Nearly 60% of UK adults do not have a valid Will. If you die without a valid Will in place your estate passes in accordance with the intestacy rules. So why should you make a Will? The main reason to make a Will is to ensure that your… read more
Inheritance Tax – a brief history Dating back to the 17th century, a tax on death has long been unpopular. The tax has existed in many forms since then, for example: The legacy tax of 1780 The 1796 tax on estates (introduced to fund the war against Napoleon)… read more
Getting on the housing ladder used to be a realistic aspiration for young people, but growing affordability problems in the housing market are fast becoming a political hot potato, driving policy changes around property tax changes. Philip Hammond’s removal of stamp duty for first time buyers on properties… read more
Being the Executor of an estate is not really an honour. Being an executor is a difficult and time consuming job. The role carries some legal liability. Relatives may be too distressed to perform the role. Decisions could make them unpopular with beneficiaries. Appointing an executor You should… read more
The Tax-Free Childcare scheme, recently launched by the government, will top up the amount eligible parents spend on childcare by 25% to a maximum contribution of £2000 per child. Who is eligible? The Tax-Free Childcare scheme should benefit many self-employed parents as well as employees who do not… read more
Whether it be online shopping, gaming, advertising or socialising everything we now do is made “simpler” by the digital world and even HMRC are on board, with their plans to make tax digital. By 2020 HMRC plan to move to a full digital tax system, which they tell… read more
As the Chancellor stood up to deliver his ‘budget for the long term’ he announced that the British economy is ‘fit for the future’ but he didn’t deliver as many changes as many expected. Prior to the budget there had been announcements that the expected proposals to reform… read more
In February I blogged about some of the major changes to tax legislation which are going to affect those letting residential property in the next few years, including restriction of tax relief on interest, an increase in stamp duty and the requirement to report and pay CGT on… read more
Interest relief on mortgages for buy to let properties Over three years from April 2017 the way landlords receive tax relief on their mortgage or loan interest will change. Landlords will no longer be able to deduct their mortgage interest relief from rental income before calculating their tax… read more
Chancellor George Osbourne delivered the first purely Conservative government budget in more than 18 years today aimed at encouraging work and discouraging those who wish to live on benefits or avoid tax. Welfare reforms announced should save £12 billion by 2019/20 including a reduction in the benefits cap… read more