Tax news and comments

Making tax digital (MTD)

HMRC's latest new idea is 'making tax digital'. This involves quarterly uploading of client information to a client's digital tax account. Effectively five tax returns have to be filed per annum instead of one! So far, the start date for this has been pushed into the future.

Tax simplification?

The Office of Budget Simplification is a bit of a bad joke! The tax books have got thicker and thicker and the tax system has got more and more complex!

Property tax changes

Rent a room relief

Owner occupiers and tenants who let furnished rooms in their main residence may claim rent a room relief. Under this sceme, rental income from letting rooms in your main residence will be exempt from tax if the rent received does not exceed £7500.

Landlord tax reliefs

Buy-to-let landlords can now only claim tax relief on mortgage interest payments at 20%, even if they are high rate taxpayers.

Wear and tear allowance

The 10% allowance to cover wear and tear on items such as beds, curtains, carpets, washing machines etc no longer applies. Landlords will now only be able to deduct the actual costs of replacing their furnishings etc.

Stamp duty

Stamp duty is now charged at 3% higher than the normal rate on buy-to-let properties and second homes.

Employee pension deductions

This is called auto enrolment. Most of your employees must have pension contributions deducted from their salary. The initial rates were 1% for the employee and 1% for the employer, but these have now gone up. This will be calculated for you by our payroll software.