The Spring Budget 2020 announced a significant restriction on future availability of entrepreneur’s relief (ER) for individuals who dispose of all or part of their business, individuals who dispose of shares in their personal company, and trustees who dispose of business assets.

Broadly, the changes will increase the amount of tax payable by a business sold at a profit of over £1m. For potential sale profits at or around this limit, careful planning may be needed to extract value from the business prior to sale, for example through increased employer…

HMRC have released guidance on changes to their policy for businesses who supply goods by way of hire purchase agreements.

Brief 8 (2020) explains HMRC’s suggested method for apportionment of VAT incurred on overheads following judgment in Revenue and Customs Commissioners v Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Ltd (Case C-153/17) (VWFS) for businesses who supply goods by way of hire purchase agreements.

Background

VWFS, a finance house, provided credit to customers who wanted to purchase a vehicle. It operated by purchasing the car from the dealer at the same time as providing…

As the new tax year progresses, now is a good time review some of the tax-efficient savings incentives available which may help maximise potential returns.

Help-to-save

The Help-to-Save scheme offers working people on low incomes a 50% bonus, rewarding savers with 50p for every £1 saved. Over four years, a maximum bonus of £1,200 is available on savings of up to £2,400. Savings limits are flexible and it is not necessary to pay in every month to get a bonus.

How much is saved and when is up to the account…

To help ease the financial impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Government has announced that self-employed taxpayers may be able to defer some tax payments without paying a penalty. At present it is possible to:

– delay VAT payments due before 30 June 2020 until 31 March 2021;
– delay self-assessment payments on account due in July 2020 until 31 January 2021.

Taxpayers have the option to defer their second payment on account for the 2019/20 tax year if they are registered in the UK for self-assessment and finding it difficult…

HMRC have released updated information with regards to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme that we would like to bring to our clients attention. As per our e-mail of the 27th March, this scheme will allow the self-employed to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for 3 months, below is a reminder of the eligibility criteria:

To claim the grant the following conditions apply:
• Your 2018/2019 tax return must have been submitted.
• You traded in the 2019/2020 tax year.
• You are…