Capital Gains Tax Exempt List

Each UK taxpayers have an annual exempt amount for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) which is lost if not used. The annual exemption for individuals in 2021-22 is £12,300.

Whilst most taxpayers are aware of the amount of annual tax-free allowance and the exemption for the qualifying sale of the family home there are other items as well that are exempt from Capital Gains Tax CGT.

These include:

  • your car
  • personal possessions worth up to £6,000 each, such as jewellery, paintings or antiques
  • stocks and shares you hold in tax-free investment savings accounts, such as ISAs and PEPs
  • UK Government or ‘gilt-edged’ securities, for example, National Savings Certificates, Premium Bonds and loan stock issued by the Treasury.
  • betting, lottery or pools winnings
  • personal injury compensation
  • foreign currency you bought for your own or your family’s personal use outside the UK
  • A husband and wife each have a separate exemption. This also applies to civil partners who are treated in the same way as married couples for CGT purposes. Married couples and civil partners should ensure that assets sold at a gain are either jointly owned or that each partner utilises their annual exempt amount wherever possible.

Have a look at our Capital gains tax services page.

Any unused part of the annual exempt amount cannot be carried forward and is forfeited if unused in the current tax year.

If you are looking to know more about this, feel free to book a free consultation.

How To Restart A Non-Trading Company

A company, when is not trading becomes a dormant or a non-trading company. When a is dormant, it is not required to file accounts and tax returns to the Companies House and HMRC.

However, when the company reverts to trading, it is again a trading company and must start reporting to the Companies House and HMRC to supply the relevant information.

A company can choose to stay a non-trading company (dormant) indefinitely, however, there are costs associated with doing this and certain filings must still be made to Companies House. The costs of restarting a dormant company are typically less than starting from scratch again.

 

The following steps are required:

  • Tell HMRC that your business has restarted trading by registering for Corporation Tax again.
  • Send accounts to Companies House within 9 months of your company’s year-end.
  • Pay any Corporation Tax due within 9 months and 1 day of your company’s year-end.
  • Send a Company Tax Return – including full statutory accounts – to HMRC within 12 months of your company’s year-end.

 

Whilst reporting dates for annual returns and accounts should remain the same. The Corporation Tax accounting period is different and is set by reference to when the company restarts business activities.

If you are looking to know more about this, feel free to book a free consultation.

Tax Diary May And June 2021

Tax Diary May And June 2021

1 May 2021 – Due date for the Corporation Tax due for the year ended 30 July 2020.

19 May 2021 – The PAYE and The NIC deductions due for month ended 5 May 2021. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 May 2021).

19 May 2021 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 May 2021.

19 May 2021 – The CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 May 2021 is payable by today.

31 May 2021 – Ensure all employees have been given their P60s for the 2020-21 tax year.

1 June 2021 – Due date for The Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 August 2020.

19 June 2021 – The PAYE and The NIC deductions due for month ended 5 June 2021. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 June 2021)

19 June 2021 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 June 2021.

19 June 2021 – The CIS tax deducted for the month ended 5 June 2021 is payable by today.

Tax Diary May And June 2021

Source: HM Revenue & Customs Thu, 22 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Changing Terms Of a Salary Sacrifice Arrangement

A salary sacrifice arrangement is effectively an agreement to reduce an employee’s entitlement to cash pay, usually in return for a non-cash benefit. This can include items such as company cars, childcare vouchers and additional employer pension contributions.

The tax and NIC advantages of certain benefits provided as part of a salary sacrifice arrangement were removed from 6 April 2017. The change effectively removed the Income Tax and employer NIC advantages of certain benefits provided as part of salary sacrifice arrangements such as mobile phones and workplace parking. There was a transitional plan in place for certain benefits until 6 April 2021.

If an employee wants to opt in or out of a salary sacrifice arrangements, the employer must alter their contract with each change. The employee’s contract must be clear on what their cash and non-cash entitlements are at any given time.

It may also be necessary to change the terms of a salary sacrifice arrangement where a lifestyle change significantly alters an employee’s financial circumstances.

This may include:

  • changes to circumstances directly arising as a result of coronavirus (COVID-19)
  • marriage
  • divorce
  • partner becoming redundant or pregnant

Salary sacrifice arrangements can allow opting in or out in the event of lifestyle changes like these.

Source: HM Revenue & Customs Wed, 28 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Correcting Errors On VAT Returns

Where an error on a past VAT return is uncovered, businesses have a duty to correct the error as soon as possible. As a general rule, any necessary adjustment can be made on a current VAT return. However, in order to be able to do so, there are three important conditions that must be met:

  1. The error must be below the reporting threshold.
  2. The error must not have been deliberate.
  3. The error can only relate to an accounting period that ended less than 4 years ago.

Under the reporting threshold rule, businesses can make an adjustment on their next VAT return if the net value of the errors is £10,000 or less. The threshold is further increased if the net value of errors found on previous returns is between £10,000 and £50,000 but does not exceed 1% of the box 6 (net outputs) VAT return declaration figure for the return period in which the errors are discovered.

Value Added Tax errors of a net value that exceed the limits for correction on a current return or that were deliberate should be notified to HMRC using form VAT 652 (or providing the same information in letter format) and should be submitted to HMRC’s VAT Error Correction team.

HMRC can also charge penalties and interest if an error is due to careless or dishonest behaviour.

Source: HM Revenue & Customs Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Keeping Self-Employed Tax Records

If you are self-employed as a sole trader or as a partner in a business partnership, then you must keep suitable business records as well as separate personal records of your income.

For tax purposes, the business records must be held for at least 5 years from the 31 January submission deadline for the relevant tax year. For example, for the 2019-20 tax year where online filing was due by 31 January 2021, you must keep your records until at least the end of January 2026. In certain situations, such as when a return is submitted late, the records must be held for longer.

If you are self-employed you should also keep a record of:

  • all sales and income
  • all business expenses
  • VAT records if you’re registered for VAT
  • PAYE records if you employ people
  • records about your personal income
  • grant details if you claimed through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme because of coronavirus

You don’t need to keep the vast majority of your records in their original form. If you prefer, you can keep a copy of most of them in an alternative format, as long as they can be recovered in a readable and uncorrupted format. For example, a scanned PDF document.

If your records are no longer available for any reason, you must try and recreate them letting HMRC know if the figures are estimated or provisional. There are penalties for failing to keep proper records or for keeping inaccurate records.

Source: HM Revenue & Customs Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Recovery Loan Scheme

The new Recovery Loan Scheme was launched on 6 April 2021. The new scheme allows businesses of any size to access loans and other kinds of finance between £25,000 and £10 million. The scheme will remain open until 31 December 2021 (subject to review).

The Recovery Loan scheme is intended to provide further support to businesses to help them recover and grow following the disruption of the pandemic and the end of the transition period. The new scheme can be used as an additional loan on top of previous support received from other schemes such as the Bounce Back Loan Scheme and Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme

Under the scheme, the government will provide lenders with a guarantee of 80% on eligible loans provided to UK businesses. The scheme will be open to all businesses, including those who have already received support under the existing COVID-19 guaranteed loan schemes.

The following finance options are available:

  • Term loans and overdrafts are available between £25,001 and £10 million per business.
  • Invoice finance and asset finance are available between £1,000 and £10 million per business.

Finance terms are for up to six years for term loans and asset finance facilities. For overdrafts and invoice finance facilities, terms will be up to three years. No personal guarantees will be taken on facilities up to £250,000, and a borrower’s principal private residence cannot be taken as security. 26 lenders have already been accredited for the scheme and more are expected shortly.

Source: HM Treasury Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0100

The Mortgage Guarantee Scheme

One of the measures announced at the Budget was the introduction of a new Mortgage Guarantee Scheme to help home buyers purchase property. The scheme was officially made available from Monday, 19 April 2021. The new scheme is designed for prospective home buyers who only have a small deposit and are therefore unable to obtain mortgage finance. Under the scheme, lenders will be able to offer new 95% mortgage products.

The scheme is open to first time buyers and home movers across the UK. Home buyers can purchase properties valued at up to £600,000 and both new-build and existing properties are eligible. The scheme will initially run until 31 December 2022. The government has confirmed that the end date for the scheme will be reviewed and may be extended.

The government will provide lenders with the option to purchase a guarantee on the top- slice of the mortgage (over 80%). Lenders will also take a 5% share of net losses above this 80% threshold. This will help to ensure that lenders are not incentivised to originate poor-quality loans. Lenders will also need to pay the government a commercial fee for each mortgage in the scheme. The mortgage guarantee will be valid for up to seven years after the mortgage is originated.

There will be a cap on the size of the government’s contingent liability under the scheme of £3.9 billion although this is not expected to impinge on delivery of the scheme. The scheme is similar to a previous Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee Scheme that closed to new applicants on 31 December 2016.

The scheme is available from lenders on high streets across the country, with Lloyds, Santander, Barclays, HSBC and NatWest already launching mortgages under the scheme and Virgin Money following next month.

Commenting on the launch of the scheme, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak said:

‘Every new homeowner and home mover supports jobs right across the housing sector but saving for a big enough deposit can be hard, especially for first time buyers.

By giving lenders the option of a government guarantee on 95% mortgages, many more products will become available, boosting the sector, creating new jobs and helping people achieve their dream of owning their own home.’

Source: HM Government Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Small Trading Tax Exemption For Charities

The small trading tax treatment of charities can be complex. Many charities trade either as part of their charitable interests or to raise funds. As a first step, any charity hoping to benefit from any beneficial tax treatment needs to be recognised as a charity for UK tax purposes by HMRC as well as meeting other criteria.

A charity will not pay tax on profits it makes from trade if:

  • they are making money to help their charity’s aims and objectives, known as ‘primary purpose trading’
  • their level of trade that is not primary purpose falls below the charity’s small trading tax exemption limit
  • they trade through a subsidiary trading company

The charity must pay tax on any other profits.

The small trading tax exemption limits are as follows:

Charity’s gross annual income Maximum permitted small trading turnover
Under £32,000 £8,000
£32,001 to £320,000 25% of your charity’s total annual turnover
Over £320,000 £80,000

If the charity’s small trading turnover is higher than the exemption limits, then they are required to pay tax on all of their profits from that trade.

The tax treatment of charities can be complex. Many charities trade either as part of their charitable interests or to raise funds. As a first step, any charity hoping to benefit from any beneficial tax treatment needs to be recognised as a charity for UK tax purposes by HMRC as well as meeting other criteria.

Source: HM Revenue & Customs Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Treasury Directive Re Fourth SEISS Grant

HM Treasury has published a further Treasury Direction made under the Coronavirus Act 2020, ss. 71 and 76, which modifies and extends the effect of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). The new Direction mainly deals with the expansion of the SEISS from 1 February 2021 to 30 April 2021, officially referred to as the SEISS Grant Extension 4 (SEISS 4). The online portal for making a claim will open in late April and HMRC is notifying taxpayers of the earliest date they can apply on a staggered basis. The final date for making a claim for the SEISS 4 will be 1 June 2021.

The self-employed will receive 80% of average trading profits for February, March and April 2021. This will mean a maximum grant for the three months of £7,500 made available to those who meet the eligibility requirements. The SEISS 4 grant is available to the newly self-employed who filed a 2019-20 tax return by midnight, 2 March 2021.

To be eligible for an SEISS 4 payment, self-employed individuals, including members of partnerships, must meet the following criteria:

(a) carry on a trade the business of which has been adversely affected by reason of circumstances arising as a result of coronavirus or coronavirus disease,
(b) have delivered a tax return for a relevant tax year on or before 2 March 2021,
(c) have carried on a trade in the tax years 2019-20 and 2020-21,
(d) intend to continue to carry on a trade in the tax year 2021-22,
(e) if that person is a non-UK resident or has made a claim under section 809B of ITA 2007 (claim for remittance basis to apply), certify that the person’s trading profits are equal to or more than the person’s relevant income for any relevant tax year or years,
(f) be an individual, and
(g) meet the stated profits condition.

A fifth and final grant covering the period from 1 May – 30 September 2021 will see those whose turnover has fallen by 30% or more continuing to receive the full 80% grant whilst those whose turnover has fallen by less than 30% will receive a 30% grant.

Source: HM Revenue & Customs Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0100
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