We are very excited to announce that we are moving offices! It all started with a client meeting…

Around four years ago, we met with a new client at their offices. We were immediately impressed – the office was a fantastic space; a modern and beautiful barn conversion. Wide open spaces, gardens, and plenty of parking for clients. Fast forward, and this now longstanding client commented a few months back that they had outgrown the space and would soon be moving on. Eyebrows raised and knowing looks across the meeting table between us… the FW team instantly had the same thoughts: could this be the opportunity to move on ourselves?

And so, here we are with the lease now signed and feeling extremely excited to move on to pastures new – quite literally. With sheep as our neighbours, the fresh air and views of the countryside, our new offices fit our vision perfectly, and it won’t be long before our Monday morning meeting might well be outside, with a Cornetto in hand. The new office also supports our ongoing drive to be as environmentally aware as we can, with a sustainable wood chip heating system. It also gives us much more space to grow the team and entertain clients.

More details and pictures to follow… and we hope our clients and contacts will be as impressed as we were, all those years ago!

By Mel Hackney

When you sell your home, if it is the only property you own, it is unlikely you will pay any capital gains tax. This is because a relief called Private Residence Relief (PRR) is applied.

If you own a second property and that property is rented out, a relief known as ‘letting relief’ may be available on the second property. The impact of letting relief is to reduce the amount tax payable on the eventual sale of that second property.

At Budget 2018, the government announced that letting relief will be changed with effect from 6 April 2020, so that it only applies where an owner is in shared occupancy with the tenant.

Once implemented this may lead to a significant change in how much tax is payable on the sale of a property, and will no doubt affect many landlords.

For example, Bob owns 2 houses, Acorn Cottage and Highgrove Terrace. Bob lives in Highgrove Terrace and rents out Acorn Cottage. Bob used to live in Acorn Cottage.

Under the current rules, when Bob sells Acorn Cottage, he will be able to claim both PRR and letting relief for the full period of ownership.

However, under the new rules, Bob can no longer claim letting relief unless he lives in the property at the same time as the tenant. As such, if Bob sells Acorn Cottage in 2022, there would potentially be a gain on the sale of the property.

These rules are extremely complex, so can be tricky to interpret. If you would like to find out more about the changes to tax on property, or about any of our services including tax planning, please contact Mel Hackney.

By Mel Hackney

When you calculate the tax you owe through self-assessment, HMRC ask you to make ‘Payments on Account’ (‘POAs’) towards your liability for the following tax year. By default, these are set at the same level as the previous tax year’s liability.

The first of these payments is due on 31 January in the tax year to which it relates, and the second is due on 31 July following the end of the tax year. For example, POAs for the 2018/19 tax year (6 April 2018 to 5 April 2019) are due on 31 January 2019 and 31 July 2019 and calculated based on the level of your tax liability for the previous tax year, 2017/18.

However, if this year your income has gone down, or even stayed the same, it is likely that your tax liability will have reduced too.

By completing your tax return before 31 July 2019, you can establish what you owe on 31 July 2019 and you might end up paying less than you thought you would.

If the liability turns out to be higher than you thought, this will not impact what you owe on 31 July 2019, the balance will instead be paid on 31 January following the tax year.
This isn’t as complicated as it sounds. If your income has reduced compared to last year, get in touch and let us demystify how we can help you to pay less tax on 31 July!

By Mel Hackney

Many people have come across childcare vouchers in their employment – essentially, this is where an employer can ‘award’ vouchers which are paid tax and NIC free.

However, HMRC have been intending on abolishing this scheme for some time, recognising the lack of equality between employed and self-employed individuals in this area, and the old childcare voucher scheme is now closed to those who were not in it already.

The alternative to this is called ‘Tax Free Childcare’ and is in theory much simpler to administer than the old childcare voucher scheme.

You can get up to £500 every 3 months (£2,000 a year) for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare. The government will pay £2 for every £8 you pay your childcare provider via an online account, which you can use it to pay for approved childcare.

In addition, you can get Tax Free Childcare at the same time as 30 hours free childcare if you’re eligible for both.

To find out more information and for help with any advice in this area, including whether to stick with an existing voucher scheme which you are part of, or to move on to Tax Free Childcare, please contact us!

By Mel Hackney

There have been some pretty significant changes to capital allowances recently, and it’s important to consider these when making investment decisions.

A capital allowance is a deduction from trading profits which is allowable for tax, therefore reducing yours or your company’s tax liability.

Firstly, from October 2018, capital allowances for structure and buildings is available. Businesses that incur qualifying capital expenditure on structures or buildings used for qualifying activities will be able to claim an allowance to encourage investment in the construction of new structures and buildings and the improvement of existing ones.

This will be a deduction from taxable profits at an annual rate of two percent.

In addition, the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) has been temporarily increased from £200,000 to £1,000,000 from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021.

The AIA is a 100 per cent upfront deduction from taxable profits that applies to qualifying expenditure on plant and machinery up to a specified annual limit or cap. As such this increase could lead to significant savings.

In order to maximise the benefit from this it is crucial to plan carefully for the purchase of capital items as, depending on the timing of the year end of the business, there are limitations which sit around these maximum allowances in order to account for transitional rules.

If you are thinking of making a capital investment of any type, give us a call and we can advise on what reliefs may be available, plus the optimal timing of the expenditure.

By Mel Hackney

With the tax year end fast approaching, it’s time to ensure that your tax adviser is working with you to mitigate your liability as far as possible.

There are some very simple tax planning opportunities which can be quickly and easily implemented to make savings.

Firstly, have you and your spouse/civil partner made full use of your personal allowance? This is the tax-free amount of income to which each individual is entitled every tax year. If the income of one of you is low and the relevant criteria are met, it is possible to transfer £1,190 (for 2018/19) of the personal allowance to your other half.

It’s also worth considering that you get a dividend allowance of £2,000 per tax year, so if you have the opportunity to receive any dividends split over more than one year this can be beneficial.

Pension contributions and gift aid are also a fantastic way of making tax savings, and if you are considering donating to a charity or a contribution to your pension scheme, it is worth considering whether you can do this before 5 April 2019 in order to get the tax relief sooner rather than later.

For larger tax liabilities, you may want to consider tax efficient investments, such as Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS), Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes (SEIS). It’s also worth considering that investment returns from Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) are not subject to income or capital gains tax. So make sure you are using your ISA allowances before 5 April!

For capital gains, the timing of when they crystallise is important; if disposals can legitimately be spread over more than one tax year, this could save considerable capital gains tax.

For inheritance tax purposes, a £3,000 annual exemption is available each tax year where by an individual can make a gift without any IHT implications. If you didn’t use your annual exemption last year, that can be used too – but only in the following year.

If you might benefit from some help with your tax planning, please do not hesitate to contact Mel Hackney or Steve Wiltshire. We’d be happy to discuss this with you!

by Mel Hackney.

As per our recent blog post, the deadline for filing self-assessment is 31 January 2019. Once this is completed for the year and out of the way, it is a natural time to reflect on the service you have received from your current accountant.  Many potential clients we speak to are keen to change accountants for various reasons, but fear that it will involve too much hassle.  However, be assured that there is very little administration for you at all.

In fact, we have recently overhauled our ‘new client onboarding’ process so that all you have to do is fill out a short online form, which can even be done using your smart phone.

We then contact your previous accountant directly for the records and other information we’ll need, so you are totally removed from this process.

We pride ourselves on delivering value for money, and as part of our compliance service we always consider tax planning savings for you at each step.

In addition, what sets us apart from many other small firms is the level of our team’s experience , and the associated breadth of our service offerings, particularly for small businesses.

If you are tempted to change and would like to arrange to meet us or have an initial phone call to hear more about the services which we offer, please contact Steve Wiltshire or Mel Hackney.

by Emma Hooper.

Now that the Christmas and New Year celebrations have drawn to a close, it’s time to start thinking about less exciting things – like tax.

The 2017/18 Self-Assessment Tax Return deadline is 31 January 2019.  Appreciating that taxes are probably the last thing you want to be thinking about during this cold and dark January, why not offload the task onto us?  We will make sure your return is submitted on time and that you only pay what is necessary, with tax saving advice available where applicable.

If you’ve been super organised and already have submitted your return, congratulations!  However, we might still be able to reduce the amount you need to pay on account for the coming tax year.

And don’t forget that any outstanding liabilities shown on your 2017/18 return, plus any payment on account due towards your 2018/19 tax liability, will need to be paid by 31 January 2019, so make sure this is done in time to avoid any interest charges on late payments.

Any questions? Please get in touch! We will be more than happy to help.

We are fast approaching 31 July, which marks the date when the second payment on account for those taxed through self-assessment becomes due.

If your actual liability for the tax year 2017/18 is lower than expected, submitting your return before this date will mean less tax to pay by 31 July.

Early completion and submission of tax returns also gives our clients total visibility over their liabilities well in advance of when they are becoming due – and submitting early doesn’t mean paying any sooner – so there’s nothing to lose!

If you are interested in how we might be able to help you, please contact Mel Hackney.