Tax and Financial Planning

  • Are You a Sophisticated Investor? In March 2005, the rules relating to approaching people regarding financial promotions were relaxed so that so called ‘sophisticated investors’ and high net worth individuals (HNWIs) could be more easily approached with a view to making...
  • Avoiding Inheritance Tax with Discounted Gift Schemes Inheritance tax (IHT) is payable at 40 per cent on the net value of a person’s estate above £325,000 (the nil rate band for 2016/7). It affects an increasing number of people owing to the rise in house prices in recent years. One straightforward...
  • Enterprise Investment Schemes: EIS and SEIS Successive governments have recognised that the spirit of entrepreneurialism, though deeply ingrained in the UK’s culture, is not really very well supported by the financial institutions. In an attempt to provide more ready access to investment capital...
  • Equity Release Managing an active retirement can present significant problems for the many people who are blessed with good health but cursed by the effects of the poor performance of pension funds and low annuity rates over the last two decades. This combination of...
  • Fiscal Help for your Student Children If you have children going away to university there are money saving options worth considering, if you are in a position to take advantage of them. The cost of accommodation is a financial burden for any student. If you can provide funds to buy a home near...
  • Funding Care in Later Life Under the changes proposed in the Care Act 2014, which received the Royal Assent in May 2014 and which is expected to come fully into effect in April 2016, the funding of elderly care will change significantly. One of the perceived benefits under the new...
  • HMRC Guidance on Tax Residence Following changes in the tax legislation governing the income tax payable by non-domiciliaries, and some relevant tax cases, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have updated their guidance on tax residence and domicile . This replaces the old guidance, which was...
  • How Drawdown Lifetime Mortgages Work For people who have money tied up in their homes who wish to release capital for expenditure, or possibly to give to family members, the drawdown lifetime mortgage (DLM) is a possible vehicle. A DLM is simply a mortgage, but one which is drawn down over...
  • How Inheritance Tax Works Inheritance Tax (IHT) is paid on your estate when you die and also when money is transferred into some trust funds. Some other transfers during one’s lifetime may also be subject to IHT. The first £325,000 (2016/7 rates) of the estate is exempt...
  • IHT Guidance From the Tax Man HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offer useful guidance on the mechanics of the transfer of the unused IHT ‘nil rate band’ between spouses or civil partners and gives several examples of this complex relief. One important point for executors is...
  • IHT Nil Band for Residential Property Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The Chancellor has proposed changes to Inheritance Tax (IHT) whereby relief from IHT is available by way of a 'Residence Nil-Rate Band' for IHT where a person dies leaving...
  • IHT Planning and the AIM In recent years, Inheritance Tax (IHT) has affected more and more families, largely due to rising house prices. IHT is payable at 40 per cent on the net assets of an estate where these exceed £325,000 – the current 2016/7 nil-rate band. Investing...
  • Paying For a Permanent Home Care Place These regulations will be subject to change, starting in 2015. Many people, as they grow older, worry about where they will live if they are no longer able to manage in their own home. For some, the need will arise for nursing home or residential care. ...
  • Pension Flexibility - Basics There has been a great deal of publicity about the forthcoming changes in the law relating to pensions and their uses. The changes are comprehensive and change the tax position significantly and also the uses which can be made of pension funds. With...
  • Putting Cash into a Family Business When younger members of a family start a business, they often ask other family members to provide part of the necessary capital. If you are approached to do this and are willing to provide funding, it is often difficult to know how best to provide the cash....
  • Should I Buy To Let? With property values recovering and market returns for many investments quite modest, the buy to let market may seem an attractive proposition. In this article we look at some of the more practical, but less often mentioned, aspects of buy to let which...
  • Small Pension Pots Planning Possibilities People aged over 55 who have only a small (less than £30,000) pension pot in a defined benefit (final salary) scheme or in some instances in a defined contribution scheme paying only a small pension – but not where the pension pot has been...
  • Stamp Duty Land Tax and Second Homes - The Basics Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) was brought in to replace the old ‘stamp duty’ and has been complex since its inception. Among the transactions subject to SDLT are property sales. Levied at a rate of 2 per cent on purchases between £125,000 and...
  • Stamp Duty Land Tax: Beginner's Guide Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a self-assessed tax. The onus is on the taxpayer to make the necessary land transaction return, calculate the tax and pay it across. This is a fundamental change from the old Stamp Duty regime which taxed documents of...
  • Tax Issues for Owners of Two Homes Ownership of two homes in the UK is becoming more commonplace as couples who both own houses marry, houses are inherited, parents buy houses for their children to live in, or people just buy a place in the country, either to let or to escape to at weekends. ...
  • Unit-linked or With-profits: What's the Difference? If you’ve ever had a session with a financial planning adviser, you will have heard about unit-linked and with-profits investments, but what does the jargon actually mean in practice? Unit-linked Investments These put the sum invested directly into...
  • Unlocking Your Equity - the Choices There is a bewildering variety of equity release schemes on the market and, judging by the letters pages of the financial press, they are not well understood. Releasing equity in a house can be an effective way of supplementing your income or releasing spare...
  • Warnign for Holders of US Assets Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE If you hold assets in the USA, you should be aware of an issue that has started to arise in estates in which there are US shareholdings, especially where these are...
  • What is Taxable? With the Government seeing fit to make HM Revenue and Customs a payer of benefits (pension credit etc.) as well as a collector of taxes, it is no wonder that people are becoming confused as to which sources of income are taxable and which are not. It is...