Deadline to catch up on National Insurance contributions extended

Anyone with an incomplete National Insurance contributions (NICs) record between April 2006 and April 2016 now has until July 31 to add to their NICs to qualify for a full State Pension after HMRC extended the deadline.

Thousands of taxpayers have incomplete years in their NICs record who could get a higher State Pension if they make voluntary payments to top up incomplete or missing years, according to the Treasury.

The original deadline for voluntary payments to fill any gaps was April 5, 2023, but this was extended after members of the public voiced concerns that this did not give them enough time.

Victoria Atkins, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said: “We’ve listened to concerned members of the public and have acted. We recognise how important State Pensions are for retired individuals, which is why we are giving people more time to fill any gaps in their National Insurance record to help bolster their entitlement.”

How would I know if I’m affected?

The easiest way to find out if you have any missing NICs years is to ask for a Pensions Forecast from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The relevant information to get a State Pension forecast, and to decide if making a voluntary National Insurance contribution is the best course of action for you, plus how to make a payment, is available on GOV.UK.

You can also check your National Insurance record, via the HMRC app or your Personal Tax Account. If you aren’t sure how to do this, your accountant will be able to help you. If you choose to make additional voluntary payments, these would be at the existing rates for 2022/23.

NICs to qualify for a full State Pension

To get the full State Pension, you will need to have paid 35 full years of NICs. To get any State Pension, you will need to have paid 10 full years of NICs. If you have paid between 10 and 35 full years of NICs, you will get a proportion of the full State Pension.

This is why it’s important to find out how many full years of contributions you have made. The full State Pension amount is currently £203.85 per week. So, if you had 25 full qualifying years, you would divide £203.85 by 35 and then multiply by 25 to see what you would get. In this example, you would receive £145.61 per week at the current rate.

Remember, you should get advice to see if it is worth making additional voluntary contributions to complete your NICs record. So, speak to your accountant before you make any payments.

Let us help you

Pensions – and especially the State Pension – can be complex to navigate. If you are concerned you haven’t got enough qualifying years for your full State Pension, then please get in touch with us and we will advise you on the best course of action.

Pension Carry Forward rules are now more beneficial

The Chancellor made some major changes to the pension rules in the March Budget, and one key amendment has made using something called ‘Carry Forward’ rules much more beneficial for pension savers.

How does Carry Forward work?

The Carry Forward rules allow you to use up any unused pension allowance from the last three tax years in a single year, which can give a big boost to your pension pot. There is a limit on the maximum amount you can put into your pension each tax year and receive tax relief. For the last three tax years prior to 2023/24 the annual allowance has been £40,000. However, the Chancellor raised this allowance for this tax year to £60,000.

What does this mean for me?

If you haven’t used your entire £40,000 annual allowance for the last three years – 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 – then you can make additional contributions this year to use up any remainder of the £120,000 worth of contributions you could have made during that period.

Let’s say you made £20,000 worth of contributions in each of these tax years. This would leave £60,000 of the remaining allowances you can now ‘carry forward’. Remember, this figure includes tax relief at your highest level from the taxman. If you are a 40% taxpayer, for example, then adding £40,000 to your pension would cost you just £24,000 with the remaining £16,000 being added by HMRC from the tax you would pay for that year.

You also have a £60,000 annual allowance for the 2023/24 tax year. If you hadn’t put anything into your pension for the previous three years, then this year you could add £180,000 in one go, providing you earn enough to do this. HMRC won’t give you more tax relief in a single year than the tax you have to pay. You would need to earn at least £180,000 this year to qualify for this much tax relief.

If you can’t use all of your allowance for this year, then you can always use the Carry Forward rules next year.

Don’t I have to be careful how large my pension pot gets during my lifetime?

Well, there is still theoretically a Lifetime Allowance of £1,073,100 which was the maximum you could have in your pension fund before you were hit with charges as high as 55% on amounts over this limit. But during the Budget, the Chancellor removed the penalty on this Lifetime Allowance, meaning there is no problem now for breaching it. Legislation is needed to remove the limit completely.

The change applies from April 6 this year. The only thing you can’t do is take more than £268,275 as your tax-free lump sum no matter how big your pension pot gets – which is 25% of the current Lifetime Allowance.

We can help you

Using Carry Forward is a great way to catch up on pension contributions you didn’t make in previous years. It can be especially useful if you are getting close to retirement and want to put more into your pension. If you want to explore Carry Forward, please get in touch and we will be happy to help.

Could you benefit from a free Government midlife MOT?

Our cars go through MOTs each year once they reach a certain age, but have you ever thought of giving yourself an MOT? The Government is offering a free midlife MOT for those in their 40s, 50s and 60s to help them make the right financial decisions for retirement.

The midlife MOT provides free online support to those in the private sector, and can be done face-to-face with Department for Work and Pensions staff in job centres for those looking for work. The aim is to ensure you are giving sufficient thought to your money, work and wellbeing as you head into the later stages of your life.

What’s involved?

The online midlife MOT provides a series of prompts to make you think more carefully about what you may need to do as you get older. For example, will you be able to continue in your current job as you get older? Or will you need to learn new skills to continue to provide for yourself and your family?

You are also prompted to consider whether you have enough money to live on to maintain your current lifestyle? Or whether you might need to examine your pension saving and put some extra aside to enjoy your retirement more comfortably.

The specific questions on the midlife MOT site are:

My work: Am I confident I can continue in my current job, or do I need to protect myself by reskilling? Will caring responsibilities or other priorities mean I need to work more flexibly?

My health: Am I taking the right steps to maintain or improve my health? Would workplace adjustments make it easier for me to stay in my job for longer?

My money: Do I have enough savings to maintain my current lifestyle? I’m confused about pensions, what are my options?

My work and skills: As your situation changes as you get older, you may find that flexible working arrangements can make a difference.

Source: https://www.yourpension.gov.uk/mid-life-mot/

Is this relevant to employers or just individuals?

There is a specific section of the website that highlights what employers can do to help their staff access the midlife MOT for their workplace. There are details on how this could work for both larger companies and smaller employers and you can also download toolkits to use within your business for relevant staff.

There are also a number of useful links within the YourPension.gov.uk/mid-life-mot/ webpage to help people navigate to the relevant information they need to check all aspects of their life are on track as they reach this point in their life.

Let us help you

Do you feel like you need a midlife MOT but would rather talk things through with someone than simply navigate this on your own? If so, then we can help you understand whether you are financially ready for the next chapter of your life. Just contact us and we will guide you through everything you need to know.

Make the most of the new tax year by acting now

The new tax year started on April 6 and while many people will wait until the last minute to maximise the tax benefits available to them, there is a lot to be said for starting your tax housekeeping sooner rather than later.

There are many ways we can benefit from the tax breaks available each tax year. But trying to cram everything into the month before the tax year ends means you are likely to miss out on some of them. Planning ahead from the start of the tax year means you can mop up any allowances you can access.

Use your ISA allowance early

One of the most beneficial allowances to start using early in the tax year is your Individual Savings Account (ISA) allowance. Each tax year – which runs from April 6 to April 5 – we all have the option of putting up to £20,000 into an ISA. You can put as much as you want into any type of ISA, providing you don’t breach the £20,000 threshold in a single tax year. The money grows free of Capital Gains Tax and Income Tax, plus in a cash ISA you will not pay any tax on savings interest.

Using your ISA allowance at the beginning of the year can generate significant benefits, even if you can’t put the whole £20,000 in at once. For example, if you calculate the difference in the value of an ISA with just £3,000 invested at the beginning of every tax year since 1999 compared with the same amount invested on the last day of the tax year over the same period, the early birds will have more than £9,000 extra in their pot based on the performance of the average global equity fund.

If you and your spouse have both used up your £20,000 allowance and you have children, you can also put up to £9,000 for each child into a Junior ISA. This is a perfect way to put money aside throughout their childhood to pay for school fees, university or even to build a deposit to help them buy their first home.

Use your Capital Gains Tax allowance

This tax year – 2023/24 – the Capital Gains Tax allowance has been more than halved, from £12,300 in 2022/23 to just £6,000. So, anyone crystallising gains of more than £6,000 in this tax year will need to pay CGT on any amount above this limit. The rate you pay will depend on your marginal rate of income tax and what type of asset the gain has been crystallised on.

As we all have the same CGT allowance, it is possible for spouses to shelter up to £12,000 from CGT this year, but that will take some planning. So, speak to your accountant to make sure you are making the right decisions at the right time.

Maximise your Inheritance Tax planning by using your annual allowances

Inheritance tax (IHT) is often considered to be a tax just for the rich. But as house prices have risen and the threshold for paying this tax has remained static at £325,000 since 2009, and is likely to remain at this level until 2028, more people than ever are paying IHT. In fact, the latest figures released by HMRC show IHT receipts have soared by £1 billion to £7.1 billion from April 2022 to March 2023, largely due to house price increases, especially in the South East of England.

So, if you own your home, you may want to think about how you can use the annual allowances to reduce your liability when you pass away.

Any amount you have in your estate at death above this Nil Rate Band – which includes all your assets such as your home, cars, antiques, jewellery, collections and so on – will be taxed at 40%. There is an additional allowance of £175,000 per person, called the Residence Nil Rate Band, if you are passing your home to a direct descendant, such as a child or grandchild. But this is not available to those without children.

Spouses or civil partners passing assets between them on death will not be subject to IHT. So, any unused allowance remaining can be used by the second spouse or civil partner on their death, giving a maximum threshold of £1m if none of the Nil Rate Band or RNRB was used on the first death. The allowance can be passed automatically, you would just need to let the executor of the estate on the second death know this as they would need to make the claim when they apply for probate. So, a letter with your will would be a good way to do this, or by discussing this with the person who writes your will with you.

If your estate would still exceed this level, then you can legally reduce your estate’s value each year by making gifts to loved ones. For example, you can make gifts of up to £3,000 each year which will be free of IHT when you die.

You can also make other gifts of any amount you like, and providing you survive those by seven years, they will no longer be within your estate for IHT purposes. But the rules can be complex, so get advice from your accountant if you think you could be affected by IHT.

Contact us

These are just a few of the ways you can reduce your tax bills this tax year. We can help you make the most of these and other allowances before you lose them. So, please get in touch with us and we will help you make the right financial decisions for you and your family.

Pension changes make retirement saving more attractive

Pensions got a major overhaul in the Chancellor’s Budget announcements, with an increase in the amount you can put into your pension each year and an effective removal of the limit that your pension can reach before facing significant penalties of as much as 55%.

Rise in Annual Allowances

From April, the Annual Allowance – the amount you can put into your pension each year and receive tax relief, providing you have paid enough in tax in a year to warrant it, as the taxman will not give you more in relief than you have paid – will rise from £40,000 to £60,000.

There is also a rise in the Money Purchase Annual Allowance, which is the amount you can pay into a money purchase pension each year once you have vested part of it. This rises from £4,000 to £10,000 for the 2023/24 tax year – taking it back to its previous level.

The Tapered Annual Allowance is also going up from £4,000 back to its original level of £10,000. This taper kicked in at an ‘adjusted income’ level of £240,000, but this also rises to £260,000 for the 2023/24 tax year.

Lifetime Allowance effectively removed from April 2023

One of the most eye-catching measures in the Budget was the effective removal of the Lifetime Allowance, which limited the amount a pension fund could grow to £1,0731,000 before charges of up to 55% were applied on the additional amounts unless someone had a ‘protected pension’.

From April 6, these penalties will no longer apply, meaning there is no longer a penalty for passing this limit. This renders the Lifetime Allowance irrelevant as there will not be a penalty for breaching it. But it will take separate legislation to remove the Lifetime Allowance itself completely.

This is something that will be valuable particularly for some senior NHS doctors, as there has been a rising trend in them leaving the profession through early retirement, in part at least to prevent their pension going over the Lifetime Allowance.

Limit on the tax-free lump sum

However, there is a cap on the amount that someone can take from their pension as a 25% tax-free lump sum, thanks to the removal of the penalties being removed for breaching the Lifetime Allowance.

From April 6, you will only be able to take a maximum of £268,275 tax-free from your pension, which is the same as the maximum you could take under the Lifetime Allowance.

These measures combined are expected to cost the Treasury around £4 billion over the next five years.

We can help you

These pension changes are wide ranging and could significantly change your retirement planning, so if you want to know more about how you can make the most of these changes, then please get in touch and we will be happy to help.

Highest rate of tax will be paid by more people after the top threshold is reduced in the Budget

Higher earners have been dealt a blow after the Chancellor changed the level at which the 45% additional rate of tax applies from £150,000 to £125,140.

The move takes effect in the 2023/24 tax year and brings the threshold in line with the point at which the personal allowance, which is frozen at £12,570 for 2023/24, is removed entirely. For those earning more than £100,000 a year, the personal allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 earned above this limit.

More than £1,000 due in extra tax

The measure will cost an extra £1,243 a year in tax, said Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon, while Kwasi Kwarteng’s short-lived mini-Budget would have removed this additional rate completely.

However, once again it may make it more appealing for higher earners to put money into their pension schemes. Mr Cameron said: “While the freeze on thresholds for basic and higher rate income tax will create more tax take ‘by stealth’, there’s nothing stealthy about the cut in the additional rate threshold which rather than being frozen is being reduced from £150,000 to £125,140.

“But in current conditions, it’s not surprising that those who can afford to shoulder a greater part of the burden of tax increases are being asked to do so.

“Note that the existing gradual phasing out of the personal allowance once individuals earn over £100,000 means earnings between £100,000 and £125,140 are already effectively taxed at 60%. It now means thereafter, the marginal rate will be 45%.

“Together, these higher rates of income tax make paying personal contributions to pensions, which get relief at full marginal rate, particularly appealing.”

We can help you meet your obligations

If this change will affect you, then please get in touch and we will help you to maximise your tax life and work with you to perfect your pension planning.

The cost of divorce – how the pain can be more than emotional

January has earned the dubious distinction of being the month when more couples decide they want to get divorced than any other. The reasons are likely to be myriad, but the likelihood is that they either mark Christmas or New Year as a line in the sand for changing their lives, or simply that spending so much time together during the festive season helps them realise they are no longer compatible.

One law firm has seen an increase of 150% in divorce enquiries this January compared to the surrounding months, possibly boosted by the fact that couples can now have a ‘no fault’ divorce in England and Wales – it was already available in Scotland – after new legislation came into force last April. But the emotional turmoil that divorce brings is only one source of pain, as the financial cost is also considerable.

What does divorce have to do with the taxman?

Splitting assets between couples who have had their lives intertwined for decades is a complicated business. Add into this the emotion involved in such splits and it becomes very difficult to deal with these issues amicably.

However, when it comes to splitting assets, there may be a tax implication depending on what you do and how you do it. For example, if a couple splits a pension pot – which is taken into account as part of the assets held by one or both spouses depending on their financial position – the way this is done could potentially be a benefit for one or both of you. If the pension itself is likely to breach the £1,073,100 Lifetime Allowance threshold, then splitting this could mean both parties are able to add more to their pension without breaching this limit.

However, pensions are often not split in this way. So, often there is an offset of other assets – one spouse may get the family home, for instance, and the other spouse may keep the pension intact. It all depends on the financial agreements you make in the divorce.

What else should divorcing couples consider?

The pension conundrum is definitely not the only issue for divorcing couples to consider when it comes to their finances. There could be Capital Gains Tax (CGT) charges to think about as assets are split between the two parties.

To be sure there is no CGT to pay on the transfer of assets between you, it would be best to transfer assets before you formally separate – as long as you lived together at some point within the current tax year, which runs from April 6 to April 5 the following year, you shouldn’t have a CGT liability on giving assets to the other spouse.

If you split assets after you have been separated and the divorce has been finalised, then there could be a CGT liability. You can find out more on Gov.uk and by speaking to your accountant.

There are other areas to consider too. For example, if you pay spousal maintenance after your divorce, you may be able to claim tax relief on this. Also, if you had a High-Income Child Benefit Charge while you were with your spouse, you may now be able to claim full Child Benefit. Again, more information is available or you can speak to your accountant.

Contact us

If you are separating from your spouse or civil partner, then please get in touch with us and we can help you make the right financial decisions to keep your costs to a minimum.

MTD for ITSA delayed to April 2026 – what does this mean for you?

Making Tax Digital (MTD) has been on the cards for years now, with businesses already pushed towards dealing with their VAT this way. But plans to extend this for Income Tax Self-Assessment (ITSA) have been put on hold once again until April 6, 2026, eight years later than the original planned launch in 2018.

However, even when 2026 comes, the MTD for ITSA will be phased in rather than applying to everyone at once.

Who will have to go digital first?

The first people doing self-assessment who will need to go digital are landlords and the self-employed who are earning more than £50,000 a year. HMRC estimates that this will mean around 700,000 people are brought into the MTD regime at this point.

The next phase will kick in from April 2027, when landlords and self-employed people earning more than £30,000 a year will be expected to go digital – bringing another 900,000 people into the MTD regime according to HMRC.

What’s the plan?

Victoria Atkins, financial secretary to the Treasury, announced the delay in the House of Commons just before Christmas.

She said: “The government understands businesses and self-employed individuals are currently facing a challenging economic environment, and that the transition to MTD for ITSA represents a significant change for taxpayers, their agents, and for HMRC.

“That means it is right to take the time needed to work together to maximise those benefits of MTD for small business by implementing gradually.

“The government is therefore announcing more time to prepare, so that all businesses, self-employed individuals, and landlords within scope of MTD for Income Tax, but particularly those with the smallest incomes, can adapt to the new ways of working.”

The needs of smaller businesses are going to be put under review to see how they can be helped to “fulfil their income tax obligations” Ms Atkins said in her statement. Once this review is complete and the various stakeholders – businesses, taxpayers, and their agents among others – have been consulted, the Government will outline further plans for MTD for ITSA, said Ms Atkins.

General partnerships will not be expected to go digital in 2025 now as previously expected, but they will see these changes brought in at a later date. But anyone who wants to sign up for MTD voluntarily before they are required to, has that option.

Contact us

There may be some benefits to using MTD earlier than you need to, but there could also be drawbacks for some people and businesses. If you want to find out more about the right decision for you, then please contact us and we will give you all the help, support, and information you need.

Filing a self-assessment return for the deceased – can you do this yourself?

It is a fact of life that when we lose a loved one, the loss and grief is not all we have to deal with, even though that would be enough. Sadly, there is also a lot of administration that needs to be done by those left behind.

This can be anything from registering the death and getting multiple copies of the death certificate to provide to the various organisations that will ask for it, to rehoming pets left behind if necessary. So, dealing with the taxman at such a difficult time may not be appealing. But for some, especially where family members or close friends are also executors for the deceased’s estate, it is unavoidable.

Filing returns for the year someone died or earlier

The taxman’s reach goes beyond the grave as we know from Inheritance Tax being applied on estates after death where a liability applies, but there is also a requirement to ensure tax returns for those who have died are up-to-date including for the year in which they died.

This means relatives face collating all their loved one’s tax information for a period prior to their death, even if that information will be sent to an accountant who will deal with the ultimate filing of the return. This is a sensible option, because filing the return themselves mean there are some quirks to the usual system that need to be understood.

Can you file a return online for someone who is deceased?

HMRC will not accept online filing for anyone who is no longer alive. For security reasons, it insists that any returns relating to the deceased are filed in paper form when being dealt with by a family member or friend.

Authorised tax agents, such as your accountant, can file these returns online, including the return for the year in which they died. The tax year runs from April 6 to April 5 the following year, so the last return would need to relate to the period from April 6 in the relevant tax year to the date of their death.

Returns must be filed before January 31 the year after the end of the relevant tax year, or by the date on the ‘notice to file’ letter if one is received and that gives a different date.

However, if a repayment is due to the person’s estate from HMRC, the payment will not be made automatically. Instead, your accountant may need to call the bereavement helpline to get the ball rolling on this repayment being made.

You may need to deal with tax affairs after the person’s death too, and these are dealt with separately and in a slightly different way. You can find out more information on Gov.uk about what to do and how to tell HMRC about a person’s estate. You should also use the Tell Us Once service that the Government has, which means you tell one organisation within government about the death and all departments will be notified.

Let us help you

If you have lost a loved one recently and need help to deal with their financial affairs, then please get in touch with us and we can help you through the process.

Self-assessment late payment rates changed this month –what to expect if you miss the deadline

The taxman has been busy this month – no surprise given it is the time when self-assessment returns need to be filed. But anyone who misses the deadline of January 31 faces a new set of interest rates for penalties that were only published on December 20 last year.

The new rates for late payments

The current HMRC interest rate for late payment of tax is the Bank of England (BoE) base rate plus 2.5%. This means that as of January 6, the current rate of interest on late payments is 6%. This applies to Income Tax, National Insurance, Capital Gains Tax, Stamp Duty Land Tax, Stamp Duty Reserve Tax – from October 1, 1999 – and Corporation Tax.

However, if you are owed money by HMRC, the amount of interest you can expect to be paid on that outstanding amount is considerably lower. As of January 6, the amount HMRC will pay you in interest on money owed is 2.5%. You can find out more information about where these figures apply and historical data on Gov.uk.

When do interest rates apply on late payments?

Interest rates apply if you pay your tax later than it is due, and interest will start to accrue from February 1, 2023, if you miss the January 31 payment deadline, and you would also get a £100 late filing penalty. You would then face an additional penalty of £10 per day if your return is up to three months late, with a maximum of £900 fined. If you still have not filed within six months, then you can face a £300 fine or 5% of the amount due, whichever is higher. The same applies if you have failed to file by the time 12 months have passed.

We can help you meet your obligations

If you think you could be facing interest charges from HMRC on the late payment of tax due, then speak to your accountant now and find out what we can do to help.

Self-Assessment – now is the time to get your tax return sorted

Yes, here we are again, the Christmas tradition of dealing with your self-assessment tax return is back for another year, and you need to get everything sorted as soon as you can. The final deadline for filing your self-assessment is January 31, 2023, for the 2021/2022 tax year, and you are expected to both file the return and make any payment due by midnight on that day. The tax year runs from April 6 to April 5 the following year.

If you miss this deadline, you could be facing a fine which will increase over time if you continue to either not file the return, not pay the tax due, or both.

Who needs to file a tax return?

Not everyone needs to file a tax return, but if you are one of the people who does, then make sure you get to grips with what is required as soon as you can. Those who need to file a return, according to the Gov.uk website, include:

• Anyone self-employed as a sole trader who earned more than £1,000 before costs.
• Partners in a business partnership.
• Anyone earning more than £100,000.
• Anyone with untaxed income from tips and commission, rental income from property, income from savings, investments and dividends or foreign income.
• Anyone who received COVID-19 support payments or grants during the pandemic.
• If you need to claim income tax reliefs, which could include professional body memberships and other expenses you pay solely to do with your work, even if you pay PAYE.
• To prove your self-employment status to claim Tax-Free Childcare or Maternity Allowance.
• If you or your partner’s income (if you have a partner) exceeded £50,000 and you need to pay the High-Income Child Benefit Charge.

If you are not sure whether you need to file a return or not, you can check on the Gov.uk website, or speak to your accountant who will be able to help you.

What is the penalty for not filing a tax return on time or paying late?

If you fail to file your tax return for up to three months, you will receive a fixed penalty of £100 but it can rise if you file later than this. You will also pay a penalty for paying your tax bill late and you can also be charged interest on late payments.

If you have a reasonable excuse, such as a close relative or partner dying close to the filing deadline, a hospital stay, or a life-threatening illness, for example, then you can appeal any penalty imposed. 

Contact us

Tax returns can be complicated, especially if you are looking to maximise the tax you are reclaiming, so working with an accountant makes sense. If you need help with your self-assessment, then please contact us and we will give you all the help, support, and information you need.

Additional tax rate threshold to be lowered – take advantage with your pension contributions

The 45% additional tax rate was briefly removed by Kwasi Kwarteng, then reinstated by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, and in the latest twist, Mr Hunt announced that the point at which people would start paying this highest rate of tax would fall from £150,000 to £125,140 from April 2023.

This may seem a strange figure to move the threshold to, but it relates to the point at which the entire personal allowance for higher-rate taxpayers is removed once they hit the £100,000 income level. The personal allowance of £12,570 is reduced at a rate of £1 for every £2 you earn above £100,000. So, the entire allowance has been removed at £125,140. At present, you are taxed at 40% on this amount and above until you reach £150,000 when the rate rises to 45%. But from April, you will pay 45% from £125,140 onwards.

The unofficial 60% income tax rate

The way that the personal allowance is chipped away once you reach the £100,000 threshold means that for the money you are taxed on between this level and the £125,140, you are actually paying 60% in tax. This is not easy to follow, but it works like this:

You earn £101,000 this tax year. This means that you pay tax at 40% on this income. But because you lose the personal allowance at a rate of £1 for every £2 you earn over this figure you will lose £500 of your personal allowance on the £1,000 above the £100,000 threshold. So, you will also pay 40% tax on this additional £500, which gives a bill of £200. Since you are also taxed at 40% on that £101,000, the £1,000 over the £100,000 will give the taxman £400. Add that to the £200 you are paying on the relative loss of the personal allowance, and you have paid £600 in tax on that £1,000, which means you have paid 60% in tax.

Maximise the benefit of the tax change when it happens

While losing money in income tax because of the threshold moving to the lower level of £125,140 from April, it does mean you can benefit from higher tax relief on your pension contributions if you are pulled into the 45% tax bracket.

This is because no matter how much you pay into your pension pot, you get tax relief at your highest marginal rate. For those on the highest rate of tax, this is 45%. So, adding £100 to your pension pot will cost you £55 as the tax relief will provide the remaining £45.

Let us help you

If you think you will be negatively affected by this change or any of the frozen tax thresholds, or you want to take advantage of putting money into your pension and getting the benefit of the additional tax relief no matter which tax band you fall into, then please get in touch with us and we can go through the various options you have.

Tax year end – get your accounts ready before the rush

It’s that time of year again – the shops are playing Christmas music, there are Christmas films starting to appear on the TV, and for many of us, there is a tax deadline looming, whether that is personal or for our business.

This is the busiest time of year for accountants as so many people will leave their corporate or personal tax returns until the very last minute. So, if you know your business is coming up to its accounts filing date, or you have a self-assessment tax return that needs completing and filing before January 31, you need to start thinking about it sooner rather than later.

Do what you can to help

If you are coming up to your filing deadline, then you can really help us by sending the relevant information as soon as you can. That way, if we have any queries or you find there is something you have forgotten to send, there is plenty of time to deal with any issues.

Only pay the tax you owe

The best way your accountant can help you is by ensuring you only pay the tax you owe, no more and no less. We will help you maximise any tax breaks available and help to make sure you are claiming everything you can.

We can help you meet your obligations

Speak to your accountant and ask him or her to help you get the right information together so your accounts can be prepared in good time.

Landlords, what should you be doing now?

Changes to the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) allowances announced in the Autumn Statement mean that from next April, the current £12,300 allowance will fall to £6,000 and then to £3,000 in 2024. This is a major concern for landlords with rental property, as this will make a significant dent in the gains they can make on property before they pay tax.

It could mean that any landlord currently holding a considerable gain on a property may want to think about whether now is a good time for them to sell, especially as property values are expected to stagnate or fall, in the coming months.

Private residence relief

However, there are some ways you can reduce your CGT bill. If you have lived in the property at any point, you can get some relief from CGT under the ‘private residence relief’ rules. You can get relief for the number of years you have lived in the property, plus nine months at the end of the ownership whether you lived in the property then or not.

The example on the Gov.uk website highlights a property with a gain of £120,000 when you sell, which you have owned for 15 years. But for 7.5 years you lived in the whole property, and then rented out your property for the remaining 7.5 years. The Private Residence Relief applies for the 7.5 years you lived there plus the last nine months you owned the property.

This means you get a total of 8.25 years of Private Residence Relief, which amounts to 55% of the time you have owned it. So, you will not pay tax on 55% of the £120,000 gain, but you will on the remaining 45% – which means you will pay CGT on £54,000.

The reduction in CGT allowances could prompt landlords to sell

The more than halving of the CGT allowance from April next year means some landlords may attempt to sell some of their properties before the CGT allowance reduces. It will not be the right decision for everyone, but if a landlord is already considering this, now might be a good time to press the button.

Zaid Patel, director of London-based estate and lettings agents, Highcastle Estates: “With the CGT tax allowance to be halved to £6,000 from April 2023, we may see an increase in landlords selling up and second homeowners listing their properties with the hope of completing before April. Landlords, who own property as part of a limited company, will be further penalised as they’ll pay more tax on dividends.

“This, coupled with the rise in corporation tax, will likely lead to more landlords trying to sell their properties. However, with the rising cost of living, first-time buyers will continue to find it challenging to save for a house, which may mean demand will stifle.

“I expect house prices to drop slightly until late 2024, when there will be a rush of buyers hoping to complete before the stamp duty cuts end. It means estate agents will struggle over the next two years and cutting the dividend tax relief while increasing corporation tax could mean estate agents may start selling their businesses or winding up during this recession.”

Landlords have been hit hard

Landlords have been hit hard by various changes to what they can claim and the way in which they are taxed in recent years, especially if they do not hold the properties within a limited company. For example, if someone is getting rental income of £15,000 a year but having to pay mortgage interest amounting to, say, £8,000 a year, then previously they would be able to offset the entire interest against their rental income before tax. This would mean paying tax on just £7,000 of income.

Now, unless they own their properties within a limited company, they are not able to offset the mortgage interest against their income before tax. So, they would pay tax on the full £15,000 of income. If they were 40% taxpayers and all their allowances had already been used, this would give a tax bill of £6,000 when they are also paying £8,000 in mortgage interest. This would leave just £1,000 for the landlord. Paying 40% on the same basis on the £7,000 of income after accounting for the mortgage interest would give a bill of £2,800 – leaving £4,200 for the landlord.

This is one reason that the number of buy-to-let properties being held within a limited company has reached a record level of 300,000 according to estate agent Hamptons.

We can help you

If you have concerns about your buy-to-let property or you want to find out if you would be better off using a limited company structure, then contact us and we will work with you to help you make any necessary changes.

Act now to maximise your pension contributions

The changes to income tax rates are going to benefit all taxpayers from April next year as they get to keep more of the money they have earned. But one knock-on effect is that the amount of tax relief you can get on your pension will be reduced for both 20% and 45% taxpayers, as it is based on your highest marginal rate of tax.

This means that you have just shy of six months to maximise any pension contributions you want to make to ensure you benefit from a slightly larger contribution in tax relief from the Government. For example, anyone earning more than £150,000 this year will be able to get tax relief on pension contributions at 45%. From April 2023, this will fall to 40%.

Will this only apply to higher earners?

While higher earners have the most to lose by not maximising pension contributions before the income tax rates change next year, there is also a fall in the basic rate of income tax from 20% to 19%. So, if you are currently a 20% taxpayer, there is still a benefit to acting before April 2023 to maximise your pension contributions. At present, putting £100 into your pension will cost you £80 as a 20% taxpayer. When this falls to 19%, it will cost you £81 to achieve the same contribution.

Is there anything I need to watch out for?

If you are putting money into your pension, there are some limits you need to be aware of. The most you can put into your pension each year and receive tax relief on is £40,000 – but remember, you cannot claim more tax in a single year than you have paid.

For higher earners, there are a few other things to consider. For example, once you reach an earning level of £240,000, that £40,000 a year allowance is reduced incrementally until you reach £312,000 or more. At this point, the amount you can put into your pension reduces to just £4,000.

Beware of the Lifetime Allowance

The other consideration for everyone – but it is more likely to apply to the highest earners – is the Lifetime Allowance. This is currently set at £1,073,100 and anyone with a combined pension pot that breaches this limit will face additional tax charges on their pension.

So, if you think you may hit or breach this limit, then you need to take advice sooner rather than later to ensure you use the money you have in a different way to save for your retirement. This could, perhaps, include maximising your individual savings account (ISA) allowance of £20,000 per year or making other investments that can be used to generate retirement income.

We can help you

If you want to maximise your pension contributions before the income tax bands change, then please get in touch with us and we will help you to get the most from your money without facing additional tax charges.

Self-Assessment – it’s getting to that time again

Self-assessment is an annual event, and it is always towards the back end of the year that you need to start thinking about it. Many people will already be registered for self-assessment, but there are others who will need to register for the first time this year, either because they have set up a new business, or become self-employed for the first time.

Anyone in this position needs to get in touch with HMRC before October 5 to let the taxman know you need to do your first self-assessment tax return. For those dealing with their self-assessment on a paper return, the completed paperwork needs to be with HMRC before October 31. However, you have until January 31, 2023, to make the payment – which is also the deadline for online filing and payment.

Who needs to register?

If you are employed, you may still need to file a self-assessment return if you have income from outside of your PAYE income, for example from a property, foreign income, or you have income from dividends or savings.

Remember though, you may also need to file a self-assessment return if you need to claim money from the taxman. For example, if you are a 40% or 45% taxpayer and your employer does not claim the additional tax relief above 20% that you should receive on pension contributions up to £40,000 a year, then this can be claimed through your self-assessment form.

Claim money for expenses from your own pocket for work

If you need to pay out of your own pocket for work expenses – such as uniforms, travel and professional insurance or subscriptions, you can also claim tax relief on these via your self-assessment form.

One particularly important expense to claim if you work from home is the cost of energy used to heat the room you work in. With the average energy bill rising to £3,549 from October 1, according to the latest price cap announcement from Ofgem, this is one item that could help you deal with the rising cost-of-living expenses.

How much can you claim for your energy costs?

There is a base amount you can claim for the energy costs which is £6 per week, which in the current climate may be a lot less than it is really costing you. So, if you prefer, you can instead claim the actual amount you are having to pay for your energy while you are working from home, but you would need to keep your bills and receipts to back up your claim.

The one thing to remember though is that you cannot claim this if you choose to work from home, or if your employment contract allows you to work from home some or all of the time under HMRC rules. You can claim this if your employer does not have an office, or if your job requires you to live far away from your employer’s office.

We can help you

If you are unsure about what you can and cannot claim for expenses outside of your PAYE, speak to us and we will help you through the process, so you can claim everything you are due.

Are you claiming everything you are entitled to from the taxman?

Tax is something that is a certainty in life, as former US President Benjamin Franklin said, but there are lots of ways you can reduce the amount of tax you have to pay by claiming for expenses you may not realise you could.

Those of us who are self-employed or own businesses are more likely to claim the majority of costs and expenses against tax that we can. But what many PAYE employees do not realise is that they can also claim certain expenses if they are not covered by their employer, and they are specifically relevant to their work.

What can be claimed?

For example, let’s say you are a nurse, an engineer, a psychologist or simply an employee who happens to use their car for work purposes sometimes. In each of these cases, there are likely to be things that you are paying for that you could claim if your employer is not repaying you for them.

It could be fees you pay to be a part of a professional institution, or professional indemnity insurance, or uniforms that you need to buy yourself, shoes, books you need to study for your work, toys that you may need to use to encourage children to talk to you in the case of a child psychologist, for instance. The list would include anything and everything that you need to buy yourself that solely relates to your work.

While many of these may be relatively small amounts individually, they will soon add up, and if you consider how much they add up to over a long period of time, there is every reason to reclaim that money.

How do you claim them?

Understandably, many people are nervous about dealing with the taxman because they think automatically that it is going to end up costing them money. But that is not always the case. Reclaiming these amounts that are legitimate allowances could put a significant amount of money back into your pocket.

To claim these, you would need to do a self-assessment form. This is something many people who pay tax through PAYE would not be familiar with. You can speak to your accountant for more information if you need it, or you can ask HMRC directly about how you claim for these costs on your self-assessment.

Don’t be nervous, and go back as many years as you can

You do not need to be nervous when dealing with the tax office as you are not doing anything wrong. This is money you are owed, and you would be doing yourself a disservice by not getting this money back into your own pocket.

If you have not been claiming this money back before, then you can go back up to four previous tax years. This means you can reclaim overpaid tax from 2018/19 if you make the claim before April 5, 2023. If you had an average of £1,000 that you could have reclaimed for each of these years, then you would get a £4,000 rebate from the taxman by making the claim.

In the current economic climate, even relatively small amounts that you can reclaim will make a difference. But remember, you must have proof of the purchases you made. Usually these would need to be receipts, but if you do not have these, then you can prove any payments made using bank statements if you need to. If you bought anything online, you may have records there in your email or, say, an Amazon account.

We can help you

If you are unsure about whether you can claim some of the expenses for your work or want to know you have claimed everything that it is possible to claim, then please get in touch with us and we will help you through the process.

Change in National Insurance contribution levels in July

A change in National Insurance contribution (NICs) levels comes into force at the beginning of July, which should save around 30m people £330 each, according to the Government.

From July 6, the amount you can earn before you start paying NICs will increase, which means the amount of overall tax – since NICs is a tax in all but name – will reduce.

What are the new thresholds?

From July 6, the threshold for Class 1 NICs, which are paid by those who are employed, and Class 4 NICs, which are paid by the self-employed, rises from £9,880 to £12,570. This means you can earn an additional £2,690 before you need to start paying NICs.

The new NICs threshold is now in line with the starting point for income tax, but the NICs rate you will pay has not changed and still includes the 1.25% addition for the Health and Social Care Levy made earlier this year. So, everything you earn between £12,570 and £50,270 will be charged NICs at 13.25%. Anything above this higher threshold will be charged at 3.25%.

Part of a £15 billion package of assistance

The additional savings we will see in our pockets thanks to this change will help considerably with the cost-of-living crisis. In fact, along with the council tax rebate that has been announced, energy bills assistance worth at least £400 and support for the most vulnerable households of at least £1,200, this should go some way to easing the problems associated with the current high inflation.

Inflation reached 9.1% in May according to figures from the ONS, up from 9% in April and 7% in March. The current rate is the highest level of inflation since 1982.

BoE base rate rises to 1.25%

The Bank of England increased the base rate to 1.25% in June, taking rates to the highest level in 13 years. While this is good news for savers who are likely to see more interest being paid on their accounts, it is potentially bad news for some people with mortgages. If you are on a fixed rate mortgage that is still within the fixed-rate term, then you will not see any change in your mortgage payments. But you may find it is more expensive to borrow when you come to change your mortgage in future.

If you are on a tracker rate, then you will automatically see the interest rate you are paying rise, which could be a considerable cost depending on how much you have borrowed.

How much will you save?

However, if you want to find out how much more money you will have in your pocket thanks to the change in the NICs thresholds, the Government has created a handy calculator that you can use to determine what you will save on the Gov.uk website. But if you are self-employed, this calculator will not work for you, so you are best to contact your accountant to find out what the change means for you.

Contact us

If you are an employer, employee or self-employed, and want to know more about how the NICs changes affect you and what you can expect to pay, then contact us and we will give you the information you need.

Deal with your tax return early and help with your cashflow

There is a tendency for many of us to leave our tax returns until the last minute. It’s human nature to want to delay dealing with something we find uncomfortable.

However, if you get your tax return for the 2021/22 tax year completed sooner rather than later, you will have some benefits that could help you through the cost-of-living crisis.

Benefits

A primary benefit to dealing with your tax return early is knowing it is out of the way. For some this may be less of an issue, but as accountants get busier as the tax payment deadlines approach, it can be difficult to give a return as much attention as we could at other times.

By getting your tax return calculations done early, not only are you helping your accountant to spread his or her workload in a more manageable way, more importantly for you, you will know exactly what your bill is going to be early in the year. This may make it possible to free up some of the money you had set aside to pay the bill if it is lower than you had expected.

For businesses, this could mean having extra cash to invest in expanding the business, paying off debt, or hiring an extra full or part-time employee to move the business forwards. For individuals, this money could help offset the current cost-of-living crisis we are in by giving you extra cash to cover rising energy or food bills.

Paying tax early

Remember, just because you have had the tax return completed, it does not mean you have to file it with HMRC straightaway. If you want your accountant to hold off on this part and file it later in the year – especially if you think there may be any changes necessary to the tax return down the line – then that is not a problem.

If you prefer to pay early and get it out of the way, then that is also fine. The big benefit to you is that you have the option. It may be that you do not have enough money put aside for your tax bill when you find out what it is. So, the extra time you have built in before the tax needs to be paid means you have time to get those funds together. It could be the difference between setting aside an extra amount each month to pay the bill while storing money for the next tax year or having to saddle your company with a loan that will cost in interest payments too.

Tax reliefs

It will also ensure your accountant can maximise any tax reliefs you or your business can benefit from. This could include pension payments or offsetting costs against tax that may otherwise be difficult to include if the information is not given to him or her in a timely manner, in the last-minute rush to get the data to the accountant.

It may also mean, depending on how your accountant works, that you could benefit from having more time to pay your accountant’s bill too. Spreading this cost will also help with cashflow.

Take your time

Overall, it will mean that tax is a much more leisurely affair than it often is and that is never a bad feeling. Stress is not good for any of us and building in time to deal with something that is – for many – inherently stressful anyway is a good plan.

Contact us

If you want us to start working on your tax return now or have a question about ways in which we can make your tax less taxing, please get in touch.

End of bulk appeals for tax fines in May

If you are unlucky enough to be fined for a late filing, then the way in which any appeal can be made changed as of May 7.

Prior to this, HMRC had temporarily reintroduced the ability to bulk appeal late filing penalties for income tax in 2020 and 2021. But from now onwards, all such appeals need to be made individually.

To be fair, if you keep in close contact with your accountant and give sufficient time for all of the paperwork to be done, then you should not be in a position where you are facing a late filing penalty. But if you have either filed paperwork late yourself or had a late filing penalty for some other reason, then each appeal now must be made individually.

Your responsibilities

Even though you use an accountant to deal with your tax liabilities, you are still ultimately legally responsible for the correct and timely filing of your returns. There are several different penalties that could apply too.

Types of penalties

For example, there is an ‘inaccuracy penalty’ which can be applied across specific taxes, including income tax, PAYE, capital gains tax, inheritance tax and corporation tax. This penalty could be anything from 0% to 30% of the extra tax due if the error occurred due to a ‘lack of reasonable care’.

If the error is considered deliberate, this rises to between 20% and 70% of the extra tax due, and if it is both deliberate and concealed, it could rise to between 30% and 100% of the extra tax due.

You could also face a penalty for a failure to notify HMRC of a change in your liability to tax. This could be, for example, if your company makes a profit and becomes liable to corporation tax. Or it could be because your business has reached the turnover for the VAT threshold (£85,000) and you have not registered for VAT.

Other penalties could include ‘Offshore penalties’ and ‘VAT and Excise wrongdoing penalties’ – so it is important if any of these could potentially apply to you, that you speak to your accountant immediately. You can find more information on the types of penalties that could apply on the GOV.UK website.

We can help you meet your obligations

If you think there is a chance that you could fall foul of any of these rules and face a penalty, or that there is any other issue you need advice on to make sure you comply with all your HMRC requirements, please contact us as soon as possible. We will help you navigate any problems that arise.

Payments on account due July 31

Some taxpayers must pay a tax more than once a year, and if this is you then you are facing a second tax bill before July 31.

Those exempt from making a payment on account in July include those who had a self-assessment tax bill of less than £1,000 for the previous tax year, or if you have paid more than 80% of your tax bill through your tax code or your bank has deducted interest from your savings.

It is easy to forget the July 31 deadline

While most of us think of the January 31 payment deadline as the main one, it is easy to forget that there is another payment due on July 31 – and now is the time to consider how much you need to have set aside to cover it.

How the payment on account works

Example:

Your bill for the 2020 to 2021 tax year is £3,000. You made two payments on account last year of £900 each (£1,800 in total).

The total tax to pay by midnight on January 31, 2022 is £2,700. This includes:

• your ‘balancing payment’ of £1,200 for the 2020 to 2021 tax year (£3,000 minus £1,800)
• the first payment on account of £1,500 (half your 2020 to 2021 tax bill) towards your 2021 to 2022 tax bill

You then make a second payment on account of £1,500 on July 31, 2022.

If your tax bill for the 2021 to 2022 tax year is more than £3,000 (the total of your two payments on account), you’ll need to make a ‘balancing payment’ by January 31, 2023.

Source: Gov.UK

We can help you meet your obligations

If you have to make a payment on account, then please get in touch with us soon so we can let you know how much it is going to be to help you ensure you have enough money set aside to make the payment.

Use up your tax allowances early in the tax year

If you are one of those people who is always racing to use up your tax allowances, such as Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) at the last minute before the end of April 5, then you are not alone. But you could be making a big mistake.

When it comes to mopping up tax allowances, it is best to use your allowances at the beginning of each tax year than the end. If you have not managed to use all or any of your allowance coming up to April 5, well, it is better late than never. But if you can take advantage of using your ISA allowance, for example, at the start of the tax year, then you will benefit from an additional year of investment growth.

Benefit from an extra year of growth

It may not seem like it matters that much, but that extra period of growth – assuming markets rise over the year – will add up over time. Even if the markets dip, the adage ‘it’s about time in the markets, not timing the markets’ still holds because trying to time the market is usually not a good idea.

In addition, you get a full year of growth that is free of capital gains tax and free of income tax. By holding your assets outside of an ISA for the year, you could face a tax charge on any dividend payments from equities.

Early use gives other benefits

Starting to use your allowance at the start of the tax year also gives you other benefits. You can choose whether you put the entire £20,000 allowance into your ISA in one go, or whether you ‘drip feed’ money into the market over the full 12 months.

The latter can be an effective method to help smooth out ups and downs in the stock market, known in the trade as ‘pound-cost averaging’. Let’s take an example of you putting money into a unit trust. If you are buying units every month with the same amount of money, you will be buying more or fewer depending on the value of the units you are buying that month.

Market performance is affected by a range of factors

These values will go up and down depending on a number of factors that impact the stock markets – everything from political will to social and economic changes.

The same principle applies to your pension allowance – most people can put up to £40,000 a year into a pension and get tax relief – if you can put money aside to go into your pension each month, you are benefiting from the same investment smoothing process outlined above.

The other drawback of waiting until the end of the tax year to use your allowances, is that you are forced to put a lump sum into markets at what could be a terrible time. So, giving yourself a head start means you can benefit from the highs and the lows over the year.

Let us help you

If you want to find out more about how you can benefit from your ISA and pension allowances by taking action early, get in touch with us now and see how we can help you.

Basis Period Reform – what it is and how it could affect you

Unincorporated businesses – including sole traders, trusts and those businesses working as partnerships, and anyone else that pays tax on trading income – face a major change that will affect the way and the time they are taxed on their profits.

The so-called Basis Period Reform will ultimately take effect from the 2024/25 tax year, but sole traders and other organisations need to start thinking about how this change could impact them sooner rather than later.

Transition

The 2023/24 tax year is going to be a transitional period, and the new rules will change the time that underlying profits or losses become subject to tax and bring forward when tax due on profits needs to be paid.

The aim of the rule change, which was set out initially in the Finance Bill 2022, is to remove complexity relating to basis periods and overlap profit, and make sure tax payments are made closer to when profits are generated.

Implementation has been delayed by a year

Originally, the changes were due to be made a year earlier, but after a consultation period the Government delayed the proposals to allow taxpayers to prepare for the transition to the new basis period.

New end-of-year account period

The change will move the taxation periods for all sole traders, partnerships and trusts from dealing with tax on an accounting-date basis ending in a tax year, to taxing profits on these businesses that arise in a tax year.

For the 2023/24 tax year, there will be additional tax liabilities on the additional profit to be taken into account. Any taxpayer or organisation in this position should plan ahead for these additional bills that will be coming sooner than might have been expected.

Difficult for international partnerships

There are some difficulties that remain, particularly for large international partnerships that cannot change their accounting date to match the tax year, according to the ICAEW, which is engaging with HMRC to explore the possibility of additional changes being introduced to mitigate these problems.

The details

If your business has an accounting year date ending outside of March 31 to April 5, then you need to pay attention. You will have two elements to be considered for taxable profits:

• The standard part which covers the full 12 months of trading in the transitional year based on your existing basis period.
• Plus, the transitional part of the profits which go directly from the end of the basis period end up until April 5, 2024.

Example

Source: ICAEW

If any business has overlap profits, these must be offset against the profits of the 2023/24 tax year, according to the ICAEW.

There are many other aspects to consider with this transition, including how to deal with losses in the 2023/24 tax year, and whether it will be possible to spread these transition profits across five tax years to help with cashflow, although this could impact on any credit claimed for overseas taxes.

We can help you

This is a very complex area and if you are affected by this, you should contact us so we can help you navigate this change in good time, and with the least amount of difficulty.

Spring Statement round-up

The Chancellor’s Spring Statement on March 23 was limited on giveaways, but there were some measures designed to help people struggling with the highest rates of inflation in 30 years.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has forecast that inflation will average 7.4% this year, and there are many people who are already struggling with everything from filling their cars with fuel to keeping the heating on.

Fuel Duty cut but NI increase

One cut came in the form of a 5p a litre reduction in the price of fuel thanks to a fall in fuel duty to help offset the spiralling cost of oil.

Yet despite many experts imploring the Chancellor to postpone the 1.25% hike in National Insurance for 2022/23 – the Health and Social Care Levy – Rishi Sunak refused to do this. The one change he made was raising the NI threshold by £3,000 rather than the planned £300, to bring it in line with the £12,570 personal allowance. He described this as a “£6 billion personal tax cut for 30 million people”.

Employment Allowance increase for small businesses

The Employment Allowance will increase to £5,000 for small business, which is a tax cut of £1,000 for around 500,000 firms which starts in April.

Businesses can also expect to benefit from tax cuts on business investment during the Autumn Budget, and there will be an increase in business research and development tax credits to boost productivity.

Income tax cut in 2024

The basic rate of income tax will fall from 20% to 19% from April 2024, the first cut in this tax in 16 years according to the Chancellor. But he refrained from bringing this cut in for the coming tax year as there is too much uncertainty in the economy.

We can help you

Even if you or your business did not see anything in the Spring Statement to help you, there are likely to be ways you can benefit from existing tax efficiencies to maximise your money. Get in touch with us to find out how.

Reclaim Married Couple’s Allowance

Married Couple’s Allowance can be transferred between spouses and civil partners, and while 2m couples have claimed this since it was introduced back in 2015, there are many more people who are entitled to claim it.

Go back four years

The allowance, which is worth up to £1,220 for each year, can be reclaimed back for every year to the 2017/18 tax year right the way through to the 2021/22 tax year. For those entitled to the maximum amount, this could create a windfall of £4,880.

Claim it now

However, these payments need to be claimed before 5 April 2022. Married couples and those in civil partnerships can transfer 10% of their personal allowance to their spouse or partner if one is a non-taxpayer and the other is a basic-rate taxpayer. This could apply if one partner loses hours or sees a significant reduction in their salary due to reduced hours – entirely possible during the Covid-19 pandemic – retirement or a change of job. It also applies if someone takes a career or study break.

Who claims?

The lowest earning spouse or partner would make the claim for this transfer of personal allowance, and even if your spouse or civil partner has died since 5 April 2017, then the remaining spouse or partner can still claim this allowance. This is done via the income tax helpline. If the claim is made via the online service, they will automatically roll on to the following years.

But if you make the claim via a self-assessment, this does not automatically roll on. If a couple no longer qualifies, then they need to cancel their claim.

We can help you reclaim what is due

If you think you are entitled to the Married Couple’s Allowance or any other benefit, such as the Blind Person’s Allowance, Tax Relief for Employment Expenses – which includes the £6 per week allowance for employees required to work from home in 2020/21 and 2021/22 – and could benefit from going back up to four years with your claim, then please contact us for more information.

End of year tax planning – what you need to consider

The new tax year on April 6 is accelerating quickly towards us, and now is the time to make sure that any last-minute allowances you may not have made the most of in the 2021/22 tax year are mopped up.

There are plenty of allowances that have a time limit on each tax year, and if you can use these last few days to maximise the benefits, then it would be a good deed done.

Individual Savings Account (ISA) Allowance

Each year, we can put up to £20,000 into an ISA, and if you have not put the full amount into your ISA for this year, then consider adding any additional funds to it before April 5.

Putting your savings and investments into an ISA wrapper allows the funds to grow free of tax, and when you take those funds out at the other end, you don’t pay any tax on them then either. You can spread this across a number of different types of ISAs – for example a cash ISA, Stocks and Shares ISA, Innovative Finance ISA, which is peer-to-peer lending, or a Lifetime ISA (although you can only invest £4,000 in this type as a maximum, which would leave you £16,000 of your allowance to invest elsewhere).

If you fail to use your full ISA allowance within the tax year, then you will lose it once we hit April 6, so make sure you maximise this tax benefit.

Avoiding a 60% effective tax rate for higher earners

Once you reach £100,000 of earnings, you begin to lose your personal allowance at a rate of £1 for every £2 of earnings above this threshold. This means that by the time you reach £125,140 you no longer have a personal allowance. Between £100,000 and £125,140, your effective tax rate is 60%.

However, you can reduce the impact of this by making payments into your pension, or by donating money and benefiting from Gift Aid on the payments. Pension contributions and Gift Aid payments are made from gross income, which means you reduce the amount of taxable income you have. You cannot put more than £40,000 into your pension each year and receive tax relief, and you cannot reclaim more in tax in a single year than you would have paid.

This annual allowance as it is known will also reduce by £1 for every £2 earned above £240,000 and will stop reducing at £312,000 – leaving everyone with a minimum annual allowance of £4,000.

Carry forward

If you have any unused allowance from any of the three previous tax years, then you can carry this forward for one year to help you reduce your tax liabilities and maximise your pension contributions.

There are a few caveats to this, including:

• You must have been in a registered pension scheme for each of these previous three years.
• You must have already used all your allowance for the current tax year.
• The carried forward annual allowance from the first year must be used first.
• The amount you can carry forward may be subject to the tapered allowance if your earnings were high enough for this to apply in any of the previous three years.

Taking more than your tax-free lump sum out of a money-purchase pension scheme will also mean your annual allowance is reduced to £4,000.

However, if you have any annual allowance available from the three previous tax years and have used your full allowance for the current tax year, then this is another way you can reduce your taxable income and put extra into your pension pot. But make sure you remain within the Lifetime Allowance, which is currently set at £1,073,100.

Dividend Income

If you take dividends from your company, then you can take up to £2,000 each year at 0% tax, but if you miss this within a tax year, it is not possible to roll this over to the next year. Any dividend income after this between £12,570 and £50,270 is subject to 7.5% tax up to April 5 and 8.25% from April 6 – due to the addition of the equivalent of the 1.25% Health and Social Care Levy – so if you can bring any dividend payments into the current tax year, you may be able to avoid the additional tax.

Corporation Tax

The Corporation Tax rate is set to increase from 1 April 2023, and while this is a year away, it makes sense to plan ahead to make sure you make the most of the lower rate of 19% for the coming year.

Companies with profits between £50,000 and £250,000 will continue to pay corporation tax at 19% even after 1 April 2023, but companies with profits above this will face a tapered rate up to 25%.

For this reason, it would be wise to plan ahead for the next trading year to consider how you may be able to effectively mitigate this tax. But it is not something you should do without expert advice.

Contact us

If you are interested in benefiting from either personal or business tax advice, then please contact us and we will be happy to help you make the most of your tax breaks.

NI to increase by 1.25% this April to fund the Health and Care Levy – what you can do about it

The Government is set to increase National Insurance Contributions (NICs) by 1.25% from April to fund the Health and Social Care Levy, and while this may be a laudable aim, it is going to hit all of us in the pocket.

Costly increase when finances are being squeezed

The NICs hike means that someone earning £30,000 a year will pay an additional £255 into Government coffers – equivalent to 10% more than they are currently paying – while someone earning £50,000 will pay an extra £505. The lowest earners are set to be hit hardest because of the point at which NICs is applied on lower wages.

Despite numerous calls to delay this rise, especially as the cost of living is increasing at rates not seen in nearly 30 years – the Consumer Prices Index rose to 5.5% in January – the Government has insisted it is ploughing ahead with the change.

What can you do?

Unless we see a change of heart in the Spring Statement, this further reach into the pocket of employers and employees is going to sting. But there are some things you can do. For example, as the NICs are paid on your salary, if your employer has – or can offer – the option to do salary sacrifice for another benefit, you may be able to reduce the impact this has.

Salary sacrifice schemes involve your employer cutting your salary in return for paying the equivalent amount into benefits which have both tax and NICs benefits. These can include pensions, pension advice, car leasing schemes, and even cycle to work schemes.

While you get less money in your hand at the end of the month, overall you will be better off because you are getting benefits that make up that value difference, and you will pay less tax and NICs.

Dealing with a benefit in kind

For example, if you leased an electric car through your employer, the payments can be made direct from your gross salary, which means your salary is reduced, cutting the cost of the 1.25% rise. The other benefit is that there will be less income tax to pay too, while you benefit from the use of the car.

There is, of course, the benefit in kind cost to consider. But for electric cars this is only 2% from April 2022, compared to as much as 25% for even a relatively low-emission non-electric car, according to calculations from Loveelectric.cars. So, it might make financial sense to explore this with your employer or employees.

While electric cars can be expensive, the salary sacrifice scheme can make them more appealing. For example, a higher-rate taxpayer earning £60,000 a year chooses a Tesla Model 3 with a lease term of 48 months and annual agreed mileage of 5,000 miles.

Typically, the lease price would be around £524 per month, but combining the price of a lease with salary sacrifice could reduce this to £267 per month, making it much more affordable.

Company owners or directors who may not be primarily paid via a salary can use a business contract hire option which allows them to deduct the full cost of a rental from profits and then recover half of the VAT paid if it is used for personal use, or 100% if it is solely used for business purposes.

Contact us

If you are interested in taking advantage of salary sacrifice or discussing other ways you can mitigate the impact of the 1.25% rise in NICs, please get in touch with us.

Taxpayers get extension to self-assessment filing dates

Millions of taxpayers who are yet to submit their completed Self-Assessment tax return which is due before January 31 are being given a grace period to file until February 28.

More than 12.2 million customers are expected to complete a tax return for the 2020/21 tax year according to HMRC, and would usually face a penalty and interest if the return and payment in full is not made by January 31.

Deadline extended but not without cost

However, HMRC has announced it will waive penalties for a month, meaning those who cannot file before January 31 will not receive a penalty if they file before February 28, and will not receive a late payment penalty if they pay their tax in full or set up a payment arrangement before April 1. But they will still face interest payments of 2.75% on outstanding balances from February 1, so where possible it is best not to delay payment.

Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, said: “We know some customers may struggle to meet the Self-Assessment deadline on 31 January which is why we have waived penalties for one month, giving them extra time to meet their obligations. And if anyone is worried about paying their tax bill, they can set up a monthly payment plan online – search ‘pay my Self-Assessment’ on GOV.UK.”

Remember to include all SEISS payments in your return

Like businesses, any self-assessment taxpayer who has benefited from COVID-19 support payments will need to ensure they are also included in their tax return. Any payments made under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) or any other COVID-19 support payments must be included in a self-assessment. Taxpayers who have benefited from these payments and need to file a self-assessment can check what changes might need to be made on their tax return to ensure all these payments are correctly included as income.

Which payments must be included?

The payments that need to be included in the 2020/21 tax return if they were paid before April 5, 2021, according to HMRC are:

• Self-Employment Income Support Scheme;
• Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme;
• other COVID-19 grants and support payments such as self-isolation payments, local authority grants and those for the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

However, anyone receiving the £500 one-off payment for working households receiving tax credits does not need to report this payment.

It is particularly important for those receiving SEISS grants to make sure they are included as they were paid directly to the individual rather than to a business, so these are not included in the accounts of a sole trader or partnership. Instead, they need to be added back in as an adjustment to profits in the self-assessment tax return.

HMRC has also said it will not charge late filing penalties for paper-based SA700s, SA970s that are received in February, or for SA800s and SA900s if these are filed online before the end of February.

There are a number of online facilities that HMRC has set up for anyone who needs support in relation to filing their tax returns. You can access live webinars or recordings on GOV.UK, and HMRC has also produced resources to help customers meet their obligations including YouTube videos and Self-Assessment guidance.

We can help you

If you would prefer to let someone else take the strain of dealing with your accounts, then please get in touch with us. We will help you make sure all of the relevant information is included and work to maximise your allowances, so you only pay the tax due, no more.

Businesses helped by COVID-19 support could face unexpected tax bills

Businesses and self-assessment taxpayers are being reminded they need to include all grants paid as part of the COVID-19 support payments in their tax returns, as some may think these were non-taxable.

Have you set money aside to deal with tax on support grants?

HMRC has highlighted that all money paid for test and trace or self-isolation payments in England, Scotland or Wales are taxable, as are Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebates. The Coronavirus Business Support Grants – also known as local authority grants or business rate grants – must also be included on tax returns as these are considered income for tax purposes.

Companies that received the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) grant or a payment under the Eat Out to Help Out payment scheme will need to include both as income in their CT600 tax return and reported in the relevant boxes on their Company Tax Return.

Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Service, said: “We want to make sure companies are getting their tax returns right first time, including any COVID-19 support payment declarations. Support and guidance is available on GOV.UK, just search ‘file my company tax return’.”

Many companies will have been communicating with their accountants throughout the year and realise these grants are taxable. But there are concerns that those who deal with their accountant less often may not realise they should have been putting some of this money aside for tax purposes. This would leave them exposed to a bill that has not been planned for.

An outline of the costs employers could face for CJRS

While the CJRS scheme helped to reduce the number of redundancies companies may otherwise have been forced to make during COVID-19 lockdowns, there were a number of hidden costs involved with these grants. These include employer’s National Insurance contributions and employer’s pension contributions.

For example, if an employee had a normal monthly salary of £2,000 and was on full furlough, then based on 80% of their salary this would have fallen to £1,600 gross. At the rates applied in the 2020/21 tax year, the costs to the employer for this CJRS grant would be:

• £119.78 of Employer’s Class 1A National Insurance;
• £32.40 of Employer’s Pension Contributions (based on the 3% minimum under auto-enrolment);
• There is also the potential cost of accrued holiday, which is £153.80 – calculated based on 4/52 weeks (this is the maximum amount of holiday that can be carried forward into the following year) x monthly salary.

Where holiday has been carried forward to the following year, businesses that are struggling to recover from the pandemic also have to contend with up to four weeks of holiday that can be passed into the following tax year. If an employee leaves the business, this could result in the employer having to find sums potentially into the thousands of pounds to account for this in the employee’s final payslip.

HMRC said to be sympathetic to companies struggling to pay tax bills

Reports suggest that HMRC is being sympathetic in relation to any tax bills that are difficult for companies to meet, with even debt collectors looking to offer solutions to deal with the debt rather than collecting it on the spot.

The deadline for customers or agents filing company tax returns (CT600) is 12 months after the end of the accounting period it covers. The deadline to pay Corporation Tax will depend on any taxable profits and when the end of the accounting period occurs. Information on which support payments need to be reported to HMRC and any that do not is available on GOV.UK.

Contact us

If you think you will struggle to meet any of your tax liabilities this year, then please contact us as soon as possible to get advice on the best course of action.

ITSA registration

HMRC have published a call for evidence on the case for reforming the rules for registering for Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA). The call for evidence is interested in hearing views on whether it would be beneficial to bring forward the deadline by which landlords and the self-employed must register for ITSA.

Current rules

Currently, there is no statutory obligation to register for ITSA; instead, the requirement is to notify HMRC where a tax liability exists. This must be done within six months from the end of the tax year in which the liability arose, i.e., by 5 October after the end of the tax year. This requirement is met by registering for ITSA. Where the taxpayer is self-employed, registering for ITSA also registers the taxpayer for Class 2 National Insurance.

If a taxpayer who is already within ITSA has a new source of income, there is no requirement to tell HMRC separately about that new source. Instead, it is reported on the self-assessment tax return.  

The notification window depends on when in the tax year the self-employment starts or the taxpayer becomes a landlord. For example, if you started your self-employment on 6 April 2021, you must notify HMRC (normally by registering for ITSA) by 5 October 2022 – a window of 18 months. However, if you start your self-employment on 31 March 2022, you still have to notify by 5 October 2022 – a window of just over six months. This is because the notification deadline relates to the tax year in which the trade started rather than the date on which the trade started.

Possible reforms

The call for evidence sets out options for a possible reform of the rules. The first option is to reform the existing requirement to notify rules so that the taxpayer is required to notify HMRC of the liability to tax within a set window after the source first arose. Potential notification windows of two, three or four months are suggested.

The second option is to remove the current statutory obligation to notify, and to replace it with a requirement to register for ITSA within a specified period after the start of the self-employment or property business. Alternatively, the obligation to register could be triggered once turnover reaches a certain level, for example, £1,000 to align with the trading and property income allowances.

HMRC may also explore ways in which third-party data could be used to identify those who have recently started in business so that they can be made aware of the need to register, if they have not already done so.

Get in touch

If you have recently started a business or become a landlord, please get in touch. We can help you register for tax.

Help if you are struggling to pay your tax bill

Financially, 2021 has been a difficult year for many, and you may be struggling to pay your January tax bill in full. Any tax and National Insurance that remains unpaid for 2020/21 must be paid by 31 January 2022, along with the first payment on account for 2021/22.

Contact HMRC

If you cannot pay your tax bill on time, you should contact HMRC as soon as possible – you do not need to wait until the payment is late, and it is advisable not to do so. You will be able to discuss the help that is available to you, and may be able to pay what you owe in instalments by setting up a Time to Pay arrangement.

Time to Pay arrangements

A Time to Pay arrangement is an agreement with HMRC to pay the tax that you owe in instalments. The procedure for setting up a Time to Pay arrangement depends on the type of tax that you owe and the amount that you owe.

Self-assessment

If you are unable to pay your self-assessment tax bill, you may be able to set up a Time to Pay arrangement up online via your Government Gateway account. You can do this if:

• you have filed your latest tax return;
• you owe less than £30,000;
• you are within 60 days of the payment deadline; and
• you plan to pay off your tax debt within the next 12 months, or less.

This is the most straightforward way to arrange to pay what you owe in instalments. To avoid triggering unnecessary late payment penalties, if you know that you will struggle to meet your 31 January 2022 tax bill, it is advisable to ensure that your return is filed in good time so that a Time to Pay arrangement can be in place by this date.   

Unable to make an online arrangement?

If you are unable to set up a Time to Pay arrangement online, for example, if the tax that you owe is more than £30,000, you may be able to agree an instalment payment plan by calling HMRC’s self-assessment helpline on 0300 200 3822.

Other types of tax

If you owe tax other than that due under self-assessment, or if your company cannot pay tax that it owes, you can contact HMRC’s Payment Support Service on 0300 200 3835 to discuss setting up a Time to Pay arrangement.

Information required

To set up a Time to Pay arrangement you will need to have the following information to hand:

• your unique tax reference number;
• your VAT registration number if you are a VAT-registered business;
• your bank account details; and
• details of any previous payments that you have missed.

HMRC will ask you a number of questions, including:

• how much you can afford to repay each month;
• whether you are able to pay what you owe in full;
• whether there are any other tax bills that you need to pay;
• how much money you earn;
• how much you usually spend each month; and
• what savings and investments you have.

HMRC expect that if you are able to pay the tax that you owe, you will do so. Also, if you have any savings or assets, they expect that you will use those to meet your tax obligations.  

Where you are unable to pay what you owe in full, HMRC will usually set your monthly payments at about 50% of the money you have left over each month after you have paid your bills.

Once a Time to Pay agreement is in place, it is important that you pay at least the agreed amount each month. If you are able, you can pay more than the agreed amount if you want to clear the debt more quickly.

Unable to agree a Time to Pay arrangement?

If you are unable to agree a Time to Pay arrangement with HMRC, for example, if HMRC do not think you will stick to the agreement because you have defaulted in the past, you will be asked to pay what you owe in full. If you are unable to do this, HMRC may take enforcement action to collect the debt.

We can help

If you are struggling to pay tax that you owe or are worried about being able to pay your January self-assessment bill, talk to us. We can help you set up a plan to pay in instalments.

File your 2020/21 tax return by 31 January 2022

If you need to file a self-assessment tax return for the year to 5 April 2021, you have until midnight on 31 January 2022 to file your return if you have not already done so. You must also pay any tax that you owe for 2020/21 by the same date.

Do I need to file a return?

You will normally need to file a tax return if you have income in respect of which the associated tax is not collected at source. This will be the case if you are self-employed, or if you are a partner in a partnership. You will also need to file a self-assessment tax return if you have income from property, or if you have realised capital gains in the tax year, or if you have other sources of untaxed income, such as dividends, investment income or foreign income.

You can also choose to file a self-assessment tax return if you want to claim income tax reliefs.

If you or your partner received child benefit in 2020/21, check whether you fall within the scope of the high income child benefit charge. If you do, you will also need to file a return.

New source of income

If you started trading in 2020/21 or became a landlord, you should have registered for self-assessment by 5 October 2021. If you have not done so, you should register as soon as possible so that you can file your return without delay.

COVID-19 support payments

If you received COVID-19 support payments in 2020/21, for example, grants under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) or hospitality and leisure grants, you will need to report these on your 2020/21 tax return. The support payments are taxable. Grants received under the SEISS should be entered in the dedicated box in your self-assessment tax return, while any other taxable COVID-19 payments should be entered in the ‘any other business income’ box. Remember, to enter the amount that you received between 6 April 2020 and 5 April 2021, regardless of the date to which you prepare your accounts.

If you are employed and received grant payments under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), you do not need to enter these payments separately on your return – they are included in the figures on your P60.

Later deadline where notice to file received after 31 October 2021

The tax return filing deadline is the later of 31 January after the end of the tax year and three months from the date on which the notice to file a return was issued by HMRC. Where this is after 31 October 2021, the filing deadline will be later than 31 January 2022. For example, if the notice to file a return was issued on 1 December 2021, the return must be filed by 1 March 2022.

File online

The deadline for filing a paper tax return was 31 October 2021 (or three months from the date of the notice to file where this was received after 31 July 2021). If a paper return is filed after that date, even if it is filed before 31 January 2022, it will be deemed to be filed late and a late filing penalty will be charged. Consequently, if you are filing your return to meet the 31 January 2022 deadline you must file it online. Remember that you must be registered with the Government Gateway and will need your details to login – make sure that you have these available in good time.

Late returns

If you file your tax return online after midnight on 31 January 2022 (unless an extended deadline applies because the notice to file was issued after 31 October 2021) you will receive an automatic penalty of £100, even if you have no tax to pay. If you think you have a reasonable excuse for filing late, you can appeal against the penalty. However, HMRC usually take a harsh line on what they consider a reasonable excuse. Further penalties are triggered if your return remains outstanding three months, six months and 12 months after the deadline.

Contact us

If you need help in filing your 2020/21 tax return, please get in touch. However, we suggest that you do not leave it until just before the filing deadline.

File your tax return by 30 December 2021 to have underpayments coded out

The deadline for filing your 2020/21 self-assessment tax return is midnight on 31 January 2022. However, if you have underpaid tax and you are employed and would prefer HMRC to collect that underpayment through your tax code, you will need to file your return online by midnight on 30 December 2021. You can also have an underpayment coded out if you filed a paper return by 31 October 2021.

Paying tax through your tax code

If you owe tax for 2020/21, rather than paying the underpaid tax in full by 31 January 2022, you may be able to have the underpayment collected through PAYE. This is done by adjusting your 2022/23 tax code (known as ‘coding out’). The effect of this is that collection of the underpayment will be spread throughout the 2022/23 tax year and deducted from your pay or your pension.

Conditions

The option to have a tax underpayment coded out is only available if all of the following conditions are met:

• you owe less than £3,000;
• you already pay tax under PAYE (for example, as an employee or on a company pension); and
• you submitted a paper tax return by 31 October 2021 or an online tax return by 30 December 2021.

If you owe more than £3,000, coding out is unavailable; you will need to pay what you owe by 31 January 2022.

Talk to us

If you are likely to have a tax underpayment for 2020/21 and want to pay the tax that you owe through an adjustment to your tax code, talk to us about what you need to do to meet the 30 December 2021 filing deadline.

Plan ahead for increases in the dividend tax rates

As part of the Government’s funding strategy for health and social care, the dividend tax rates are to be increased from April 2022, alongside the temporary increases in National Insurance, and, from April 2023, the introduction of the Health and Social Care Levy. The increases in the dividend tax rates will affect you if you operate your business through a personal or family company and extract profits in the form of dividends. It will also affect you if you receive dividends from investments in shares.

Dividend tax rates from April 2022

The dividend tax rates are to increase by 1.25% from 6 April 2022. Once the dividend allowance (currently set at £2,000) and the personal allowance have been utilised, dividends are currently taxed at 7.5% where they fall within the basic rate band, at 32.5% to the extent that they fall within the higher rate band, and at 38.1% where they fall within the additional rate band.

Where the strategy is to extract profits in the form of a small salary plus dividends, typically little or no National Insurance is payable. To ensure that those extracting profits as dividends contribute towards the cost of social care, from 6 April 2022, the dividend tax rates are increased by 1.25%, in line with the temporary increases in National Insurance contributions and the rate of the Health and Social Care Levy. From 6 April 2022, once the dividend allowance and the personal allowance have been used up, dividends will be taxed at 8.75% where they fall within the basic rate band, at 33.75% where they fall within the higher rate band, and at 39.35% where they fall within the additional rate band.

Plan ahead for the increases

As the increases in the dividend rates of tax do not take effect until 6 April 2022, you have time to plan ahead. If you have sufficient retained profits, you may want to consider extracting further profits as dividends in 2021/22, rather than waiting until after 6 April 2022. This will enable you to take advantage of the current, lower, rates of dividend tax. This is likely to be advantageous if you have not used up all of your basic rate band for 2021/22. If you have an alphabet share structure, dividends can be tailored to take advantage of any unused dividend allowances and basic rate bands of other family shareholders.

In deciding whether to extract additional dividends in 2021/22, you will, however, need to take account of your marginal rate of tax. If taking additional dividends now means that they will be taxed at the upper dividend rate of 32.5%, but taking those dividends in 2022/23 would mean that they will fall within the basic rate band, it will be better to take them in 2022/23 despite the rate increase as they will be taxed at 8.75% rather than 32.5%.

Speak to us

We can help you formulate a tax-efficient profit extraction policy for your business. Please get in touch.

National Insurance rises and the Health and Social Care Levy

On 8 September 2021, the Prime Minister outlined the Government’s plans for health and social care, including a new funding strategy designed to meet social care costs. A new tax, the Health and Social Care Levy, is to be introduced from 2023. However, as a temporary measure prior to its introduction, National Insurance contributions will rise for 2022/23 only. This will affect you if you are employed, self-employed or an employer.

Temporary National Insurance increases

For 2022/23 only, the rates of primary and secondary Class 1, Class 1A, Class 1B and Class 4 National Insurance contributions will all rise by 1.25%. The revenue raised as a result will go directly to support the National Health Service and equivalent bodies across the UK. From 6 April 2023, the rates will revert to their 2021/22 levels consequent on the introduction of the new Health and Social Care Levy.

Primary Class 1 National Insurance contributions

Employees currently pay primary Class 1 National Insurance at the rate of 12% on their earnings to the extent that they fall between the primary threshold (currently £184 per week) and the upper earnings limit (currently £967 per week). For 2022/23 only, the main primary rate will increase to 13.25%.

Employees also pay primary Class 1 National Insurance contributions at the additional rate on any earnings in excess of the upper earnings limit. For 2021/22, the additional rate is set at 2%. This will increase to 3.25% for 2022/23 only.

Contributions payable by an employee cease when the employee reaches state pension age.  

Secondary Class 1 National Insurance contributions

Employers pay secondary Class 1 National Insurance contributions on the earnings of their employees to the extent that they exceed the secondary threshold or the relevant upper secondary threshold, as appropriate. Contributions are payable at the secondary rate. For 2021/22, this is set at 13.8%. For 2022/23 only, the secondary rate will increase to 15.05%.

For 2021/22, the secondary threshold is set at £170 per week.

Where the employee is under the age of 21, an apprentice under the age of 25, or an armed forces veteran in the first year of their first civilian job since leaving the armed forces, employer contributions are only payable to the extent that the earnings of the employee or the apprentice exceed the relevant upper secondary threshold. For each of these groups, the relevant upper secondary threshold is set at £967 per week for 2021/22. From 2022/23, employers in Freeport tax sites will only pay secondary Class 1 employer contributions on the earnings of new Freeport employees to the extent that these exceed a new upper threshold for Freeport employees. This is to be set at £25,000 a year.

Unlike employees, employers continue to pay secondary contributions on the earnings of any employees who have reached state pension age.

Class 1A National Insurance contributions

Class 1A National Insurance contributions are employer-only contributions, payable on most taxable benefits in kind, and also on taxable termination payments in excess of £30,000 and taxable sporting termination payments in excess of £100,000.

The Class 1A rate is the same as the secondary rate of Class 1 National Insurance contributions, payable by employers on employees’ earnings. Consequently, this is set at 13.8% for 2021/22. It will increase to 15.05% for 2022/23 only.

Class 1B National Insurance contributions

Class 1B National Insurance contributions are payable by employers on items included within a PAYE Settlement Agreement (PSA) in place of the Class 1 or Class 1A liability that would otherwise be due. They are also payable on the tax due under the PSA.

The Class 1B rate is also aligned with the secondary Class 1 rate, at 13.8% for 2021/22, rising to 15.05% for 2022/23 only.

Class 2 and 4 National Insurance contributions

There are two Classes of National Insurance contributions payable by the self-employed – Class 2 and Class 4. Class 2 are flat rate contributions. Class 4 are payable on profits where these exceed the lower profits limit, set at £9,568 for 2021/22. Class 4 contributions are payable at the main Class 4 rate on profits between the lower profits limit and the upper profits limit, set at £50,270 for 2021/22, and at the additional Class 4 rate on profits in excess of the upper profits limit. For 2021/22, the main Class 4 rate is 9%. For 2022/23 only, it will increase by 1.25% to 10.25%. The additional Class 4 rate is currently 2%. It will increase by 1.25% for 2022/23 only, to 3.25%.

Class 2 National Insurance contributions are not affected by the temporary increase applying for 2022/23.

Class 3 National Insurance contributions

Class 3 National Insurance contributions are voluntary contributions which a contributor may choose to pay to make up for a shortfall in their National Insurance record. Class 3 National Insurance contributions are unaffected by the temporary increase in National Insurance contributions applying for 2022/23.

Health and Social Care Levy

A new tax, the Health and Social Care Levy, is to be introduced from April 2023. Funds raised from the levy will be ring-fenced to support UK health and social care bodies.

The levy is set at 1.25%. It will be payable on the earnings on which an employee, an employer or a self-employer person is liable to pay a qualifying National Insurance contribution. Qualifying National Insurance contributions are Class 1, Class 1A, Class 1B and Class 4. However, unlike National Insurance contributions, the Health and Social Care Levy will be payable on earnings and profits of individuals who are above state pension age.

The new Health and Social Care Levy will operate in the same way as National Insurance contributions for administrative purposes.

Get in touch

We can explain what the National Insurance increases and the new Health and Social Care Levy will mean for you.

Basis period reform

HMRC have been consulting on the reform of the basis period rules in preparation for the introduction of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment (MTD ITSA), which comes into effect from April 2023. A consultation paper was published in July 2021, which sets out new simplified basis period rules. Comments were sought by 31 August 2021 on how best to implement the reforms.

Existing rules – the current year basis

Once an unincorporated business is established, it is taxed on the current year basis. Special rules apply in the opening and closing years of the business. Under the current year basis, the profits that are taxed for a particular tax year are those for the accounting period that ends in that tax year. Consequently, if the business prepares its accounts to 30 June each year, for the 2021/22 tax year, it will be taxed on its profits for the year to 30 June 2021, as this is the year that ends between 6 April 2021 and 5 April 2022.

Under the existing rules, some of the profits of the business may be taxed twice in the opening years. These profits are known as ‘overlap’ profits. Relief for the double taxation of these profits, known as ‘overlap relief’, is given when the business ceases, or earlier if there is a change of accounting date.

New rules – tax year basis

The reforms will mean that unincorporated businesses will be taxed on the profits arising in the tax year – i.e., the profits for the period from 6 April to the following 5 April. Where the business prepares accounts to 31 March, these will be deemed to correspond to the tax year (as will the preparation of accounts to any date between 31 March and 5 April).

If you prepare accounts to a date other than 31 March/5 April, you will need to apportion your profits so that they correspond to the tax year. For example, if you prepare your accounts to 30 June, for 2023/24, you will be taxed on 3/12^th of the profit for the year to 30 June 2023 (covering the period from 6 April 2023 to 30 June 2023) plus 9/12^th of the profit for the year to 30 June 2024 (covering the period from 1 July 2023 to 5 April 2024).

The tax year basis will apply from 2023/24, with 2022/23 being a transitional year.

Estimation of profits

If you have an accounting date late in the tax year and prepare accounts other than to 31 March/5 April, you may not have the second set of accounts available when you come to complete your tax return. For example, if you prepare your accounts to 28 February, for 2023/24 you will be taxed on 11/12^th of your profit for the year to 28 February 2024 and 1/12^th of your profit for the year to 28 February 2025. The accounts to 28 February 2025 will not be available by 31 January 2025, and you would be expected to file a provisional return, which would be amended later when the information is available.

This will create extra work, and HMRC are looking at alternative estimation approaches, such as making an estimate based on the profits for the quarterly updates submitted under MTD ITSA, extrapolating the profits for the ‘known’ part of the tax year, and allowing the final figures to be provided as part of the following year’s return.

To overcome this, you may prefer to change your accounting date and prepare accounts to 31 March/5 April. This will avoid the need for an apportionment calculation and reduce your workload.

Transitional rules

Transitional rules are needed to move from the current year basis to the tax year basis. The transition year is 2022/23.

For the transition year, the taxable profits for a business that does not have a 31 March/5 April year end will comprise the sum of:

• the standard component (which is the profit assessable in 2022/23 under the current year basis); and
• the transition component (which is the profit for the period from the end of the current year basis period to the end of the 2022/23 tax year).

Any historic overlap relief can be claimed in the transition year by deducting overlap profits from the result of the above calculation.

For example, if you prepare accounts to 30 June each year, for 2022/2023, you will be taxed on the profits for the year to 30 June 2022 (the basis period for 2022/23 under the current year basis) plus profits for the period from 1 July 2022 to 5 April 2023 (the transition component), less any overlap profits. The overlap relief will cover the period from the date on which the business started to the following 5 April.  

Spreading excess profits

In the transition year, your profits may be higher than normal. This will be the case if your transition component is more than your overlap relief. If you started your business some time ago, the impact of inflation may mean that your overlap profits are considerably less than the profits of the transition component, even if they both cover the same number of months. If your profits are higher than normal, your tax bill will also be higher, and you may pay tax at a higher marginal rate as a result.

To mitigate the effect of the transition year on cash flow, HMRC plan to allow businesses to elect to spread any excess profits in the transition year over five years.

Equivalence rules

As part of the simplification reforms, HMRC propose that the statutory rule which deems 31 March to be equivalent to 5 April in the first three years of a trade is extended so that it applies to all the years of the trade. This will mean that where accounts are prepared to 31 March, the business would not need to make small adjustments for the profits of the business to correspond to the tax year, which runs to 5 April. The consultation sought views on whether this equivalence rule should be extended to property businesses.  

We can help

Please talk to us about what the reforms will mean for your business, and what you need to do to prepare for the introduction of MTD ITSA.

Collection of tax debts after COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, HMRC paused much of their debt collection work, both to divert resources to administering the various COVID-19 support schemes and to help taxpayers whose finances were adversely affected by the pandemic. However, as the country emerges from the Coronavirus crisis, HMRC have restarted their tax debt collection work and will be contacting taxpayers who have fallen behind with their payments.

Talk to HMRC

If you have unpaid tax debts and HMRC contact you to discuss those debts, the best course of action is to speak to them to agree a repayment plan. Ignoring the problem will not make it go away, and HMRC may start enforcement proceedings against taxpayers who ignore their attempts to contact them.

Pay if you can

If you have outstanding tax debts and are able to pay them, HMRC’s expectation is that you will. In assessing your ability to pay, HMRC will expect you to make use of the various COVID-19 finance schemes, such as the Recovery Loan Scheme, to raise the necessary funds. If you need time to arrange the finance, HMRC may offer a short-term deferral of your tax debt. If this is agreed, HMRC will not take any action until that period had elapsed, and you will not need to make any payments during the deferral period.

Time-to-pay arrangements

If you are unable to clear your outstanding tax debts in full, you may be able to agree a time-to-pay arrangement with HMRC.

There is no standard agreement; time-to-pay arrangements are based on an individual’s circumstances. HMRC will establish your ability to pay by looking at your income and expenditure. They will also want to know why you are struggling to pay, and what action you have taken to try and pay some or all of the bill.

Enforcement action

If you do not pay your outstanding tax debts or come to an agreement with HMRC to pay what you owe in instalments, from September 2021, HMRC may use their enforcement powers to collect tax that is owed to them. Avenues available to them include taking control of goods, summary warrants and court action, including insolvency proceedings.

While HMRC will, where possible, aim to support viable businesses, if a business has little chance of recovery, HMRC will take action to recover any tax that they are owed.

Talk to us

If you have tax debts that you are struggling to pay, speak to us. We can help you agree a repayment plan with HMRC.

Reporting SEISS payments on your tax return

If you have received one or more grants under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), it is important that you report the payments correctly on your tax return.

2020/21 self-assessment tax return

SEISS grants that were received in the 2020/21 tax year (i.e., between 6 April 2020 and 5 April 2021) should be reported on your 2020/21 self-assessment tax return, regardless of the date to which you prepare your accounts. The return must be filed online by midnight on 31 January 2022 (or by 31 October 2021 if you file a paper return). The first three grants under the scheme were paid in the 2020/21 tax year.

If you have already filed your 2020/21 tax return, HMRC may adjust your return if the information that they hold on the SEISS payments that have been made to you does not match what is shown on your return.

How to report SEISS payments

Grant payments received under the SEISS should not be included in turnover. Instead, they should be reported separately on the 2020/21 tax return in the box for Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grants. The location of the box depends on which self-assessment tax return is completed. It can be found:

• on page 2 of the ‘other tax adjustments’ section on the self-employment pages (SA103F) of the full return;
• in the ‘other tax adjustments’ section of the self-employment (short) page (SA103S);
• on page 2 of the ‘trading or professional profits’ section of the partnership return; and
• in section 3.10A of the SA200 short tax return.

HMRC corrections

HMRC will check the SEISS grants payments reported in the return against their records of the grants that have been paid to you.

If you have already submitted your 2020/21 tax return, and the amount of the SEISS payments that you reported on your return did not tally with HMRC’s records, HMRC will adjust your return to match their records and they will send you a revised tax calculation.

It is advisable that you check the figures on HMRC’s revised calculation against your records of the grants received. You can check the amounts that you have received either by logging into the SEISS claims service or against your bank statements for the account into which the payments were made.

If you do not agree with HMRC’s revised figures, you should contact their Coronavirus (COVID-19) helpline for businesses and self-employed people.

Failure to report SEISS payments

If you received one or more grants under the SEISS in 2020/21 and do not include them on your self-assessment tax return for that year, HMRC will adjust your return to reflect the payments and send you a revised tax calculation. As a result, you may find that you owe more tax than you expected, have an unexpected tax bill, or that the tax repayment you were expecting is reduced.

SEISS payments reported in the wrong box

If you included SEISS payments in your 2020/21 tax return, but did not enter the amount that you received in the designated box, for example, because you included it in turnover or entered it in one of the ‘other income’ boxes, you will need to amend your self-assessment tax return so that the grants are entered in the correct box and removed from the wrong box. If you do not do this, the grant income will be assessed twice, as HMRC will adjust the return to enter details of grants received in the correct box (but will not remove the income from elsewhere in the return). 

Failure to complete a self-employment or partnership page

To qualify for the SEISS grants for 2020/21, you had to be trading in that tax year. If you have not completed a self-assessment or partnership page, HMRC will assume that you were not trading, and therefore ineligible for the grants. Consequently, they will seek to recover any grants that were paid to you.  

If you were trading, but omitted to complete the relevant pages, you should amend your tax return to reflect this.  

Appeal if you disagree with HMRC’s adjustments

If you do not agree with the changes that HMRC have made to your tax return in respect of your SEISS grant payments, you can appeal. However, you must do this within 30 days of the date on the SA302 letter advising you of the changes that they have made to your return.

HMRC have not yet taken account of changes that were made to 2020/21 tax returns before 19 June 2021. If you corrected your return before that date, you do not need to contact HMRC as they will process the amendments separately.

Speak to us

Contact us if HMRC have adjusted the SEISS payments reported in your 2020/21 tax return. We can help you check whether the figures are correct, and take action if they are not.

Voluntary Class 2 NICs where 2019/20 tax return filed after 31 January 2021

If you are self-employed, you will pay Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance contributions if your profits exceed the relevant thresholds. Class 2 National Insurance contributions are the mechanism by which you build up qualifying years to earn entitlement to the state pension and certain contributory benefits. If your profits are below the small profits threshold, you can opt to pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions voluntarily to maintain your National Insurance record.

Extended deadline for filing 2019/20 tax return

The normal filing deadline for the 2019/20 self-assessment tax return was 31 January 2021. However, to help taxpayers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, HMRC waived the late filing penalty that would usually apply where a return was filed after 31 January, as long as the return was filed by midnight on 28 February 2021. This effectively extended the filing window by one month.

This had unintended consequences for self-employed taxpayers who opted to file their 2019/20 tax return in February 2021, and who chose to pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions voluntarily where their profits for 2019/20 were below the small profits threshold for that year of £6,365.

Nature of the problem

HMRC’s systems were unable to deal with the payment of voluntary Class 2 contributions where the 2019/20 tax return was filed after 31 January 2021. They did not have time to implement alternative procedures either.

The normal deadline for paying Class 2 National Insurance contributions for 2019/20 was 31 January 2021.

If you opted to pay Class 2 National Insurance Contributions voluntarily and paid by this date but before the return was filed, they could not be processed as HMRC were unaware of what the payment related to. This may be the case if you made the payment before the 31 January 2021 deadline, but filed your tax return in February 2021.

If you filed your return in February 2021 and paid your voluntary Class 2 National Insurance contributions when you filed your return, the contributions were paid late as they were paid after 31 January 2021. In this situation, HMRC corrected your return to remove the voluntary contributions.

Payments made in respect of voluntary Class 2 contributions in these circumstances were allocated elsewhere, held on account or refunded.

The solution

If you have been affected by this issue, you should contact HMRC on 0300 200 3500 as soon as you become aware that this is the case, for example, when you receive a refund, or see from your personal tax account that your contributions have been allocated against another payment.

If you have already received a refund, HMRC will let you know how you can pay Class 2 contributions voluntarily. If you have not already received a refund, they will ensure that the payment is correctly recorded as Class 2 National Insurance contributions.

Check your National Insurance record

It is advisable to check your National Insurance record to see if you have any gaps. Failure to contact HMRC if you have been affected by the above issue may mean that you do not receive a credit for 2019/20, resulting in a gap in your contributions record.

Contact us

Contact us if you paid voluntary Class 2 National Insurance for 2019/20 and filed your return in February 2021 to check that your contributions have been credited to your account.

Claim tax relief for expenses of working from home

If you are an employee and you are, or have been, working from home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be able to claim tax relief for the additional household costs that you have incurred as a result. HMRC are now accepting claims for the current (2021/22) tax year.

Nature of the relief

You can benefit from the relief if you are an employee and you were told by your employer to work from home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and, as a result of working from home, your household costs have increased. For example, your electricity bill may be higher because you are using your computer all day and your gas bill may be higher because you have the heating on while you are working.

You can also claim the relief if you work from home other than because of the pandemic, as long as the nature of your job requires you to work from home. However, you are not able to claim the relief if you simply choose to work from home rather than at your employer’s workplace.

If your employer has met the cost of your additional household costs (to which a separate tax exemption applies), you are not entitled to claim the relief as well.

Amount of the relief

A claim for tax relief for additional household costs of £6 per week (£26 per month) can be made without the need to provide evidence to support the claim. The claim is worth £62.40 a year if you pay tax at the basic rate, £124.80 a year if you pay tax at the higher rate, and £140.40 a year if you pay tax at the additional rate.

If your household bills have risen by more than £6 per week as a result of working from home, you can claim tax relief based on the actual additional costs. However, you will need evidence, for example, copies of bills showing how costs have increased, to back up your claim.

Making a claim

You can claim relief via the dedicated HMRC portal.

Relief is given for the whole tax year, regardless of the number of weeks for which you worked from home. Once HMRC have approved your claim, they will amend your tax code to take account of the relief.

If you worked from home as a result of COVID-19 during 2020/21 and have yet to make a claim for tax relief for your additional household costs, it is not too late – HMRC will accept backdated claims for up to four years.

Get in touch

Why not get in touch to find out whether you can claim tax relief for the additional costs of working from home.