Morgan Hemp Blog

Tax credits for film industry to rise

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Some film studios are set to benefit from 40% gross business rates relief until 2034.
The UK has become “Europe’s largest film and TV production centre”, Mr Hunt said, before announcing the rate of tax credit available to the
industry will rise by 5%. Furthermore, an 80% cap for visual effects costs will be removed.

Orchestras, museums, galleries and theatres will also benefit from a permanent 45% tax relief for touring productions and 40% relief for non-touring
productions. The UK’s creative industries will be backed by over £1 billion…

Research and Development funding

Thursday, March 7, 2024

The Budget includes an additional £45 million to “accelerate medical research”
into common diseases like cancer, dementia and epilepsy. It’s part of a £360 million package to support innovative R&D and manufacturing
projects across the life sciences, automotive and aerospace sectors.

The Green Industries Growth Accelerator will be allocated an extra £120 million to build supply chains for offshore wind and carbon capture and
storage, officials added.

New tax on vaping and tobacco duty rise

Thursday, March 7, 2024

A duty on vapes will be introduced from October 2026. Officials said the move was designed to
“protect young people and children from the harm of vaping”. The existing tax on tobacco will increase, to maintain the “financial incentive to choose vaping
over smoking”. This will raise a combined £1.3 billion by 2028/29.

Updates on the economy and Government spending

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Inflation
Inflation should fall below the 2% target set by the Government in a few months, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility report, Mr Hunt announced.
When he came to office inflation was at 11%, he said, whilst the latest figures show that it is now at 4%. Mr Hunt told MPs: “We have turned the corner on inflation.”

Debt and borrowing figures announced
Following OBR forecasts back in 2022 that headline debt would rise to above 100% of GDP, the Chancellor updated the Commons on projections for the next…

Record Self-Assessment returns, but estimated 1m miss deadline

Friday, March 1, 2024

The record number of taxpayers submitting Self-Assessment tax returns was beaten in January, it’s
been revealed, with a new high of 11.5million being reached. That’s quite some number!

But, judging by the figures HMRC released, somewhere between 0.5million and 1.1million failed to send theirs in by the deadline of 31 January.

Of the 12.1 million expected to file for the 2022-2023 tax year 778,068 managed to file on the last day, with 61,549 submissions occurring during the
peak filing hour and 32,958 filed in the final hour.

The key stats released…

Budget to bring tax and mortgage changes?

Friday, March 1, 2024

It’s nearly that time again when the Chancellor of the Exchequer rises to his feet
to address the House of Commons to deliver the latest Budget.

This Spring announcement – set for 6 March – is earlier than typical, with a General Election looming sometime later this year, in all
likelihood. The Government has to go to the polls by January 2025 at the very latest.

The news that the UK has slipped into a technical recession (two quarters of consecutive negative growth) has complicated matters for
Jeremy Hunt. He…

Scammers target self-employed with fake tax refund promise

Friday, March 1, 2024

A surge of bogus tax refund phishing scams is feared by HMRC officials.

The Government body has warned self-employed people to watch out for fraudsters who are likely to want to target the 11.5 million or so
who have just recently sent in their Self-Assessment tax returns.

Scammers will attempt to dupe people about tax rebates by email, phone or texts that mimic government messages to make them appear
authentic.

Designed to use personal details for selling on to criminals, or to access people’s bank accounts, these attempts to lure…

£38million of tax overpayments refunded

Friday, March 1, 2024

Have you overpaid on your pensions tax? HMRC has released information showing that
£38million worth of repayments were issued to thousands of savers (aged 55 and over) in the final quarter of 2023. More than 12,000 reclaim forms were processed.

In the main, it was individuals accessing their pensions flexibly who were impacted. The unexpected tax bills have arisen due to an ’emergency’ tax code applied to their
first withdrawal.

Analysis by investment broker AJ Bell indicated that since 2015, approximately £1.2 billion has been repaid to savers who were…

Scotland creates new higher income tax band

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Scottish taxpayers earning more than £75,000 are set to pay a new higher rate of 45% from 2024-25. The Scottish Government has announced the change following its Budget. The change means Scotland now has six different income tax rates. The rest of the UK has three.

The ‘advanced’ band, as it has been called, will apply to those earning between £75,000 to £125,140. The starter, basic and intermediate threshold is set to rise with inflation, but the higher rate (43%) would still kick in at the same rate -…

£148m in tax bills to be paid in instalments

Thursday, February 1, 2024

As the Self-Assessment Income Tax deadline looms (31 January), HMRC has revealed that many people have opted into a scheme to pay their tax bills in instalments.

Nearly 44,800 people have sorted their tax bills totalling almost £148 million, by setting up a monthly payment plan called Time to Pay. HMRC also revealed 28,794 people used its app this time around to pay more than £42 million in tax owed.

More than 7.7 million people who file Self-AssessmentTax Returns have already filed theirs for the 2022 to 2023 tax year. We…