On any other day, the Chancellor’s Spring Statement would have dominated the headlines. However, with the UK’s scheduled withdrawal from the EU just days away, and the Prime Minister’s latest Brexit deal voted down by the Commons just hours earlier, this seemed more like a sideshow than the main event. The little speculation there was in the days beforehand focused more on whether Mr Hammond Read more…
Westminster Business Council are delighted to be joining forces with Wilder Coe Ltd to hold an event for property professionals. Tim Cook, Senior Tax Partner, and Pauline Hudd, Partner and Head of Stamp Taxes, will be speaking at the breakfast event and sharing with you their insight into the new Capital Gains Tax rules which will impact all investors from April. These new rules are Read more…
From 1 April 2019, employers will be required by law to pay their employees a higher minimum wage rate. It is thought that this increase in the UK’s statutory wage requirements will benefit around 2.4 million workers and means that the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage worker will have increased by over £2,750 since the introduction of the National Living Wage in April Read more…
New research suggests that the UK’s SMEs could benefit to the tune of as much as £57 billion over the next five years because of digital productivity improvements associated with HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative. The report by research firm, Volterra Partners, anticipates a ‘digital snowball’ effect from the launch of MTD for VAT in April this year that will Read more…
While 93.68 per cent of the 11.5 million taxpayers who were required to file their Self-Assessment Tax Returns by midnight on 31 January did so on time, 731,186 missed the deadline. Those who missed the deadline will have to wait longer than in previous years to receive penalty notifications from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). The notifications of £100 penalties are usually sent in February Read more…
New advisory fuel rates from 1 March 2019 for drivers of company cars have fallen for all but one class of vehicle. The rates apply where a business is reimbursing employees for travel in a company car, or where employees must repay the cost of fuel used when travelling in a company car in a personal capacity. If an employer uses these rates, HM Revenue Read more…
Getting married or conducting a civil partnership ceremony is often the happiest day of most people’s lives but unfortunately almost one million married or civil partnered couples in the UK have not used up to £900 in tax relief available to them. The Marriage Allowance scheme currently allows couples to transfer up to £1,190 of their Personal Allowance to their partner, providing they earn more Read more…
In a landmark case, Middlesbrough FC has effectively won the right to pay staff below the minimum wage by providing other benefits to them. In February, an employment tribunal at Teesside Magistrates’ Court overturned a ruling that the Championship football club had broken employment laws by deducting the cost of 2016/17 season tickets over several weeks from the pay of staff receiving the National Minimum Read more…
Hundreds of businesses across the UK enjoy tax relief totalling millions of pounds thanks to the Government’s generous R&D relief scheme. Last year nearly 40,000 claims were made for Research and Development (R&D) tax credits in the UK, almost double the amount made in the previous year. Businesses both large and small benefited from £3.5 billion in tax relief during the same period in 2018 Read more…
