Business Tax Planning

As we near the festive period, it’s important that you and your employees are not caught by tax charges for hosting a Christmas Party.

The extra costs of the increase in employers’ NICs could cause businesses to respond in ways the government did not intend, the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has warned.

The sale of your business to an Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) can be a tax free transaction if structured correctly. Given the potential changes to Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR) this could be a more attractive proposition from a tax perspective.

From April 2025, double cab pick-up trucks will no longer be treated as commercial vehicles for income tax and capital allowance purposes. This will significantly increase the benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax charge for employees and impact on the tax deductions available for businesses.

An initial reaction to Rachel Reeve's Autumn Budget from Tax manager Shaun Davison.

Given how much of the Chancellor’s Budget had already been signposted, businesses shouldn’t really have been expecting anything other than financial pain – and that is indeed what Rachel Reeves delivered.

Capital gains tax seems certain to be more onerous after the forthcoming Budget, says Mary Schofield.

There has been a long-standing practice, which has been in existence for over 40 years, that has granted furnished holiday homes beneficial tax treatment compared to other residential property landlords.

With the new Labour government promise to hit the ground running in the first 100 days of power, no time was wasted announcing their first tax changes.

For many companies the idea of paying tax is unpleasant let alone paying tax before it is due, however doing so could mean that you actually receive a payment from the Government by way of interest.

This was a nasty surprise in the Budget announcement – the removal of MDR. The announcement concluded it didn’t benefit the intended taxpayer and has been subject to frequent abusive claims.

Changes to capital allowances rules have for many years been a prominent feature of the annual announcements from the Chancellor, generating endless rate changes and transitional measures. These yoyoing rules and thresholds have made it particularly difficult for businesses to plan tax efficiently for capital expenditure.

Those expecting a buccaneering pre-election Budget from Jeremy Hunt will be feeling rather let down: this was a modest affair, full of measures which had been pre-briefed, and without even the traditional rabbit pulled out of the hat to please his own backbenchers.

Last week, HMRC published their draft rules and restrictions on contracted-out R&D and overseas workers. Overseas expenditure draft guidance has remained relatively similar to its original however there has been some significant and promising changes to contracted-out R&D compared to previous communications from HMRC.

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, says Nathan Bowden of Lovewell Blake.

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

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in the November 2023 Budget that full expensing for capital allowances will be made permanent, with the aim to help boost business investment and increase global competitiveness.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).