You are planning to buy a cheap property, refurbish it and sell it on for a good profit. Your understanding is that as long as you live in the property, the gain is tax free, but is this correct?  Partner Christiaan Hansen explains.

Trusts can be an extremely useful planning tool for inheritance tax purposes, as well as for family and business succession planning. Partner Christiaan Hansen looks at how trusts and inheritance tax interact as well as outlining the issues and benefits. Tax is one benefit, but preservation of the family assets is another potential advantage of...

You are planning to join a local business association to help with networking and promotion. This includes access to a monthly dinner with a guest speaker. Does the business entertainment aspect affect the tax deductibility?  Kenny Logan from our Edinburgh office discusses. Quite often, business organisation meetings are also social occasions where food and drinks...

You recently saw a press article about tax and Gift Aid donations, it said that people who donate to charity and whose income has been hit by coronavirus can face unexpected tax bills. Are you at risk of this? Helen Johnstone provides the answer. As you probably know, under the Gift Aid scheme charities and...

Whilst workplaces continue to be closed for an extended period, more and more people decided to create a dedicated workspace at home. HMRC is now targeting these spaces – how can you avoid a tax bill?  Tax Expert Brona MacDougall advises. As offices closed across the country back in March, working from home has became...

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...

Last tax year you started letting a property as a holiday let. The trouble is that to qualify for the special tax breaks it must be let for 105 days in the tax year and you didn’t reach this figure. Is there a way around this rule? Brona MacDougall takes a closer look. You may...

As well as the more obvious practical differences, the difference between a company van and a company car also has an impact on your tax bill. But in March 2019 the Upper Tribunal upheld two differing decisions over ‘combi’ vans provided to employees for private use. Kevin Crowford discusses the tax implications and brings you...

As an employer, you’ll be aware of the increasing number of obligations when employing and looking after your staff.  But this also has an impact on employing casual workers too, Kevin Ferguson looks at the Tax do’s and don’ts of employing casual workers. You will probably know from experience that these days employers must not...

By Kevin D. Ferguson BA CA, Partner , JRW Chartered Accountants There is no absolutely no doubt that cycling has enjoyed a boom in recent years with the amazing success of British cyclists in the Tour de France and the 2012 Olympics really capturing the public’s imagination in the sport.  Sir Bradley Wiggins, Laura Trott,...