Guides and Downloads
We believe we are more than just your average accountancy firm. Our goal at Barnes Roffe is to engage our clients through a proactive relationship, which provides you with the resources and tools you need to enable you to take charge of your finances with confidence.
Tax news, audit news and any new accounting news ... with the help of our topical tips, blogs and key guides you can enjoy the benefit of being regularly informed of business and accounting updates which are likely to be relevant to you and your business.
PLEASE NOTE: By the very nature of this type of information the details of tax law might have changed since they were published, so contact your Barnes Roffe partner before acting on any matter contained in these documents.
Autumn Statement 2023
Jeremy Hunt’s second Autumn Statement was set against a much less financially turbulent background than his first. However, politics still loomed large with a likely election in the next 12 months prompting calls for tax cuts from within the Conservative party.
Reorganising your business structure
Over time businesses grow, develop and change so it can be a good idea to reorganise or rationalise the business structure. This process has a whole host of benefits across the business lifecycle, such as minimising risk, cost savings and the simplification of processes.
Expanding Abroad Guide
There is a wealth of opportunities for companies that plan to do business internationally. This guide aims to help you to grow your business through international markets. It covers points to consider before expanding abroad, support available and tips and advice when considering foreign markets.
Planning your business exit
After years of hard work and building your business, handing over the reins and leaving your business can be daunting. Whether you’re selling your business, passing it onto family or considering an IPO, our guide on planning your exit will help you tackle this critical stage in your business lifecycle.
Tax Tables 2023/24
While the majority of the 2023/24 tax rates were released in the autumn, some changes involved unwinding the announcements of Mr Hunt’s predecessor. With inflation and cost of living concerns foremost for the majority of individual and business taxpayers, the Chancellor needed to balance longer-term economic imperatives with perhaps shorter-term political concerns.
2023 Spring Budget Summary
The first Budget since October 2021 was widely expected to be an uneventful affair. Five months ago, the then new Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, presented an Autumn Statement that was more of a Budget than many formal Budgets. Not only did his Autumn Statement result in a greater increase in the tax burden than most Budgets – £55 billion by 2027/28 – it was also accompanied by a Finance Bill.
How to increase the value of your business
The main goal of many business owners is to build a business which they will eventually sell or pass on to family members. Therefore, building and increasing business value is an important consideration as you run your business and when you’re making major business decisions.
Year end tax planning
After a fiscally turbulent year – including September’s mini-Budget which Rishi Sunak’s new government rapidly unpicked – tax rises, both overt and stealthy, are the order of the day.
Accessing Your Company Profits
When business owner-managers take profits from their business, it isn’t surprising that they want to do so in the most efficient manner. There are various ways to do this that can minimise both tax and national insurance contributions (NICs). Of course, tax is not the only issue. You will almost certainly need to draw a basic level of income to cover your personal requirements, regardless of the tax cost, and it will also be necessary to retain sufficient profits in the company to cover its future needs.
2023 Tax Planning Tips
The Spring Budget in March 2023 relaxed the limits on contributing to pension savings for individuals and their employers and removed the lifetime limit on the value of tax-efficient pension pots. The bad news is that the threshold for 45% tax was lowered to £125,140 from April 2023, and for taxpayers in Scotland the highest rate of tax above that threshold was raised to 47%.
Making The Most Of Fringe Benefits
Although the rates of national insurance contributions (NICs) for 2023/24 are back down to what they were for 2021/22, fringe benefits still have a definite tax advantage when compared to conventional salary. Even if there is not much, if anything, in the way of income tax saving, directors and employees can avoid NICs. Certain tax-advantaged fringe benefits will also mean no, or little, NICs for the employer, with these types of benefit particularly suited to a salary sacrifice arrangement.
You And Yours – Estate Planning
All too often, people put off estate planning. This is understandable as, rather than preparing for the here and now, it requires you to consider what will happen when your life is over, hardly something most of us rush to contemplate.
Investing Tax Efficiently
The whole tax system has grown increasingly elaborate, thanks to revenue-raising tweaks such as the taxation of child benefit and multiple reforms of dividend taxation. As more changes are introduced, the complexities increase.
Making Tax Digital
HMRC has embarked on a plan to modernise the UK’s tax administration system by 2030 to facilitate more digital reporting in ‘real time’, i.e. closer to the time of transactions. This project includes the restructure of HMRC’s own internal systems.
Off Payroll Working
If you work as a contractor, there are three different possible tax treatments which could apply to your engagements depending on your circumstances. For contracts not subject to the off-payroll working (IR35) rules, whether working in the private or public sector, you will
be in a position to withdraw profits on a very advantageous tax basis.
Pension Tax Planning For High Earners
Despite government ambitions to reduce income tax rates, the overall tax burden is likely to remain at an historically high level for the foreseeable future, with higher earners continuing to shoulder most of the burden. Higher and additional rate taxpayers currently pay over two thirds of all income tax.
Retirement And Tax
Tax does not disappear once you start the retirement process. While your income is likely to fall when you cease work completely, you will still have an income tax liability if your pension and other incomes exceed your available allowances.
Starting And Selling A Business
Anyone contemplating starting a new business, especially a bricks and mortar one, needs to be wary of current economic conditions, especially with reduced government support for energy costs from 1 April onwards. Many small firms are struggling, and a high percentage feel they are at risk of closure during 2023; supply chain delays being a particular problem.
Strategies For A High Tax Environment
The income tax system has changed significantly in recent years. Until the spring 2021 Budget, governments had focused on increasing the personal allowance, but despite this the number of income tax payers today is much the same as in 2010/11 and will increase sharply in the coming years because of the freezing of the personal allowance.
At the same time, the share of income tax paid by those with higher incomes has increased: the share of total income tax receipts paid by the top 25% of taxpayers rose from 71.3% in 2010/11 to an estimated 78.5% in 2022/23.
Tax Allowances For Business Investment
For companies, the 130% super-deduction has been replaced with a 100% first-year allowance from 1 April 2023 for a three-year period. A 100% allowance effectively means full expensing for qualifying capital expenditure. The 50% first-year allowance for special rate pool expenditure, which was set to expire on 31 March 2023, has also been extended for a further three years.
Taxation of property
The property outlook for landlords remains somewhat contradictory. On the one hand, rents are at record highs, but set against this, property prices have fallen for seven consecutive months to March 2023, mortgage costs remain high and further regulation is on the cards. Although there are some signs of improvement in the property market, the forecast for 2023 is a price fall of anything between 5% and 10%. Given that a fixed rate of 4.2% is currently available on a three-year government savings bond – with none of the hassle that comes with property ownership – it is no surprise that a number of landlords are selling up.
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