Digital Legacy
Digital legacy – a three step plan We spend most of our lives managing our assets and providing security for our families and our old age. Usually this means considering the unexpected and being well organised so that, if/when…
Individual Savings Accounts
INDIVIDUAL SAVINGS ACCOUNTS Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) have come a long way since their birth 20 years ago. There are now five types of ISA, although this will drop to four by December: Type of ISA Age Eligibility Maximum contribution*…
Inheritance Tax
As the graph shows, IHT receipts have been growing steadily in recent years. This tax year’s IHT payments are projected to be £5,500 million, over double the amount raised eight years ago. The introduction of the residence nil rate…
Year End Tax Planning
TAX YEAR END PLANNING The run up to the tax year end is a good time to consider tax planning to maximise the use of an individual’s allowances, reliefs and exemptions for the current tax year. Some of these will…
ISAs: one in, one out?
Next April will mark the 20th anniversary of the introduction of Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs). Back in April 1999, there were only three types of ISA, with a maximum total investment of £7,000 per tax year, of which only £3,000…
Student debt increases
Last year’s general election saw the issue of student loans come to the fore, with the Labour Party saying in its manifesto that it would reintroduce maintenance grants and abolish tuition fees. The estimated cost was £11.2bn a year –…
A missed inheritance tax savings?
The residence nil rate band (RNRB) was introduced in April 2017 following a 2015 election pledge by the Conservatives to raise the effective inheritance tax threshold for married couples and civil partners to £1,000,000. As is often the case…
Company cars: Beware of the rule change
If your company car is due for a change this year or next and you can choose a mix of cash and/or car, be warned. There has been a change in the tax rules on optional remuneration arrangements (OpRA in…
The growing pension tax bill
Pensions are generally thought of as a highly tax-efficient way of saving, but this is not true in all circumstances. There are two features built into the original “simplified” pension tax regime which, after a series of detrimental changes,…
The dog that did not bark
In early April, the investment markets were pricing in the chances of an interest rate rise in May at around 90%. Inflation was running at 2.5% and UK economic growth, while nothing sparkling, looked to be continuing along its…