Category: Tax

VAT for pubs, restaurants, holiday accommodation and entry to certain attractions increased from 5% to 12.5% last month, following the end of a tax break. A temporary cut first introduced on 8 July 2020 saw the standard rate of VAT for struggling businesses in the hospitality and tourism sectors fall from 20% to 5%. That … Continued

National Insurance contributions (NICs) and the three dividend tax rates will all increase 1.25% from April 2022 to pay for the social care system in England.  This social care package will be funded through a new UK-wide health and social care levy, which is expected to raise around £12 billion a year. The levy will … Continued

Millions of trustees need to register details of their trusts before next autumn, following the launch of a new trust registration service.  The service was originally announced in draft form in 2017, at a time when it would only have applied to taxable-relevant trusts. Since then it has been expanded to include all UK-resident express … Continued

The stamp duty land tax holiday in England and Northern Ireland has come to an end, more than 14 months after it first came into effect.  The tax break saw most buyers who purchased residential homes for £500,000 or less pay no stamp duty land tax until 30 June 2021, although landlords still had to … Continued

HMRC collected a record of £9.9 billion from capital gains tax receipts in 2019/20, according to official statistics published last month.  The tax authority said this was 3% up on the previous tax year’s receipts, but the number of taxpayers paying tax on their gains fell 6% to around 265,000. Most of the liabilities collected … Continued

The Government could be set to raise National Insurance contributions (NICs) by 1% for both employers and employees, a report has claimed.  The Times claimed senior ministers have agreed to increase rates to raise an extra £10 billion a year for the National Insurance Fund. This would initially be used to reduce NHS waiting lists, … Continued

The number of savers who breached the annual allowance and the lifetime allowance increased in 2018/19, according to government statistics. Figures from HMRC show 34,220 people reported saving more in their pension pots than the £40,000 annual allowance in 2018/19, triggering total tax charges worth £817 million. The amount of people who exceeded their annual … Continued

The stamp duty land tax-free threshold in England and Northern Ireland reduced last month, as the tax holiday introduced in July 2020 began to be phased out.  The first cliff edge for residential property buyers came and went on 30 June 2021, marking the end of a three-month extension announced on 3 March 2021. Buyers … Continued

The UK’s research and development (R&D) tax credit system is failing to prompt companies to increase spending and could prove a “costly failure”, a report claims.  The Centre for Business Research (CBR) said aggregate business expenditure on R&D in the UK is as much as 15% lower than it was before the scheme was introduced … Continued

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) is to explore changing the end of the tax year from 5 April to either 31 March or the end of the calendar year. The OTS published a document last month setting out the scope of a review into the benefits, costs and wider implications of changing the date. … Continued