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When working out the profits or losses of your business, you can deduct any allowable expenses that you incur in running your business to arrive at the profit (or loss) figure before tax. There is a lot of confusion as to what can and cannot be deducted.  To ensure that you claim the maximum permissible deductions for business expenses, it is important that you: understand the rules as to what can be deducted; appreciate what expenses are not allowable, and why;   understand when ... Continue Reading

Has a taxpayer been careless simply because he or she disagrees with HMRC? Peter Vaines looks at several tax cases on carelessness, personal goodwill and the definition of a dwelling. Goodwill The recent case of Richard Villar v HMRC [2019] UKFTT 0117 (TC) considered the tax implications of a sale of goodwill by a professional person and is very helpful in clarifying the law in this area. Mr Villar had a successful medical practice and he sold the business as a going concern to Spire Healthcare ... Continue Reading

RSM UK's David Wilson considers the swift correction of some recent VAT legislation for financial services providers, and the inference to draw. Changes to UK VAT legislation (in SI 2019/408) will mean that, in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal, financial service providers will, after all, be afforded VAT recovery on supplies of certain financial services made to the EU. The new legislation will only come into force in the event the UK leaves the EU without a negotiated arrangement; ... Continue Reading

RSM's Andrew Hubbard considers a recent tribunal case which looked at whether a building in a poor state of repair was still a dwelling. How poor a condition must a building be in before it ceases to be suitable for use as a dwelling? This was the question facing a recent tribunal case P N Bewley Ltd v HMRC [2019] UKFTT 65 (TC). The distinction mattered because of the higher rates of stamp duty which apply to a residential property either where the property is an individual’s second property ... Continue Reading

As the end of the tax year approaches, BKL has kindly provided a checklist to get the most out of 2018/19.  Introduction In the excitement (not sure that’s the right word, but we’ll go with it for now) surrounding 29 March, don’t forget the other deadline that follows one week later: the end of the tax year on 5 April 2019. There are a number of things that should be done by way of fiscal spring-cleaning before the year-end: we set out some of them in this note; and for ... Continue Reading

RSM UK's George Bull looks at how quickly (or not) UK businesses are signing up to Making Tax Digital. Latest government figures show that 1.2 million businesses have to register for Making Tax Digital (MTD) before the 31 March 2019 deadline. 2,000 companies are registering every day. At that rate, the registration process won’t be completed until October 2020. It’s reasonable to expect that the rate of new registrations will increase but there seems to be no reasonable prospect that ... Continue Reading

RSM UK's Sarah Saunders considers HMRC's admission that it may not issue 2017/18 tax return late filing penalties until late April 2019 HMRC usually issues £100 fines for late tax returns in early February to remind taxpayers who have not yet done their returns, and hopefully encourage them to finally comply. In our experience these fines usually focus the attention and trigger responses well before the next fine date at the end of April when £10 per day penalties start (potentially ... Continue Reading

David Whiscombe wonders on what planet it can be considered careless to come to the same conclusion as an appeal body. In some circumstances a builder who constructs a building must zero-rate the supply for VAT purposes if the customer certifies that the building is to be used for a qualifying purpose. Understandably, the law provides for penalties to be imposed if such a certificate is given when it shouldn’t have been. However, there is no penalty if the person giving the certificate can ... Continue Reading

RSM UK's Ross Stupart looks at the increasing tax compliance and reporting burden on construction businesses Construction companies already do their fair share when it comes to tax collection and are well versed in collecting and reporting taxes such as employee Income Tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) on behalf of HMRC through the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system. The larger businesses (those with a wage bill exceeding £3m in a year) also need to report and pay the Apprenticeship ... Continue Reading

The STEP UK Annual Tax Conference 2019 returns this year and will take place at four venues across the UK during May and June. The conference will kick off in Birmingham on 8 May 2019 and will continue in London, Leeds and Exeter. Each year, this conference is incredibly popular, often selling out. Over 650 delegates attended this conference series in 2018; make sure you are one of them this year by signing up today!  Why Attend: The Annual Tax Conference takes place against the background ... Continue Reading