You should of course seek to minimise the amount of Capital Gains Tax that you pay when you sell a property, tax specialist Steven Turnbull takes a closer look at how to achieve this. Capital Gains Tax (CGT) becomes payable when you sell an asset such as a business, a second property, shares or an...

In this article, Steven Turnbull examines the impact of HMRC’s Making Tax Digital on Landlords in particular and encourages those of you to be prepared! Making Tax Digital is HMRC’s project to transform the tax system and is famously associated with the claim that we will see the end of the annual tax return. However,...

If you are an employer who provides a company car to your employees, we thought it would be interesting to quantify the actual Class 1A NIC cost to you. Kevin Ferguson takes a closer look. Businesses that choose to provide their employees with taxable benefits such as company cars, health insurance and so on, will...

When it comes to making gifts, timing is the difference between paying Inheritance Tax or not. Making gifts, especially if they are sizeable, usually reduces the potential Inheritance Tax bill on your estate as long as you survive seven years. But there are some rules that can mean that this won’t always be achieved. Kenny...

Re-mortgaging is not so straightforward for the self-employed, Kenny Logan takes a closer look.     The rising trend for self-employment now equates to more than 10 per cent of the employed population in the UK. Given the fact that there are now 4.6 million self-employed people in the country, you might think that lenders would...

As you will be aware, the proposed increase in National Insurance paid by the self-employed has now been shelved. Whilst this U-Turn is to be welcomed, the announced reduction in the tax-free dividend allowance will affect those who run their own companies, Julie Robertson takes a closer look. The Chancellor had announced in the Budget...

It can’t have escaped your notice that business owners who pay themselves dividends on top of a small salary are being hit hard by the Budget. If you are in receipt of dividend income in excess of £2,000 the reduction in dividend tax allowance will mean that you will be facing higher tax bills. The...

The questions surrounding the issue of how best to extract profits from a company in a tax-efficient manner remain as popular as ever, in fact something we advise on often. Despite the introduction of the dividend allowance, and the personal savings allowance, extraction by remuneration (salaries) and by way of dividend remain the two most...

Whenever the Brexit vote result in the UK leaving the EU, it has already caused the pound to slide against other currencies. But if you decide to sell foreign assets to take advantage of this, how will your tax position be affected? Alan Simpson takes a closer look. Foreign assets advantage The recent devaluation of the pound...

If you have limited space (and privacy) in your home for an office or workspace, then you might be one a growing group of people who are considering creating an outbuilding in the garden. Bob Johnstone takes a look at the pros and cons of building an office in your garden and what sort of tax...