Because of the pandemic, you have not drawn salary from your company for the last three months because its income was significantly reduced. The situation is now improving and you’re restarting your salary next month but is it worth paying yourself the arrears? Bob Johnstone looks at the implications. If you are one of the...

The Coronavirus crisis has identified that some employees are able to work from home in the long term, but what is the position on reclaiming VAT on remote working allowance for staff? VAT expert John Craig finds out with the following example. You have agreed to pay remote working employees up to £1,000 to pay...

Mrs A is the executor of her mother’s estate. Some valuable items were left to her and her sister. She wants to sell several of these to pay debts of the estate. Will there be any tax and if so, who is responsible for it? Family tax expert Brona MacDougall provides the answers. Administering an...

In the Chancellor’s Summer Statement of 8 July measures were announced to support businesses affected by the enforced closures and social distancing measures necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to protect jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors the government has: • Extended the services to which the 5% reduced rate of VAT can...

Rishi Sunak has written to the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) requesting a review of the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) regime. He asks the OTS to determine whether the rules are ‘fit for purpose’ and whether they could be simplified. He also asks them to address ‘areas where the present rules can distort behaviour or...

The Statutory Residence Test is quite a methodical and precise set of tests which are not open to much interpretation in the main. The application of ‘exceptional circumstances’ has, for most of us, rarely been seen in practice. What Qualifies as Exceptional Circumstances The main characteristics of an ‘exceptional circumstance’ are: 1. It is a...

HMRC recently published guidance on the definition and application of ‘exceptional circumstances’ to the COVID 19 pandemic when reviewing residence issues. This brought some hope, but since this there has been no mention of any softening of the approach to Seafarer’s Earnings Deduction claims. Seafarer’s are potentially significantly affected by COVID, as many of them...

Coronavirus Job Retention Bonus The government will introduce a one-off payment of £1,000 to UK employers for every furloughed employee who remains continuously employed through to the end of January 2021. Employees must earn above the Lower Earnings Limit (£520 per month) on average between the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and...

The Scottish Government introduced the Business Support Fund, which offers some businesses a: • Retail, Hospitality, Leisure Support Grant • Small Business Support Grant The grants are available for eligible businesses who: • pay non-domestic rates • are charged for non-domestic rates but do not need to pay because they get certain rates relief –...

Rishi Sunak announced an extension to the SEISS scheme in his speech of May 29. The scheme will now include a second and final grant payable in respect of the period 1 June to 31 August. As opposed to being another 80% of three months averaged profits up to a maximum of £7,500 this second...