Making Tax Digital Update: August 2018

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced its new Making Tax Digital (MTD) in the March 2015 Budget but since then, there have been many consultations and changes in the implementation dates. The aim is for HMRC to be interacting digitally with all taxpayers.
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Vat Question of the Week: Sale of Trading Premises

My client, a small owner-managed company, purchased five-year-old freehold premises to trade from in June 2017. The total cost of the premises and refurbishment was 180K + VAT, which the company reclaimed in full in the 06/17 period, and the company has occupied it since for its engineering business. The business has always been fully taxable.
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Tax Question of the Week: Rollover Relief use of Proceeds

My clients are a farming company. They recently disposed of a large piece of fixed machinery used in the business for £60,000, and made a capital gain of £10,000. The actual sale proceeds were used to fund salaries and pension contributions in the month of disposal but six months later, after the company obtained further funding, they spent £100,000 on a qualifying replacement asset, a more modern equivalent of the old one. Is it still possible to rollover the gain in these circumstances, given that the sale proceeds of the old asset were not directly used to obtain the new one?
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VAT Question of the Week: Hotel Deposits

My client frequently has to stay in hotels for business. The hotel takes a deposit at the time of booking with the balance of the cost paid over when the stay takes place. Sometimes my client’s plans, or those of his customer, change and he cancels the booking and the hotel keeps the deposit paid. Some hotels send a VAT invoice covering the amount of the deposit they retain after the cancellation and some say that they cannot issue a VAT invoice because VAT is not applicable to the amount they have retained. Which is correct for VAT purposes? (more…)

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Tax Question of the Week: Uniforms

My client has recently enquired about the possibility of claiming relief for the expenses of cleaning of clothing that she wears in her role in nightclub security, having heard that there are flat rate expenses that employees are able to claim.
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August 2018 Tax Insider

This months edition includes:

– Landlords welcome tax incentives for long-term tenancies
– Contractors criticise ‘flawed’ IR35 test
– ‘Tax over-40s to pay for elderly care costs’, say MPs
– BCC calls for further delay to digital accounts rollout

Read the full article here.

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The Marriage Allowance Explained

Millions of married couples and civil partners in the UK are eligible for the marriage allowance, but take-up has remained subdued since the tax break came into force on 6 April 2015.

Almost half of the UK’s eligible couples failed to claim their slice of £1.3 billion in marriage allowance cash in 2016/17, with many couples either unaware of the tax break or forgetting to claim it. (more…)

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Capital Gains Tax Planning

Whether you’re a buy-to-let landlord, a shareholder, an art dealer or you fall somewhere in between, the chances are you will be familiar with paying capital gains tax (CGT).

CGT is payable when you ‘dispose’ of a certain item and make money from the sale, with the amount you’re liable for depending on your income and the asset in question. (more…)

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