Hello, 

The government has been tweaking many of its Coronavirus support grants, funds and other measures in the last week. It is worth having a read through our Government Support Tracker for recent updates and additions. My highlights of the latest news are as follows:

Do not overlook the Discretionary Grant Fund, which runs until 9 am 15 June 2020. This is administered by Local Authorities and is available to those business who did not qualify for other business rate funding.

New legislation has been published for consultation on the 'Taxation of coronavirus (COVID-19) support payments'. We will be digesting this over the next week but do want to point out that there are harsh penalties for those who make fraudulent claims.

Judging by the continued high number of comments on our website, taxpayers are having some difficulties in claiming the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS). We know that some of HMRC's guidance was incorrect on the eligibility criteria of 'Condition A' as one of their webinars contained a bad example, HMRC has now corrected that but it may be possible that some of its advisers are making this mistake too. If you are having problems you need to check our eligibility tool and then go back to HMRC. A new version of the SEISS has been announced and this continues to provide funding albeit at a low rate over the next three months.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) will also change from July 2020. Noting that new claimants will be blocked after 30 June 2020, it is not worth holding back in making a claim. Furloughed employees may be brought back into part-time work from July and the minimum furlough period reduces to 1 week. It is going to be quite difficult to deal with from an administration point of view as the claim periods also change to calendar months and not tax months for July onward.

Back in the 'normal' world of tax this week, we have covered a good mix of interesting direct and indirect cases and we have been updating our subscriber guides around these. We are focusing on shares and securities and Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) this time. A strange mix, but all really useful stuff. We also have some useful CPD to keep you on your toes!

If you have any tax-specific queries, please post them up to our sister site, details are here: www.VtaxP.co.uk

Back soon 

Nichola Ross Martin FCA CTA (Fellow) Tax Director

www.rossmartin.co.uk

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

Quick News

COVID-19: Tracker
UPDATE: Start here to track the latest government measures and announcements aimed at supporting businesses and individuals during the pandemic. 

COVID 19: Business Income Manual, changes to trading activities
HMRC have updated the section in their Business Income Manual which deals with ‘Crisis-driven changes to trading activities’ to specifically cover Coronavirus. This is our enhanced version of the guidance.

COVID-19: Discretionary Grant Fund
A Discretionary Grant Fund is available for a short time small and micro-businesses that are adversely affected by the coronavirus and are not eligible for other grant schemes. 

Coronavirus Employee Job Retention Scheme
The Chancellor announced changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) on 29 May 2020. The scheme currently extends until the end of October 2020.

COVID 19: Extension of Self-Employment Income Support Scheme
The Chancellor has announced that he is extending the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) by a further, and final, three months at a reduced rate of 70% of average monthly trading profits.

Taxation of COVID-19 support payments
The government has opened a new consultation ‘Taxation of coronavirus (COVID-19) support payments’ on draft legislation which includes measures to tax the grants available, recover payments from businesses not entitled to them and penalise deliberate non-compliance. 

COVID-19: Landlords & tenants
UPDATE: A summary of the measures available to assist landlords and tenants during the coronavirus crisis. 

Editor's Pick (subscribers)

Exit strategies: Index 
Company owners have a number of options available to them when it comes to selling their shares and passing on their business or realising their investment.

Reorganisations: Case Study 6
Step-by-step with tax clearance: how to buy out a retiring shareholder.

Purchase of own shares: Masterclass 
Subscriber detailed checklist & steps.

Tax Guides and Updates (subscribers)

SDLT: Residential Property & Dwellings
UPDATE: What is Residential, what is a Dwelling? Why on earth is this so important?

Employment-Related Securities & share schemes
UPDATE: What are the tax consequences when a company gives shares to an employee or director? How do you design a share plan?

Shares, securities & options: Tax compliance
What are the filing and compliance requirements for employee shares and share option schemes? What needs to be reported, when and how, and what are the penalties for non-compliance?

ABC or alphabet shares: Directors & employees
UPDATE: What are ABC or alphabet shares? When are they used and what are the tax implications?

Valuation: Companies
UPDATE: An article outlining the main principles in valuing an unquoted company for tax purposes.

Case Update (Freeview) 

Purchase of own shares not part of share sale
In Bostan Khan v HMRC [2020] UKUT 0168, the Upper Tribunal (UT) rejected a taxpayer’s argument that a company purchase of his shares was not a distribution as it was part of his wider agreement to purchase a controlling interest in the company.

Directors share options were 'by reason of employment'
In HMRC v Vermilion Holdings Limited v [2020] UKUT162, the Upper Tribunal (UT) held that share options granted to a director were Employment-Related Securities. 

Annexe not a separate dwelling for SDLT
In Keith Fiander and Samantha Brower V HMRC [2020] TC7676, the First Tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) decided that an annexe was not a separate dwelling for Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) multiple dwellings relief (MDR). There was no door separating the house from its annexe.

Flat with flammable cladding remained a dwelling for SDLT
In Fish Homes Ltd V HMRC [2020] TC7666, The First Tier Tribunal (FTT) held that the purchase of a non-commercially lettable flat was a dwelling for the purposes of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT).

Virtual Tax Partner Toolkits (freeview)

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  • Entrepreneurs' Relief: Sole traders: sale of a business, incorporation, sale of assets
  • Entrepreneurs' Relief: Company owners: rules for sales pre 29 October 2018, sales between 29 October 2018 and 5 April 2019 and after.
  • TAAR: closing your Personal service company? Will your final dividends be taxed as income?
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  • Making Tax Digital for VAT: when do you need to join.

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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. 

CPD for lunch 

Byte-sized chunks of CPD for subscribers

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More at CPD Index

Missed last time's Web-update?

Nichola's SME Tax W-update 28 May 2020

  • COVID-19: Tracker
  • Advisory fuel rates from 1 June 2020
  • Supreme Court dives into tax treaty, diver is an employee
  • Court of Appeal opts to allow deductions for EBT share scheme
  • Is a day planner a book? Don't rely on HMRC’s VAT guide
  • Input not disallowed as six-month rule not breached
  • VAT treatment on fixed-odds betting terminals and gaming machines
  • IHT: Main Residence Nil Rate Band (RNRB)
  • SDLT: Residential property (dwellings), higher rate
  • Directors: Tax planning toolkit for 2020/21
  • PRR: Private Residence Relief ...More

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