual taxpayers, we still live in a world where the tax code is huge, complex and difficult to interpret.

With that in mind, here are a few simple tips for small business owners to consider …

Use your allowances

The size, type and structure of your business will determine which parts of the tax legislation you need to consider in more detail, but everyone should be aware of the basics.

Time to swap business for the beach?

It is that time of year when most of us are thinking about taking a week or two out of our busy work schedules for a holiday.  Before you know it, it’s been and gone and that feeling of relaxing in the sun is diminished to a memory, until next year anyway.... 

Now could be the time to swap business for the beach!

5,4,3,2,1 now just do it.

I had the pleasure of being invited to a client’s summer party recently, during the evening we got on to the subject of business books and my client said that business books were just a waste of time and that they were all simply common business sense.

Now I guess to him this is very true, he runs a very successful business and is backed up by a great team so I suggested to him that is very much common sense to him because he uses a good amount of learned skills to run his business very successfully.

5 Top Tax Planning Tips for Grandparents

“The world needs grandparents as those grandkids aren’t going to spoil themselves!”

Grandparents love to do everything they can for their grandkids, and often this will involve monetary assistance, whether this is funding private school fees, or putting money aside for their future. In addition, with the high costs of childcare, it is becoming increasingly common for grandparents to assist with childcare for working parents.

Here are 5 tax efficient tips grandparents should be aware of!

Would you take odds at 96/100?

If you were told that you had a 96% chance of a successful pay out, would you take it or walk away? Here we look at various forms of protection and reasons why it’s important for most people to establish some form of cover.

According to protection claims statistics issued by the Association of British Insurers (ABI), over £5 billion was paid out to individuals and families in 2015. Details are posted here: http://bit.ly/2veYPBs

IHT Planning with AIM investments

Last year, a client came to see me to review his investments and seeking advice on his financial position. He had held investments for many years in a variety of products, which ranged from normal bank accounts and National Savings investments, to investment bonds and stocks and shares.

His investments and property had all increased in value and as a result he was in a comfortable position which continued to support him during his retirement. His income was more than sufficient to meet his outgoings, so overall he had no real financial concerns.

Employer funded pensions – Defined Benefit / Final Salary

Following the introduction of Auto Enrolment in 2012, more and more people are accumulating savings through employer funded pensions which they can call upon at retirement to provide them with an income. This could be in addition to other pension savings they have accumulated, or from the state in the form of a State Pension.

We write extensively on the subject of pensions and this article explores arrangements where benefits have accumulated over a number of years' service through a final salary pension (also known as defined benefit (DB)) scheme.

Mind the (understanding) gap

Even the best communicators face the possibility that their intended audience misunderstands their information.

It’s probably prudent if I dig into my own experience to illustrate this point.

I recall in an early job, in the days before widespread use of instant communication, being asked to fax some information to someone called “Mark”. I looked back in the file notes for Mark’s contact details, and duly sent a fax off to the only Mark I could find. 

The impact of death on pensions

How your pension is treated on death has changed and represents a significant long term planning opportunity for many.

We covered the subject previously here for those with money purchase or defined contribution pension schemes.  Those with final salary or defined benefit schemes aren’t affected by these changes, but a recent Supreme Court ruling on rights for unmarried couples could pave the way for changes to be made.

Pre-April 2015