Category: Tax

192 – And after the election

There is unfinished business for the new government to deal with. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. However, when it comes to general elections, there is plenty of history to suggest that tax increases are more likely in the first Budget to occur after the polls have closed. From a politician's…

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178 – HMRC – The Ultra rich and the not so rich

Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee thinks that the “government must take a tougher stance on taxing the very wealthy.” In 2009, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) set a specialist team to focus on the tax affairs of high net worth individuals (HNWIs is the jargon). At the time, HNWIs were defined as people with net assets…

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The Residence nil rate band – A real head scratcher

From April, the residence nil rate band comes into being. It was nearly two years ago that the Conservatives’ manifesto for the 2015 election promised to “take the family home out of tax by increasing the effective Inheritance Tax threshold for married couples and civil partners to £1 million.” The legislation which starts the first…

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152 – A new chancellor takes the reigns

The UK now has a new Prime Minister and a new Chancellor, but will tax policy change? If you went on an overseas holiday in the second week of July, you left the UK with David Cameron as Prime Minister and George Osborne as Chancellor, but by your return the country was in the hands…

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147 – Your bank rewards may be less interesting

Not everything your bank pays you counts towards the personal savings allowance. When the personal savings allowance (PSA) was first announced in the March 2015 Budget, it all sounded quite straightforward: If you were a basic rate taxpayer, you had a £1,000 allowance to set against savings income; If you were a higher rate taxpayer,…

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144 – Has your income tax bill really gone up?

Independent research shows that if you feel you're paying more income tax than you used to, you're probably right. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) is an independent body that has established a reputation for objectivity in tax matters. Its former head, Robert Chote, is now in charge of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR),…

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Tax Havens have no economic justification

World leaders have been urged to put an end to tax havens in a letter signed by a number of leading economists. More than 300 top economists, including Thomas Piketty and 2015 Nobel Prize economics winner Angus Deaton have stated that there is no economic benefit to tax havens and are pressing world leaders at…

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Income Tax changes

The burden of income tax was reduced slightly in the Budget, but anomalies remain. The personal allowance will rise from £11,000 to £11,500 in 2016/17 and the higher rate threshold - the starting point for 40% tax - will rise by £2,000 to £45,000. While the Treasury described the increase in the higher rate threshold…

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Breaking the PAYE code

Your latest PAYE code may look a little strange. It's the time of year when HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) sends out PAYE codes for the new tax year. Usually that means adjustments for: An increase in the personal allowance, which in 2016/17 will rise by £400 to £11,000; Changes in any benefit values, notably…

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Getting Ready for the new tax year

As we near the end of the tax year, now is the time to consider not only year end planning, but also planning for the new tax year. It is one of the features of the political cycle that the more difficult and less palatable legislation tends to come at the start of a parliamentary…

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