Hello,

Today is ‘Tax Administration and Maintenance Day’, it is not a mini-budget, more of a publishing opportunity for HMRC! It includes details of a proposed new VAT relief for charitable donations which will be consulted on fully later this year. 

SME tax news 2

The long-awaited consultation on the VAT treatment of private hire vehicles has been published. We have summarised the key points of today’s announcements in our ‘At a glance’ guide below.

We have a new Capital taxes round-up out for 2024-25. This summarises recent changes to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and Inheritance Tax (IHT). We also feature our invaluable tool for company advisers and owners which explores all the different options and respective tax treatments for selling shares and the tax treatment for the transaction. 

We have an eclectic blend of court and tribunal decisions for your perusal, as ever, including the Court of Appeal’s (CoA) findings on the entitlement of a retired partner to the value of partnership assets.

All too often we see cases of partnerships where there is no partnership agreement, something which can result in countless issues. In the Procter case, the CoA found that a partnership’s continuing partners were liable to account to a retired partner for the value of an old, and very valuable, farm tenancy. The judge noted that when the partner retired "no one realised that the tenancy subsisted, let alone that it was an asset of substantial value".

More news and updates follow below, including the latest on the Pandora Papers and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) fines. Do note that HMRC has now published the VAT fuel scale charge rates which apply from 1 May 2024.

Finally, just a quick reminder that we will be at Accountex on 15 and 16 May 2024. We look forward to meeting as many of you as possible.

Back soon

Nichola & the Team

www.rossmartin.co.uk

Your Virtual Tax Partner®: online PRACTICAL support for accountants, tax advisers BY accountants and tax advisers.

Quick News (Freeview)  

Tax Administration and Maintenance Day 2024: At a glance 
Thursday 18 April 2024 was 'Tax Administration and Maintenance Day'. The government published a number of tax policy proposals and updates, including changes to VAT on charitable donations and tackling non-compliance in the umbrella companies market.

VAT treatment of private hire vehicles consultation
The government has released a consultation addressing the potential VAT implications of recent case law developments on the Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) sector and its passengers.

R&D undertaken overseas: Externally provided workers and contractors
Loss-making R&D Intensive Small or Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) based in Northern Ireland will not be subject to any restrictions on relief for overseas Research & Development (R&D) up to a limit of £250,000 in any three-year period. 

Further HMRC letters concerning Pandora Papers
HMRC has continued to review the data from the Pandora Papers and a further tranche of letters is being issued from 8 April.  These letters will include an extended response time of 60 days.

Money Laundering Regulation fine windfall
Accountancy Service Providers (ASPs) and Estate Agent Businesses (EABs) are topping the lists of the types of professions that have received punitive levels of penalties for failure to register their business under the Money Laundering Regulations MLR.

Tax Cases (Freeview)

Retired partner still entitled to partnership share
The Court of Appeal (CoA) has found that an individual, who resigned from a farming partnership in 2010, was entitled to the value of her share of partnership assets at retirement, despite no financial terms of retirement having been agreed.

No SDLT magic for rented residential paddock
In Jessica Harjono & Anor v  HMRC [2024] TC09107, another taxpayer failed to persuade the First Tier Tribunal that a paddock let on a market rate rent from the day of completion was non-residential land.

Not beneficially entitled to interest payments
The Court of Appeal rejected the argument that there was no requirement to withhold tax on interest payments made to a UK resident company. Viewed realistically the UK resident company was not 'beneficially entitled' to the assigned interest payments.

Existence of trust invalidated CGT assessment
The First Tier Tribunal (FTT) found that an individual who bought a property on behalf of his brother, after the bankruptcy of the latter, was holding it on resulting trust. He was not the beneficial owner of the property and was not subject to tax on its disposal. 

Editor's Choice  

Capital taxes round-up: 2024-25
A round-up of developments in capital taxes for 2024-25 including some topical Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and Inheritance Tax (IHT) cases

A sale of company shares? Start-here
UPDATE: use our handy tool to work through the many different ways and means and the tax effects of disposing of shares in a private company.

Tax Tools & Calculators

Tax tools & calculators
UPDATE: 2024/25 versions available now. We have a suite of useful tax tools that help agents, business owners and sole traders calculate their taxes. 

Calendar of tax deadlines and new tax measures

UPDATE: This is a freeview 'At a glance' rolling calendar of common recurring tax deadlines, new tax measures and other tax-significant events. 

Guides & Updates (subscription content)

Self-Employed

Sole trader v. limited company: Tax differences & savings (2024/25)  
NEW: Is it better from both a tax and legal point of view to run your business as a sole trader or as a company? Are there tax advantages in running a business as a company? What legal protections apply?  

Herd basis: Farming
The 'herd basis' recognises, for tax purposes, the economic nature of animals held for production as capital assets, rather than as trading stock. This can be of benefit to some farmers and result in tax savings.

Partnerships

Partnerships: How to prepare partnership and partner tax returns
How to prepare partnership returns. How are partnership profits calculated? How are corporate members of partnerships taxed? What are the differences between the tax treatment of individual and corporate partners? 

Directors & Companies  

Directors' loan accounts: Toolkit (subscribers)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have a director's loan accounts toolkit for advisers. This is our enhanced version with planning points. 

Substantial Shareholding Exemption (SSE)
What is the Substantial Shareholding Exemption? When does it apply? How does it interact with de-grouping charges?

Directors' Tax Planning Toolkit 2024/25 
What tax planning opportunities and strategies are available to directors this year? What's the optimum way to extract profits and tax reliefs and tax deductions are handy to consider? This planner looks at a range of director tax issues.  

Employers

Cycles & cyclist's safety equipment
What tax breaks are available to you and your staff if you provide your workforce with eco-travel solutions? 

What is the 2024/25 PAYE tax code?
What is the 2024-25 PAYE tax code? What do the different types of tax code suffixes mean? 

Private Client & Estate Planning

Capital taxes round-up: 2024-25
NEW: A round-up of developments in capital taxes for 2024-25 including some topical Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and Inheritance Tax (IHT) cases. 

Trust Registration Service
UPDATE: What is the Trust Registration Service? What trusts does it apply to? What are the requirements and deadlines?

CGT: How to calculate a capital gain or loss
UPDATE: How do you calculate a capital gain or loss? What costs are deductible? Can you set losses against capital gains?

Land & Property

SDLT: Linked transactions
What are linked transactions? When do the linked transaction rules apply for SDLT? How do I calculate SDLT on a linked transaction?

SDLT: Residential property & dwellings
What is residential property for Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)? What tax rate applies? What garden and grounds are subject to higher rates of SDLT?

Overseas & Residence

Non-Resident Landlord Scheme
What is the Non-Resident Landlord scheme? How does it work? Who does it apply to? How can I apply to receive rent without a withholding tax deduction?

More Tax Guides

Plastic Packaging Tax
UPDATE: What is the Plastic Packaging Tax? Who does it apply to? Are small businesses subject to Plastic Packaging Tax?

Freeports: Tax breaks
What are Freeports? Where are they located? What are the tax advantages? 

VAT News & Cases

Mega Marshmallows are food for VAT
In HMRC v Innovative Bites Limited [2024] UKUT 95 (TCC), the Upper Tribunal (UT) confirmed that Mega Marshmallows are food but not confectionery and should be zero-rated for VAT.

Fuel scale charges (VAT)
UPDATE: HMRC have published the VAT fuel scale charge rates which apply for prescribed accounting periods beginning on or after 1 May 2024.

Land & Property: DIY Housebuilders scheme
UPDATE: It is possible to recover VAT on constructing a new residential dwelling, or dwellings, even where there is no planned sale of the property. This recovery can arise under the special refund scheme for DIY housebuilders.

Partial exemption & input VAT
How do you calculate the amount of input tax you can recover under the VAT partial exemption rules? What are the de minimis rules? 

CPD for Lunch

Byte-sized chunks of lunchtime CPD for subscribers

More at CPD Index

CPD Workouts

Two hours of CPD: Unravelling the diverse tax rules over a range of topical subjects

Tax Queries?

UK Agent for registration of Overseas Entities
Do you require assistance in the registration and verification of an overseas entity that owns UK land or property?

Virtual Tax Partner© Support
Have a tax query? Need a second option? Open a ticket and ask a question. A team of tax experts with a very wide range of expertise: covering direct and indirect tax, as well as accounting, R&D claims, reorganisations and much more.  

Missed Last Time's Web-update?

Nichola's SME Tax W-update 11 April 2024

  • New penalty regime applies for MTD volunteers
  • HMRC's transition profits calculator for basis period reform
  • HMRC Tax Settlement Facilities 2024-25
  • Consultation on Land Transaction Tax reliefs 
  • Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) one-to-many letters
  • COVID CJRS claim denied
  • Footballer Neil McCann loses IR35 appeal
  • VAT due on services invoiced after supplier left group
  • Lots of takeaways to make VAT discovery
  • Registering for VAT UPDATE
  • Directors' Tax Planning Toolkit 2024/25 
  • Self Assessment Return 2023/24: What's new?
  • Record-keeping & tax: What, how and until when?
  • Partnerships: Capital Gains Tax
  • Share capital: What's an ordinary share?
  • PAYE Settlement Agreements
  • Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) ...More

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