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New life sciences growth package announced

The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has announced a new £650 million package of measures to help boost UK life sciences. The new ‘Life Sci for Growth’ package brings together 10 different policies including £121 million to improve commercial clinical

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Tax exempt private medical costs

There is no requirement for employers to pay tax and National Insurance on certain health benefits covered by tax concessions or exemptions. For example, there is no requirement to report employees’ medical or dental treatment or insurance if they

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Effects of settlement legislation

The settlement legislation is intended to prevent an individual from gaining a tax advantage by diverting his or her income to another person who is liable at a lower rate of tax or is not liable to Income Tax. Where a settlor has retained an

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Complexity may be double-edged sword

There does seem to be a trend to replace human interactions with automated AI systems. This is especially evident in the management of our tax system. There was a time, many years ago, when each taxpayer’s tax affairs would be managed by a local tax

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What you can and cannot patent

The GOV.UK website offers the following guidance if you are considering a patent application. A UK patent may help if you want to take legal action against someone who uses your invention without your permission. For example, if they sell or

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HMRC tax credits scam warning

Fraudsters often try to take advantage of the 31 July deadline for submitting tax credits renewal information. The fraudulent emails, texts or calls claim to be from HMRC and often promise money back in the form of a tax rebate together with a

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Help with childcare costs

HMRC is reminding parents that they may be eligible for Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) to help pay for childcare costs. The scheme was used by almost 650,000 families during the 2022-23 tax year. This represented a significant increase over the previous

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Check text messages from HMRC

HMRC has issued an updated version of their online guidance entitled ‘Check if a text message you've received from HMRC is genuine’. The guidance provides a current list of genuine text messages issued by HMRC. The list has been updated to include

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Overview of IHT agricultural relief

There are a number of reliefs available that can reduce liability to IHT. Of most interest to farmers is the Agricultural Property Relief (APR). Relief is available at a rate of 100% or 50% depending on who farms the land and how long the land has

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Using Capital Gains Tax losses

If you sell an asset for less than you paid for it, you would make a capital loss. As a general rule if the asset would have been liable to CGT had a gain taken place, then the loss should be an allowable deduction. These allowable losses are

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