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A property owned jointly or in partnership does not necessarily mean that the rental profit or loss must be allocated in the same proportion as the underlying ownership of the property. The owners can agree a different split as they see fit, the proportion referring to profits and losses only and not to the capital received should the property be sold. It would be advisable for there to be an agreement quite separate from the property purchase deed that confirms the proportion. The agreement ... Continue Reading

TaxationWeb’s TW Ed says that the vast majority of our tax reliefs were created – and should be retained – for very good reasons. A little over three years ago, the Office of Tax Simplification published a list of more than1,000 tax reliefs and exemptions available to businesses and to individuals. Many readers will recall that the number was much higher than the OTS, and probably anyone else, had anticipated. Many readers will also recall that, since then, the OTS’ ... Continue Reading

The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) has launched its new Tax Guide for Students website to help those in further and higher education navigate their tax affairs.  Introduction  The Tax Guide for Students website (www.taxguideforstudents.org.uk) is sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), funded by a grant from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and operated in partnership with the National Association of Student Money Advisers. Its launch coincides with National ... Continue Reading

The beneficiary of a trust can live in a property held within a trust as their main residence and on the future disposal of the property Principal Private Residence (PPR) relief will be available.    However, if a ‘hold-over’ election was made on transfer into the trust PPR is denied on any subsequent sale. This is the position whether the trust sells the property or the property is transferred out of the trust and then the transferee sells.    So the choice is ... Continue Reading

By Richard Bramwell QC, John Lindsay, Alun James, Julian Hickey, Michael Collins Published by Sweet & Maxwell As a tax consultant and a regular user of 'Taxation of Companies and Company Reconstructions' since my first review in 2006, I have to say that I have found this publication very useful in my corporate tax advisory work over the years. Those involved in corporation tax (and company reconstruction work in particular) to a significant extent should find it a valuable ... Continue Reading

‘Value shifting’ occurs when the value of a property is altered as a result of passing an interest in the property to another.   Anti-avoidance rules are in place whereby such disposals are deemed to be chargeable to CGT despite there being no consideration involved. In these situations the ‘market value’ rule is deemed to operate and the person transferring the value is liable to CGT based on the amount which he or she could have obtained for the transfer, if ... Continue Reading

There is an exemption for inheritance tax purposes in addition to the £3,000 annual allowance for gifts made out of income on a regular basis. It is important to establish the regularity of the payments in order to qualify for this relief, so if gifts are made in cash then these should be regular in amount and frequency taking one year with another. A better way of establishing regular payments may be to take out an investment policy for someone such as your (adult) child with premiums ... Continue Reading

Peter Vaines of Squire Sanders comments on a recent tax case where HMRC claimed "Discovery" I never like to miss a case on discovery assessments as the rules are being refined all the time. In fact, the arguments on this subject have now become so refined that the whole purpose of the legislation is in danger of being lost. The latest such case is Boyle v HMRC TC 3103 which concerned a tax scheme involving loans in foreign currencies notably Uzbekistani Soums. (No, I didn't ... Continue Reading

HM Revenue & Customs has broken down Self Assessment taxpayer by region, and finds that it's Londoners who have the poorest record when it comes to late filing. Londoners are more likely to miss the tax return deadline than taxpayers in any other part of the UK, figures released today by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reveal. Around one in nine (11 per cent) of the 560,000 people in Inner London who had to send in a tax return last year didn’t do so by the relevant deadline ... Continue Reading

TaxationWeb's Mark McLaughlin highlights two recent tax cases which prove HMRC can get things very wrong. I was shocked and appalled this week to read a First-Tier Tribunal case where HMRC imposed a penalty for a late tax payment on a taxpayer who was suffering from cancer. HMRC had refused to accept that the taxpayer's late payment was attributable to her illness. They argued (among other things) that the reason for the late payment was that some of the taxpayer's funds ... Continue Reading