Wokingham Accountants
Childcare is expensive; however, the tax system can provide a helping hand. In recent years, there has been a shift from tax relief for employer-supported childcare and vouchers to a Government top-up scheme. Government scheme The Government operate a tax-free childcare scheme whereby parents deposit money into an account which can be used to meet … Read more
Where inheritance tax is payable on an estate, it must normally be paid by the end of the sixth month after that in which the death occurred. For example, if the deceased died on 22 August 2021, inheritance tax on the estate would be due by 28 February 2022. The six-month deadline does not leave … Read more
During the Covid-19 pandemic, HMRC paused much of their tax collection work, both to allow resources to be diverted to other activities, such as administering the various coronavirus support initiatives, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, and to provide those whose finances were adversely affected by the pandemic … Read more
As the country emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, business travel is once again on the agenda. Where employees undertake business travel, they will usually be able to claim the associated expenses from their employer. If the journey is by car, the easiest way to do this is for the employer to pay a mileage allowance … Read more
It is not uncommon to realise a loss in the early years of a trade. However, traders who commenced their self-employment in 2019 or 2020 may also have suffered as a result of the pandemic. Although the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) provided help for traders who also suffered from the impact of the pandemic, … Read more
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the advice was ‘work from home if you can’. As a result, millions of employees found themselves working at home, often at very short notice. Many still have not returned to the workplace, and homeworking (whether fully or flexibly) is here to stay. Employees will generally incur additional costs as a … Read more
For personal and family companies, a tax efficient strategy for extracting profits is to take a small salary and to extract any further funds needed outside the company in the form of dividends. However, while there are no restrictions on taking a salary if the company is making a loss, the same is not true … Read more
With assets that have become worthless, it may be possible to make a negligible value claim, allowing a loss to be realised which can be set against chargeable gains to reduce the capital gains tax liability. A negligible value claim can be made either on the self-assessment tax return or in writing to HMRC. Shares … Read more
If you operate through a limited company, for example as a personal or family company, you will need to extract funds from your company in order to use them to meet your personal bills. There are various ways of doing this. However, a popular and tax efficient strategy is to take a small salary which … Read more
To help meet some of the costs incurred in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, the Chancellor announced in his 2021 Budget that a number of allowances and thresholds will remain at their 2021/22 levels until 6 April 2026. Those affected are outlined below. Personal allowance The personal allowance was increased to £12,570 for 2021/22, up … Read more
