Call: 01491 411077
Call: 01491 411077
HMRC use a range of communication methods, as do fraudsters. Consequently, it can be difficult to be certain that a call, email, letter or text which seems to come from HMRC actually does. How then do you tell if the communication is genuine? Phone calls Scammers may pretend that they are from HMRC and try…Read More
The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) is a tax which claws back child benefit where the recipient or their partner has adjusted net income of £60,000 or more in the tax year. The charge is equal to 1% of the child benefit for the year for every £200 by which adjusted net income exceeds…Read More
Over time, companies may accumulate substantial cash reserves. Whilst funds are commonly extracted through salary, dividends or pension contributions, another possibility is to incorporate a second company and transfer funds using an intercompany loan. How does it work? The first company lends excess cash to the second company, usually for valid business purposes such as…Read More
When a company pays a dividend, all shareholders holding the same class of shares must receive dividends in proportion to their shareholdings. To pay dividends at different rates, a company must either issue different classes of shares with distinct dividend rights or vary the proportions held by shareholders. Alphabet shares are commonly used to provide…Read More
Where an employee works at home, they may incur additional household expenses as a result, such as additional heating and lighting costs, the cost of business phone calls on a home phone, additional insurance costs and additional cleaning costs. Reimbursed by the employer The tax legislation contains a dedicated exemption which allows the employer to…Read More
In a personal or family company, there are often transactions between the company and the director(s). For example, the company may meet personal expenses on the director’s behalf, or the director may loan money to the company to help cash flow. It is important to keep track of transactions between the director and the company.…Read More
The 2025/26 Self-Assessment tax return must be filed online by midnight on 31 January 2027. However, you do not have to wait until the deadline is approaching to file your return and there can be advantages in filing early. Before filing your return, it is important to check that you have all the information you…Read More
Where a business is operated through a limited company, profits need to be extracted if they are to be used personally. Where the personal allowance remains available, it is generally beneficial to pay a salary equal to the personal allowance and to extract any further profits needed outside the company in the form of dividends.…Read More
The Employment Allowance is a very valuable allowance which allows eligible employers to reduce their secondary Class 1 National Insurance bill by up to £10,500 in 2026/27. The allowance is not given automatically and must be claimed. Who can claim Employers can claim the allowance if they are a business or a public body and…Read More
Where first year allowances, such as the Annual Investment Allowance or full expensing, are not claimed in respect of capital expenditure on plant and machinery, or not claimed in full, relief is instead given by way of writing down allowances (WDAs). The rate at which the allowance is given depends on whether the expenditure is…Read More
When an employee works from home, they may incur additional costs as a result, such as higher gas and electricity bills. The tax system offers some help where the employer meets some or all of these additional costs. However, the relief that was previously available where employees met these costs themselves is withdrawn from 6…Read More
As announced at the time of the 2025 Autumn Budget, the ordinary and upper dividend tax rates are increased by two percentage points from 6 April 2026. The additional dividend rate remains unchanged. The increase will affect those with investments in shares who receive dividend income and also shareholders in personal and family companies who…Read More
A director’s loan account (DLA) is an accounting record that tracks funds owed by a company and its individual directors. Usually, a DLA will be in debit (i.e. the director has taken more money out of the company which has not been otherwise repaid in the form of salary, dividends or reimbursement of expenses). However,…Read More
In personal and family companies, director shareholders often borrow money from the company. Where a company is close, as most personal and family companies are, if a loan to a director or other participator remains outstanding on the corporation tax due date for the period in which the loan was taken out, the company must…Read More
As the tax year draws to a close, directors of personal and family companies should consider whether it is worthwhile paying a dividend before 6 April 2026. However, it is only possible to pay a dividend where the company has sufficient retained profits from which to pay it. Also, where a class of share has…Read More