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Increase in National Living Wage?

An independent review into the evidence on minimum wage rates has been published by the government. The review concludes that increases in the National Living Wage (NLW) have little effect on employment whilst significantly increasing the earnings of

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Employing staff for the first time

There is a multitude of rules and regulations that you must be aware of when you start employing staff for the first time. A full examination of the rules is beyond the scope of this article. However, we wanted to list the following points from

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Basic business structures

It is important to be aware of the main basic business structures available if you are considering starting a new business. There are three commonly used forms of business structure. A sole trader – this is the simplest way of starting and

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HMRC’s tax app

A free HMRC tax app is available to taxpayers. The APP can be used to see: your tax code and National Insurance number an estimate of the tax you need to pay your income and benefits up to 12 future tax credits payments your Unique Taxpayer

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Tax when partnership assets are distributed in kind

Partnerships are treated as transparent for Capital Gains Tax (CGT). This means that each partner is responsible for their share of any capital gains arising on the disposal of their interests in the assets of the partnership. Each partner is treated

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Furnished holiday let qualifying tests

The furnished holiday let (FHL) rules allow holiday lettings of properties that meet certain conditions to be treated as a trade for certain tax purposes. In order to qualify as a furnished holiday letting, the following criteria need to be

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Waivers of remuneration

A waiver of remuneration happens when a director or an employee gives up their right to salary or other cash remuneration and gets nothing in return. Where the employee gets a non-cash benefit in return, this is called a salary sacrifice. The

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Last chance to claim enhanced capital allowances

There is a special scheme known as the enhanced capital allowances (ECA) scheme for energy-saving technologies. The ECA scheme enables a business to claim accelerated tax relief 100% first year allowances (FYA) on qualifying energy efficient and

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Finance Bill 2019-20 shelved

The Government’s draft finance bill has been shelved as we countdown to the general election on 12 December 2019. The consultation on the draft legislation has closed, but the prorogation controversy and Brexit issues meant there was no time

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What is a negligible value claim?

A negligible value claim is a claim made by a taxpayer when an asset they own has become of negligible value, i.e. it is worthless or worth next to nothing. The taxpayer effectively treats the asset as having been disposed of and then immediately

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