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5-a-day financial health plan

Dated: Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

Muesli probably won't help you with the credit crunch but the following steps might:
1. Arrange life/income insurance.
2. Build a rainy-day cash fund.
3. Pay off expensive debt.
4. Start an ISA and pension.
5. Review your position.

We are in the process of developing a Debt Obesity Scale.

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Counting out the days

Dated: Monday, Dec 17th, 2007

Residency and domicile rules are changing. Currently when expats come to the UK to visit the days they arrive and leave do not count towards the residency limit of 90 days per tax year.
But from 6 April 2008 days of arrival and departure count towards the 90 day annual limit. For instance if you fly into London and stay less than 24 hours , flying out the next day , that counts as two days out of your 90 day allowance to determine residency.

Bad news for BA pilots and probably bad news for the UK economy!

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Inheritance Tax 'Rollover ' Threshold

Dated: Friday, Dec 7th, 2007

Under the old scheme if the first partner/spouse omitted to utilise all or part of their NIL rate band allowance (NRB) then it was lost with no possibilty of the surviving spouse/partner using the surplus on their death.

The new rollover relief applies to survivors of a marriage/ civil partnership who die on or after 9 October 2007. The survivors estate will benefit regardless of when the first spouse/ civil partner died.

Inheritance Tax (IHT) was introduced to take effect from 18 March 1986 and was the successor of other estate taxes such as Capital Transfer Tax ( CTT) and Estate Duty (ED) . Where a surving spouse / civil partner dies on or after 9 October 2007 and their partner died before 18 March 1986, their estate will still benefit from this rollover relief.

CTT - where the first spouse died between 13 March 1975 and 18 March 1986 the estate would have been subject to CTT. As under the current system , transfers to a spouse would have been exempt from tax liability. The rollover of the unused allowance available between these will work in exactly the same way as it does for IHT.

ED- provisions allowed spouses to transfer property to one another up to the value of £15,000 ( the tax free band) without incurring tax.

Where the first spouse died between 21 March 1972 and 12 March 1975 the transferable amount will be based on the tax free band unused on the death of the first spouse. Where the full tax free band was unused , the second spouse's NRB will increase by 100%.

The Inland Revenue intend to publish details of tax free bands that applied for CTT and ED .

The new rules will not change the effect of existing wills.

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Capital Gains Tax Checker

Dated: Thursday, Nov 8th, 2007

The proposed changes, from 6 April 2008, to Capital Gains tax include:

The abolition of Taper Relief
The abolition of Indexation Allowance
The introduction of a flat rate of Capital Gains Tax at 18%

We are delighted to announce the launch of the ' Capital Gains Tax Checker' service designed specifically to assist with tax planning.

Our new service calculates the potential liabilities on the sale of an asset by reference to both the existing and proposed new rules.

Please do not hesitate to contact us to obtain a fixed fee arrangement for this service.

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Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs)

Dated: Monday, Nov 5th, 2007

A pension remains one of the most tax efficient ways of saving for your retirement and SIPPs offer the most exciting opportunities. You can take advantage of tax benefits and you have the potential to reap greater rewards.
SIPPS are the last word in flexible retirement savings.

If you woulds like further information we have a free non advisory guide to SIPPs available to anyone sending us a self -addressed C5 envelope with a 70 pence stamp.

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2007 Pre - Budget Report

Dated: Wednesday, Oct 10th, 2007

The main points arising from the report are as follows:

Abolition of CGT taper relief from April 2008.
Abolition of CGT indexation between March 1982 and April 1998.
Transferability of the Inheritance Tax nil rate band between spouses and civil partners .
A change to the rules for UK residents with income from the Republic of Ireland.
Proposals on the taxation of non-domiciliaries.

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How to Save Tax 2007/2008

Dated: Wednesday, Oct 3rd, 2007

We are please to confirm that our popular general tax guide has now been brought up to date.

If you would like a copy please send a stamped self addressed A5 envelope to us. Clients and associates are entitled to one copy free of charge. For other requests please enclose a cheque for £20, made payable to Paul Alton , for each copy required.

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Changes to the MNW

Dated: Tuesday, Oct 2nd, 2007

If you have not done so already, you should be advising any employees paid at the Minimum National Wage that there hourly rate increases from the 1 October 2007 as follows:

The adult rate ( over 21) is now £5.52 per hour.
For those aged between 18 and 21 it is now £4.60.
For 16 and 17 year olds it is now £3.40.

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Flooding

Dated: Tuesday, Oct 2nd, 2007

HMRC have set up a helpline ( 0845 3000 157) for anyone affected by the recent floods . the helpline enables anyone affected by the flooding to get help and advice on a wide range of tax problems they may be facing .

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Stop Smoking , make money

Dated: Friday, Sep 28th, 2007

The smoking ban could increase productivity by 10 to 14 per cent , according to latest research. While a high proportion of the UK's 11 million smokers will give up smoking at work, guidlines must be set for those who plan to contine to smoke during the working day.
The ban means that some employers could get up to an hour's extra work from their former smokers but clear guidelines for what is and is not acceptable have to be relayed to staff. For example without clear guidance to restrict the amount of time allowed away from the buiding for those who wish to smoke, off-site employees could end up taking longer smoking breaks than before!

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Heallth checks to be taxed!

Dated: Friday, May 6th, 2005

Organisations offering employee health screenings could be liable to pay tax on them,because of amendments in legislation introduced in late August 2007. An amendment of the Income tax ( Exemption of Minor Benefits) Regulations 2002 states that health screeenings and medical check ups will be taxed unless the employer either offers them to all employees, or to all those identified as in need of a check up.

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