Archive:January 2022

Please find below all the articles from January 2022.

Home working and Capital Gains Tax (CGT)

Thursday, January 6, 2022

Working from home was slowly becoming more common before the Covid-19 pandemic; however, the various lockdowns restrictions meant that it increased exponentially in 2020 and 2021. Many employees have indicated that they do not wish to return to the office full-time, and employers appear to be willing to acquiesce to requests hybrid working patterns. As a result, working from home is likely to be here to stay. Much of the tax related guidance surrounding homeworking that has come to the fore in the wake of the pandemic relates…

Inheritance Tax (IHT) – a problem with taper relief

Thursday, January 6, 2022

Making gifts of value during an individual’s lifetime is a tried and trusted way of reducing the exposure to IHT. Many people are aware of the so-called "seven-year rule", which provides that a potentially exempt transfer (PET) becomes fully exempt as long as the person making the gift is still alive on the seventh anniversary of the date the gift was made. Of these people, some will be aware that there is a partial relief where the person making the gift dies before the seventh anniversary, but after…

Christmas: how does hospitality and gifts affect the VAT return?

Thursday, January 6, 2022

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 saw new guidelines issued by the government in December. However, at the time of writing no lockdown, circuit breaker or otherwise, has been announced. As a result, many businesses will be going ahead with plans for hosting parties for staff and clients. Some may choose not to due to concerns, but may still give festive gifts, for example to the biggest spending customers during the previous year. All these things have VAT implications.

Starting with entertainment, the input tax incurred on any hospitality can…

Latest news round up

Thursday, January 6, 2022

A number of suggested reforms to the CGT have been accepted by the government. In May 2021, the Office of Tax Simplification published a report that included 14 recommendations. The government’s response was published on 30 November. While any major changes, such as aligning CGT rates with income tax were ruled out, five of the OTS recommendations have been accepted. Some of these are concerned with improvements to guidance or access to the CGT service, but some technical changes will also be made.

Firstly, the window for…