Personal Tax Planning

Child benefit payments give new and growing families a boost in their household income, however higher earners may be caught out with a clawback charge offsetting the benefit received.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have confirmed plans to mandate the reporting of benefits in kind (BIK) via payroll software, thus doing away with the form P11d.

HM Revenue & Customs are introducing Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax from 6 April 2026. This will change the way sole-traders and landlords keep their records and report their income and expenses.

Taxpayers facing the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) will soon be able to pay the charge through their payslip, saving them the trouble of filing self-assessment tax returns.

My colleague Ed Passmore wrote in Wednesday’s EDP that businesses shouldn’t expect too much from Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ spring statement, and he wasn’t wrong – there was precious little which will directly affect business.  But that doesn’t mean that there weren’t a few nuggets of interest.

For the many farmers in our region, there will have been disappointment that there was no moderation of the effects of the inheritance tax announcement made in the autumn Budget.

What Married Couples and Civil Partners need to know before April 2025

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.

HMRC has reduced late payment and repayment interest rates following the cut to the base rate.

HMRC has warned landlords to disclose their earnings on self assessment tax returns.

HMRC has warned taxpayers that the countdown to the self assessment deadline is now underway, with less than 100 days to go.

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.

Reform of inheritance taxation in the Budget seems a distinct possibility, says Kevin Bunting, managing partner at Lovewell Blake.

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.

HMRC will send Simple Assessment tax statements to pensioners in the next few weeks.

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.

Divorce can be one of the most difficult life events that an individual can face. With an estimated UK divorce rate of 42%, it is an area that we see increasingly often. The tax rules in connection with dividing up chargeable assets can be complex and must be considered prior to any financial order being agreed to protect against an unexpected tax burden.

As part of the Autumn budget the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves announced that the government would “abolish the non-dom tax regime and remove the outdated concept of domicile from the tax system”.

I’ll start by putting a myth to bed – the term ‘non-dom’ remains because the concept originates from a taxpayers (and their parents) place of birth. Whilst a Chancellor has many powers he can’t change the origin of somebody’s birth!

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.

The 2023 Spring Budget introduced a number of key changes to pension legislation, and in particular changes to the Lifetime Allowance.

Recently, some taxpayers have been receiving letters from HMRC suggesting they have received overseas income or gains that they ‘may’ need to pay UK tax on.

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.

The Government has recently published draft legislation that will allow divorcing couples more time to arrange their tax affairs.

Many of us could be caught out by Inheritance Tax (IHT). Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to be mega-rich to owe HMRC a chunk of money when you die. I think most of us would prefer as much as possible to go to our loved ones, rather than HMRC.