News Archive

As tax advisors, some themes come up time and time again and so we thought it might be useful to share our Top 5. Salary & dividend mix Owner managers have the benefit of being able to decide how they remunerate themselves with a combination of dividend and...

What are the inheritance tax (IHT) implications of how business property is held? Trading businesses, whether held as sole traders, partnerships or in a company, generally qualify for 100% business property relief for inheritance tax purposes. Where property used in...

Changes to Substantial Shareholding Exemption (SSE) rules open new possibilities on company sales Craig Simpson explores how the changes to the SSE rules can lead to an interesting decision for entrepreneurs selling a trading company. The market for company sales...

The Supreme Court has now published its decision in the long running tax case involving Rangers Football Club. The case centred on whether payments to an Employee Benefit Trust set up by the club for the benefit of players and executives should be treated as earnings...

The conventional wisdom for many years has been to remunerate company owner managers by means of a small salary and the balance in dividends. The salary was normally pitched at just below the primary threshold - £8.164 in 2017/18. This might mean that some personal...

HMRC have published guidance on the salary sacrifice optional remuneration rules which took effect from 6 April 2017. The new rules largely see the withdrawal of the Income Tax and National Insurance benefit where an employee gave up a right to earnings in return for...

Statistically 20% of companies did not claim the employment allowance when it was introduced in 2014/15 and it may have been missed in 2015/16 and 2016/17 as a result. The employment allowance came into effect from April 2014 and was originally £2000. It increased to...

Often with HMRC pronouncements surrounding tax avoidance we get no warning.  An announcement is made out of the blue and tax professionals everywhere are left scurrying round trying to find the detail behind the headlines to see how it might affect their clients....

In an article published in September 2016's Taxation magazine, Craig Simpson, partner at Bates Weston Tax LLP, examines the treatment of surplus cash in a company. Tha article is written as a discussion document for fellow professional tax advisers, however it...