From Trust and Estate Practitioner Brona MacDougall I have had a lot of interest recently from clients and potential clients who are looking to wind up trusts of which they are beneficiaries. But what are the legal and tax implications of doing so?  In some cases, these trusts were set up on death by parents...

What VAT rate do we apply to a hamper? Q. We trade as a food and drinks wholesaler. With Christmas approaching, we will be selling a hamper that includes a range of food and drink items, including tins of luxury fruit, jams, cakes, wine and chocolates. Our plan is to sell each hamper for £49.99...

Life insurance policies generally pay out a premium in the event of the policyholder’s death. However, recently published figures from HMRC suggest that many of them are falling into an easily-avoided tax trap. The idea behind a life insurance policy is simple – the individual agrees to pay premiums for a fixed period of time....

The Pensions Regulator is concerned that employers may have ignored vital routines and compliance activities during the pandemic. What are the key areas to focus on now? In the early days of the pandemic The Pensions Regulator (TPR) relaxed its compliance stance, recognising the pressure businesses were under, but it’s now a return to business...

You are in the process of leasing a property to a tenant who will use the ground floor for her retail business and the upper floor as living accommodation. Could opting to tax the property save you VAT? Supplies of property, e.g., letting, are normally exempt from VAT but opting to tax the property changes...

In April 2020 the contactless payment limit was raised from £30 to £45. To help businesses recover following the pandemic, the limit has now been raised again, this time to £100. Although the change is already effective, banks and firms will need to make the necessary changes to their systems and contactless payment terminal software....

An employee who is being made redundant has asked his employer to write off their outstanding training costs loan as part of their redundancy termination package. But what are the tax implications here?  Tax Expert Brona MacDougall explains. Where a loan to an employee is written off by the employer for any reason, HMRC treats...

The First-tier Tribunal recently ruled on whether profit made from the sale of land bought as part of a residential property was taxable as trading income or capital gains. What was the outcome and why?  Brona MacDougall looks at this in more detail. The dispute The case of Heather Whyte v HMRC followed a long...

Boris Johnson unveiled plans on 7 September for tax increases that aim to specifically address underfunding in the NHS and social care systems. The new Health and Social Care Levy Bill is currently at committee stage in the House of Commons and is set to be fast tracked to ensure that the relevant changes are...

The Super-Deduction and the Increase in the Main Rate of Corporation Tax Rishi Sunak’s plan for replenishing the public purse consists of encouraging businesses to invest heavily now to strengthen the economy, so that by 2023 they will be resilient enough to start paying tax at much higher rates. The government anticipates a £10bn loss...