Filed under: small business
In our Budget review last month we mentioned one interesting announcement of a new tax relief, which had not been expanded upon in HMRC’s release notes. This is the opportunity for employee shareholders to dispose of shares without incurring capital gains tax (CGT). Further details have now been published and present an interesting new proposal for owner managed companies to consider.
These new proposals effectively require an employee to relinquish some of their employment rights and adopt a new ‘employee shareholder’ employment status. They are then able to acquire shares in their employing company through the adoption of this status. These shares will in turn attract new tax reliefs which will ensure that shares acquired up to a value of £2,000 will not attract tax and national insurance contributions when they are acquired, and sale proceeds received of up to £50,000 from eventually selling the shares will not be charged to capital gains tax. (more…)
April 4, 2013
This month, RJP uncovered a serious case of corporate identity fraud committed against one of our clients, Class Affinity Projects Ltd, a telecoms specialist trading as Class Telecommunications. They had their identity professionally ‘cloned’ by highly sophisticated fraudsters who went to great lengths to obtain hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of credit for goods and business services using their identity.
Companies like Class Telecom with an impeccable credit history are prime targets for this fast growing type of crime, which is becoming more prevalent as a direct result of the economic climate. Personal identity theft has increased by over a third since 2010 and in the US, Dun and Bradstreet estimate corporate identity theft accounts for 15% or all commercial credit losses. (more…)
January 22, 2013
A lot of business owners spend a long time devising and writing their business strategy but then go on to produce inaccurate ongoing forecasts. As 2012 draws to a close, now is the time to start thinking about your business forecasting for the coming year and how to approach it. (more…)
November 14, 2012
Many small businesses looking to reduce their tax liabilities will opt for a limited company structure because it can be more tax efficient. Operating a business as a limited company can reduce tax bills because it offers much greater flexibility over how and when directors can take remuneration and dividends. It also offers the opportunity to equalise income levels where appropriate. However, whilst incorporating a business as a limited company is beneficial for tax planning, it does mean additional time-consuming paperwork, which falls under the responsibility of the directors and, if the company has one, a company secretary.
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September 25, 2012
Company away days happen for many reasons and fall under a variety of labels, from annual conference, business strategy review, team building event, or a simple company away day. According to a leading law firm, HMRC are about to start charging employers and employees additional tax and national insurance contributions when businesses host company away days for their employees. In particular, if there is a large social or fun element to a company day, it is likely to be treated as a treat and taxed as a benefit. (more…)
August 15, 2012
At the start of 2012 the rules concerning whether VAT should be payable on some types of salary sacrifice schemes were clarified and it is important to get correct VAT advice on this matter. This arose because of a case which found it was incorrect to make a distinction between on the one hand salary sacrifice (non VAT-able prior to Jan 2012) and on the other, deductions from wages which were VAT-able depending on what the deductions are. A number of clients have asked us questions about this recently and so we thought it important to explain what the latest arrangements are for employers and how they might impact their staff. (more…)
June 30, 2012
Over the years RJP has advised countless clients selling their companies, helping them to achieve the maximum sales price for their hard work and to reduce their capital gains tax liabilities. Time and again, we see the same issues crop up and threaten to scupper the deal. In some cases, they can actually result in the sale falling through.
This article was originally posted on Lesley Stalker’s Businesszone blog.
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May 18, 2012
Continuing with our detailed analysis of the tax planning opportunities that arose following the Budget 2012, we turn our attention to tax efficient investment opportunities. We already have VCTs and EIS, both of which we have covered in detail before. These were further enhanced in the Budget with a new scheme, SEIS (Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme), which is specifically aimed at start up companies. (more…)
April 30, 2012
There are a lot of changes afoot this year for business owners with the government planning plenty of new policies for employers. Taking a short break from tax issues, we outline some of those most likely to impact our clients.
Pensions
Although the government has announced that automatic enrolment legislation for pensions will start as planned for employers with more than 250 employees, smaller companies are being given more time. Organisations with between 50 and 249 employees are getting an extra year, and will need to start auto-enrolling employees between 1 April 2014 and 1 April 2015. Companies with under 50 employees will not have to auto enrol their staff for pensions until April 2017. (more…)
February 27, 2012
In last month’s Livewire newsletter, we reported a change to the ruling that shareholders informally winding up their companies can distribute any remaining funds as capital and depending on the circumstances, can also benefit from entrepreneurs’ relief.
With effect from 1st March, if the company concerned has distributable funds in excess of £25,000 all funds distributed will be treated as dividends and subjected to income tax in the usual way. This means tax will be payable at rates from 25% to 36% depending on the individual circumstances, rather than potentially at a rate of 10% if distributed as capital.
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February 23, 2012
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