Bringing forward income could be a sensible approach if you are not currently an additional rate taxpayer but expect to become one next year. You could consider a similar strategy to keep your income below the level at which you […]
Category: Tax Planning
Autumn Statement – 22 November 2023
Introduction Jeremy Hunt’s second Autumn Statement was set against a much less financially turbulent background than his first. However, politics still loomed large with a likely election in the next 12 months prompting calls for tax cuts from within the […]
Autumn Statement – Personal Tax
Income tax The personal allowance will remain at £12,570 for 2024/25 and the higher rate threshold will stay at £50,270, both levels that first took effect in 2021/22. The blind person’s allowance will be increased to £3,070 for 2024/25. In […]
Are You Owed Money? Exploring Unclaimed Pension Tax Relief in the UK
Did you know that over £1.3 billion of pension tax relief has gone unclaimed by the highest earners in the UK? The pension provider PensionBee analysed unclaimed pension relief between 2016 and 2021, and revealed a staggering amount of unclaimed […]
Deferring your state pension
You do not have to take your state pension at state pension age The current state pension age (SPA) – the earliest age at which you can draw your state pension – is 66. It will be gradually increased to […]
Interest rate rises fuelling increased tax take
The Bank of England base rate increase is impacting on the government’s tax takes, with more taxpayers paying tax on savings income due to higher interest rates. Increased mortgage rates are contributing to rocketing capital gains tax (CGT) takings too. […]
Finalising returns figures and filing early
HMRC is chasing taxpayers who have submitted tax returns for 2021/22 containing unresolved provisional figures, while also extolling the benefits of filing early for 2022/23. What are provisional figures? A provisional figure is not the same as an estimated one. […]
Agri-tax reliefs set for restrictions
Draft legislation has been published that will, from 6 April 2024, restrict the geographical scope of agricultural relief and woodlands relief to property in the UK. Currently, property can qualify for either agricultural relief or woodlands relief if it is […]
New PAYE process for High Income Child Benefit Charge
One of the many criticisms aimed at the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) is that anyone caught by the charge needs to submit a self-assessment tax return even if all of their tax is collected under PAYE. However, this […]
Abolishing the pensions lifetime allowance
Although the lifetime allowance was effectively abolished from April 2023 as the lifetime allowance charge was removed, it has been retained on statute for a year to allow time for the intricacies to be ironed out. Draft legislation, to take […]
Behind the numbers on income tax
New income tax statistics from HMRC appear to be good news, but the numbers are not what they seem. Taxpayer’s marginal rate Basic Rate Higher Rate Additional Rate 2020/21 Average tax rate 9.5% 21.8% 38.3% 2023/24 Average tax rate 9.9% […]
Wealth tax, take two?
Hard on the heels of the Sunday Times Rich List, will new proposals for a wealth tax gain any traction? In 2020, a group of economic research bodies set up the Wealth Tax Commission to examine the options for a […]