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The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group summarises the emergency Budget announcements with a particular focus on low-income taxpayers and tax credits claimants.   The second Budget of the year On 22 June the new Chancellor unveiled his Emergency Budget and tried to make the pain of cuts and tax rises as small as possible for those on low incomes. But if you are swinging a big axe, you are inevitably going to damage some unintended victims. A range of changes were announced which will directly impact ... Continue Reading

This summary has been prepared by Taxbriefs Financial Publishing and is for general information only. The proposals are in any event subject to amendment before the Finance Act is passed. It is recommended you seek competent professional advice before taking any action on the basis of the contents of this publication. George Osborne described his first Budget as ‘the unavoidable Budget’ in which spending cuts outweighed tax increases by a ratio of 77% spending cuts to 23% tax increases. ... Continue Reading

Brian Redford, Deputy Director, Intermediaries and External Communication, Business Customer Unit, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) reminds businesses of recent changes to VAT online filing.IntroductionIf you run a business with an annual turnover of £100,000 or more (excluding VAT), you will now have to file your VAT returns online for any periods that begin on or after 1 April 2010. You will also have to pay any VAT due electronically, for example, by Direct Debit. Anyone who has registered a business ... Continue Reading

A warning about potential tax issues facing property owners and landlords, and advice on how to deal with them - from Tax Insider LiteIntroductionIn the March 2009 Budget speech, Mr Darling said with regard to tax, “I am determined to continue our successful drive to prevent avoidance and evasion.”From one angle of the 2009 Budget, Mr Darling increased the interest in property purchase at the lower end of the market. He said, “I will double the stamp duty limit for first-time buyers from midnight ... Continue Reading

Mark McLaughlin outlines two unusual tax cases concerning dividends. IntroductionRecent case law has highlighted two interesting scenarios involving dividend payments.Recategorised DividendsIn Stirling Investments v HMRC [2010] VKFTT 61 (TC) TCOO374, a VAT Case, a husband and a wife partnership were also director shareholders of a company. The partnership invoiced the company for a management charge of £525,000 plus VAT. However, the company later sought to argue that the management charge was erroneous ... Continue Reading

Steve Allen of VAT Advisers points out that 1 April 2010 was a very significant day in terms of VAT changes. IntroductionIn the usually sedate world of VAT, it’s fair to say that 1 April 2010 has turned out to be a maelstrom of HMRC changes. So much so, that we thought it might be useful to summarise them all for easy reference: Increased VAT Registration and Deregistration Thresholds The VAT registration threshold increased from £68,000 to £70,000, and the deregistration threshold increased ... Continue Reading

James Bailey reveals how a tax case could potentially enable some partners to enjoy a substantial National Insurance refund.Class 2 NIC & Class 4 NIC for the Self-EmployedClass 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) are a fixed weekly amount (currently £2.40p per week) and Class 4 NIC is based on a percentage of your share of the partnership profits. The current rate is 8% of the profits between £5,715 and £43,875 (a maximum of £3,053) and 1% on any profits above £43,875.Class 4 NIC is charged ... Continue Reading

Tax reliefs are available for Furnished Holiday Lettings – but for how much longer?Introduction Furnished Holiday Lettings (FHLs) enjoy a number of tax advantages over other types of let property. This is because, essentially, they are treated as a trade and as such benefit from reliefs generally available to trades, such as the ability to set losses against other income, entitlement to capital allowances and the availability of Capital Gains Tax reliefs.Beneficial Reliefs Still AvailableThe rules ... Continue Reading

Andrew Needham of VAT Specialists Ltd comments on the VAT grouping rules and some proposed changes. VAT Groups - Current RulesThe BasicsEU legislation allows two or more corporate bodies under common control to form a VAT group, which has a single VAT return covering all the companies in the group.  Not all the companies under common control have to be included in the VAT group, it is at the discretion of the businesses.‘Control’ usually means over 50% of the votes of the share capital. Normally, ... Continue Reading

HMRC have issued guidance on the new penalties that may be charged on late payments of tax for periods starting on or after 6 April 2010 relating to PAYE, student loan deductions, Construction Industry Scheme payments, Class 1 NICs, annual payments of employers' Class 1A NICs and annual PAYE Settlement Agreements payments. The guidance is available on the HMRC website at www.hmrc.gov.uk/paye/problems-inspections/late-payments.htm. Continue Reading