Business Tax Planning

The Chancellor announced the Autumn Statement on 22nd November, Shaun Davison and James Shipp give their initial reaction.

The optimal time to sell a business can be influenced by the potential tax implications. UK Corporate sellers can claim the “substantial shareholding exemption” (“SSE”) to exempt a gain on a sale from corporation tax.

There are significant tax advantages to choosing an EV in addition to the environmental benefits, say Calvin Roll and Nathan Bowden of Lovewell Blake.

How your business is taxed will be a big factor in how you structure it, says Leigh Thurston.

Following on from the success of the super-deduction, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in the 2023 Spring Budget the introduction of full expensing capital allowances, with the aim to help boost business investment and increase global competitiveness.

Chartered accountants Lovewell Blake have appointed Ed Passmore as a partner.

The UK government has announced that they are going to issue a consultation on the use and effectiveness of Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs). The focus seems to be ensuring these are primarily being used to incentivise employees.

To support the economy in response to coronavirus, the government introduced the ‘Super-Deduction’ in April 2021 allowing companies investing in qualifying new plant and machinery assets to claim enhanced capital allowances up to 130%.

Financial year-end planning is something that is commonly overlooked by companies. It is always advisable to think how you can work on different aspects of the business to help to improve for the future. After all, growth and sustainability are often two of the most important factors for most businesses.

In his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced several changes to the taxes surrounding electric vehicles. Mat Waters, a Business Services Partner in our Lowestoft office summarises the current tax implications to business owners for owning or leasing electric vehicles

The UK's tax burden will rise after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt reduced the threshold on the top rate of tax and announced freezes on other taxes in the Autumn Statement.

As we approach the festive season, one question we are commonly asked is what the tax implications are to gifts we provide to our staff.

Jeremy Hunt said that everyone would feel the pain in his Economic Statement; that is certainly true of businesses, and SMEs in particular. Given that they are the real engine of growth in the UK economy, he may find that attacking them on every front will not prove popular in the business community.

Individual taxpayers, both employees and investors, are facing bigger bills following the Autumn Statement.

For UK start-ups and small enterprises, the Chancellor significantly reduced R&D Tax Credits in his Autumn Statement.

After a series of announcements and reversals, the dust has settled on tax rates on dividends and bonuses.Even so, the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, included some additional elements in his Autumn Statement as part of a renewed focus on raising tax.

HM Revenue and Customs on 26 August 2022 has released its first of many anticipated articles of what will be required going forward.

Where there is land and or property in a partnership, in very simple terms, it is ‘held in trust’ for the benefit of all the partners in the partnership. Although the value of that land may be credited to individual partners’ capital accounts, it has as a matter of law become partnership property and therefore is held to benefit all the partners.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have announced they are reviewing the position of taxpayers who have made substantial gains during their lifetime and may have inadvertently exceeded their lifetime limit for Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR).

As an employer, there are various ways to remunerate your team. Increasing salary may be enough to retain some staff whilst others want a ‘slice of the action’. Company share schemes are an increasingly common way to incentivise employees, and there are various different ways to achieve this, depending on your requirements, and theirs.

The Enterprise Management Incentive (“EMI”) scheme is a tax-advantaged share option scheme.

The deadline for filing your annual ERS (Employment Related Securities) return is 6 July following the end of the tax year.

The UK’s fiscal year (or tax year, as it’s more commonly known) ends on 5 April and with it any annual allowances which HMRC offer for the 2021/22 tax year.

In 2012, due to concern that the UK population weren’t taking adequate measures to save for their retirement, the Government took the radical measure of introducing auto-enrolment.

HMRC has recently launched a consultation on how basis periods can be reformed for income tax for the self-employed.

As a business owner we are all too aware of the importance of the various ‘clogs’ in the business machine. One of the most important elements of this are your employees.

The UK government has confirmed that its plastic packaging tax (PPT) will come into force on 1 April 2022.

Following the closure of the fourth Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant on 31 May 2021, the government have announced further details of the fifth, and most likely final, SEISS grant.

When the cross-party Treasury Committee made a series of recommendations to Government in March 2021, there were specific suggestions, some of which were introduced in the spring Budget, but also a more general plea for a clear tax strategy.

The fourth Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant is now live and HMRC has set out the penalties for abuse of the scheme.

Many East Anglian businesses are missing out on generous research and development tax reliefs because they don’t realise they are eligible – or even that they are carrying out R&D in the first place. That is the view of one of the region’s leading R&D tax experts, who is leading a special webinar next month with the aim of helping more firms to access the valuable tax breaks.

The Covid pandemic has been tough on many businesses; one of the consequences of the economic turmoil of the past 12 months has been a significant increase in the number of new businesses starting up.

In 2020, the pandemic sparked a ‘race for space’ which saw the average UK house price rise by 7.6% in the year to November 2020. This means that a dwelling previously valued at £465,000 12 months ago could now potentially be worth over £500,000 and give rise to a tax issue under Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED).

On 3 March, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, announced in the Budget additional measures over this year, and next, to support the economy in response to coronavirus.

One of the biggest headlines to emerge from the budget is that corporation tax will be rising to 25%. Business owners may well think this is a bit of a kick in the teeth, but all is not what it seems.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have announced that Self-Assessment taxpayers will not be charged the 5% late payment penalty if they pay their tax or set up a payment plan by 1 April 2021.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) revealed that more than 10.7 million people submitted their 2019/20 Self-Assessment tax returns by the 31 January 2021 filing deadline.

The company car is a valuable negotiating tool offered by employers, looking to promote or reward key employees within the business, however, the popularity of uptake has reduced in recent years - mainly due to increases in the company car tax rates, with employers looking to offer cash allowances as an alternative.

A problem often faced by employers who seek to be generous to their employees is the following: what can I give to an employee that won’t attract any extra tax (on the employee and employer) or admin work?

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has unveiled his emergency COVID rescue plan to protect jobs and the UK economy.

Whilst delivering the summer statement in Parliament on 8 July 2020, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, presented his ‘Plan for Jobs’ worth up to £30 billion to help Britain bounce back from the Coronavirus outbreak.

With post-Covid cashflow the number one issue for many businesses, now is the time for some judicious business tax planning.

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT was introduced on 1 April 2019 for all business trading above £85,000 of taxable supplies, with an extension until 1 October 2019 for some businesses eg groups.

If you are considering the purchase of a new car for your business then you may want to think about the benefits of an electric or ultra-low emissions vehicle (ULEVs).