Wokingham Accountants
The VAT registration threshold rose from £85,000 to £90,000 from 1 April 2024. The deregistration threshold increased from £83,000 to £88,000 from the same date. The changes in the thresholds change the trigger points for compulsory registration and optional deregistration. When must you register? You must register if your taxable turnover in the last 12 … Read more
A sole trader or proprietor of an unincorporated business may incur training costs. The tax treatment of those costs depends on whether the costs are regarded as ‘revenue’ or ‘capital’ expenditure. HMRC have revised their guidance in this area, expanding the range of training for which a deduction is available. Old rules Previously, HMRC only … Read more
A new penalty regime was introduced for VAT from 1 January 2023. The new regime comprises late submission penalties and late payment penalties. Here we look at the penalty regime for late returns. Late VAT returns The late submission penalty regime kicks in whenever a VAT return is filed late. It applies regardless of whether … Read more
Employees often need to incur expenses when undertaking their jobs. The nature of the expense may vary depending on the job, but typical expenses include travel and subsistence expenses and fees and subscriptions. It will often be the case that the employee initially incurs the expense and then reclaims the cost from their employer via … Read more
Changing personal circumstances may mean that individuals who were previously taxpayers find that they are now non-taxpayers. If they are in the habit of making charitable donations under gift aid, they need to tread carefully to avoid an unwanted bill from HMRC. Nature of gift aid Donations made by individuals to charities or to community … Read more
The super-deduction, which allowed companies to claim an immediate deduction of 130% of their qualifying expenditure, came to an end on 31 March 2023. It was replaced with full expensing. As with the super-deduction, unincorporated businesses cannot benefit from full expensing (although the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) will secure a 100% deduction for qualifying expenditure … Read more
Employees often need to undertake business trips and it is common practice to reimburse the employee’s fuel costs by means of a mileage allowance. The tax rules allow mileage payments to be made tax-free up to certain limits. However, the rules are different depending on whether the employee is driving their own car or a … Read more
In his March Budget, the Chancellor announced a number of changes to the pension tax rules, including an increase in the annual allowance and the abolition of the lifetime allowance. Annual allowance The annual allowance places a cap on tax-relieved pension savings. Individuals can obtain tax relief on contributions to a registered pension scheme of … Read more
Trivial benefits have their own tax exemption, which if used wisely can be used to treat employees. The exemption can also be used by personal and family companies as part of a tax-efficient profit extraction strategy. Nature of the exemption The exemption applies if all of the following conditions are met: Where the benefit is … Read more
The pandemic changed the way in which many people worked, forcing them to work from home if they could. Post-pandemic, many employees have continued to work from home some or all of the time. Under hybrid working arrangements, an employee will work from home some of the time and from the employer’s premises some of … Read more
