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Month: June 2023

Marriage Allowance how it works

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The marriage allowance is available to married couples and those in a civil partnership where a spouse or civil partner does not pay tax or does not pay tax above the basic rate threshold for Income Tax (i.e., one of the couples must currently earn less than the £12,570 personal allowance for 2023-24).

The allowance works by permitting the lower earning partner to transfer up to £1,260 of their personal tax-free allowance to their spouse or civil partner. The marriage allowance can only be used when the recipient of the transfer (the higher earning partner) does not pay more than the basic 20% rate of Income Tax. This would usually mean that their income is between £12,571 to £50,270 for the 2023-24 tax year. The limits for those living in Scotland may vary slightly from these figures.

Claiming the allowance could result in a saving of up to £252 for the recipient (20% of £1,260), or £21 a month for the current tax year. In fact, even if a spouse or civil partner has died since 5 April 2018, the surviving person can still claim the allowance (if they qualify) by contacting HMRC’s Income Tax helpline.

If you meet the eligibility requirements and have not yet claimed the allowance, you can backdate your claim to 6 April 2017. This could result in a total tax refund of up to £1,242 if you can claim for 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 as well as the current 2023-24 tax year. Even if you are no longer eligible, but you would have been in all or any of the preceding years, you can still claim your entitlement.

Source: HM Revenue & Customs Tue, 27 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Duty free limits if you are travelling abroad

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If you are travelling from outside the UK and arriving home in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland), you are allowed to bring back the following goods for your own use without any UK tax or duty liabilities.

  • 200 cigarettes or 100 cigarillos or 50 cigars or 250g of tobacco or 200 sticks of tobacco for electronic heated tobacco devices. This allowance can be split, so you could bring in 100 cigarettes and 25 cigars (both half of your allowance).
  • 18 litres of still table wine. 
  • 42 litres of beer.
  • 4 litres of spirits or strong liqueurs over 22% volume or 9 litres of fortified wine (such as port or sherry), sparkling wine or other alcoholic beverages of less than 22% volume. This allowance can be split, for example you could bring 4.5 litres of fortified wine and 2 litres of spirits (both half of your allowance).
  • £390 limit for of all other goods including perfume and souvenirs. If you are arriving by private plane or boat for pleasure purposes, you can bring in goods up to the value of £270 tax free.

Northern Ireland

There are no limits on tobacco or alcohol brought into Northern Ireland from another EU country. This means that no duties or tax will be payable as long as you can demonstrate that the goods are for your own use and that you paid the relevant taxes and duties on the purchase.

However, HMRC provide the following guidelines as to an acceptable maximum for personal use. If you exceed these limits, you are more likely to be subject to further questioning.

  • 800 cigarettes 
  • 200 cigars 
  • 400 cigarillos 
  • 1kg of tobacco 
  • 110 litres of beer 
  • 90 litres of wine 
  • 10 litres of spirits 
  • 20 litres of fortified wine (for example port or sherry).
Source: HM Revenue & Customs Tue, 27 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0100

National Insurance credits

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National Insurance credits can help qualifying applicants fill gaps in their National Insurance record. This can assist taxpayers to build up the number of qualifying years of National Insurance contributions which can increase the amount of benefits a person is entitled to, such as the State Pension.

National Insurance credits are available in certain situations where people are not working and, therefore, not paying National Insurance credit. For example, credits may be available to those looking for work, who are ill, disabled or on sick pay, on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, caring for someone or on jury service.

Depending on the circumstances, National Insurance credits may be applied automatically or an application for credits may be required. There are two types of National Insurance credits available, either Class 1 or Class 3. Class 3 credits count towards the State Pension and certain bereavement benefits whilst Class 1 covers these as well as other benefits such as Jobseeker’s Allowance.

There are usually no National Insurance credits available to the self-employed that need to pay Class 2 National Insurance or for older married women who chose to pay a reduced rate of National Insurance (pre-April 1977).

Source: HM Revenue & Customs Tue, 27 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0100

HMRC increases interest rates

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The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met on 21 June 2023 and voted 7-2 in favour of raising interest rates by 50 basis points to 5% to continue to tackle inflation. The 2 remaining members voted to keep the rate at 4.5%. This is the thirteenth consecutive time that the MPC has increased interest rates with rates now the highest they have been since 2008.

This means that the late payment interest rate applied to the main taxes and duties that HMRC charges interest on increases by 0.5% to 7.5%.

These changes will come into effect on:

  • 3 July 2023 for quarterly instalment payments
  • 11 July 2023 for non-quarterly instalments payments

The repayment interest rates applied to the main taxes and duties that HMRC pays interest on will increase by 0.5% to 4% from 30 June 2023. The repayment rate is set at the Bank Rate minus 1%, with a 0.5% lower limit.

Source: Other Tue, 27 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Transfer of unused IHT nil rate band

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The Inheritance Tax residence nil rate band (RNRB) is a transferable allowance for married couples and civil partners (per person) when their main residence is passed down to a direct descendent such as children or grandchildren after their death. 

The allowance increased to the present maximum level of £175,000 from 6 April 2020. The allowance is available to the deceased person’s children or grandchildren. Any unused portion of the RNRB can be transferred to a surviving spouse or partner. The RNRB is in addition to the existing £325,000 Inheritance Tax nil-rate band.

The allowance is available to the deceased person's children or grandchildren. Taken together with the current Inheritance Tax limit of £325,000 this means that married couples and civil partners can pass on property worth up to £1 million free of Inheritance Tax to their direct descendants. 

The transfer does not happen automatically and must be claimed from HMRC when the second spouse or civil partner dies. This is usually done by the executor making a claim to transfer the unused RNRB from the estate of the spouse or civil partner that died first. This transfer can also happen even if the first spouse or civil partner died before the RNRB was introduced on 6 April 2017.

There is a tapering of the RNRB for estates worth more than £2 million even where the family home is left to direct descendants. The additional threshold will be reduced by £1 for every £2 that the estate is worth more than the £2 million taper threshold. This can result in the full amount of the RNRB being tapered away. 

The RNRB maximum rate of £175,000 and the taper threshold are currently frozen until at least April 2026.

Source: HM Revenue & Customs Tue, 27 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Selling overseas property

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As a general rule, if you are resident in the UK, you are liable to pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT) when you sell (or dispose of) an overseas property at a gain.

The annual exempt amount applicable to CGT was reduced to £6,000 (from £12,300) for the current 2023-24 tax year. CGT is normally charged at a simple flat rate of 20% and this applies to most chargeable gains made by individuals. If taxpayers only pay basic rate tax and make a small capital gain, they may only be subject to a reduced rate of 10%. Once the total of taxable income and gains exceed the higher rate threshold, the excess will be subject to 20% CGT. 

A higher rate of CGT applies to gains on the disposal of residential property (apart from a principal private residence). The rates are 18% for basic rate taxpayers and 28% for higher rate taxpayers.

You may also have to pay tax in the country where the overseas property was located. If you are subject to paying double taxation, there may be reliefs available depending on what tax agreements are in place with the UK and the country where you made the taxable gain. There is also additional guidance available for dual residents.

There are special rules if you are resident in the UK, but your permanent home or domicile is abroad.

Source: HM Revenue & Customs Tue, 27 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Protecting intellectual property

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Having the right type of intellectual property protection helps you stop people stealing or copying:

  • the names of your products or brands;
  • your inventions;
  • the design or look of your products; and
  • things you write, make or produce.

Copyright, patents, designs and trademarks are all types of intellectual property protection. You get some types of protection automatically, others you have to apply for.

You own intellectual property if you:

  • created it (and it meets the requirements for copyright, a patent or a design);
  • bought intellectual property rights from the creator or a previous owner; and
  • have a brand that could be a trademark, for example, a well-known product name.

Intellectual property can have more than one owner, belong to people or businesses, and be sold or transferred.

If you have concerns that your ideas or business brands are vulnerable contact a professional patent or trademark attorney.

Source: Other Tue, 27 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0100

HMRC’s Self-Assessment line summer closure

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HMRC’s Self-Assessment helpline closed on 12 June 2023 and will re-open on 4 September 2023. This closure is part of a trial to direct Self-Assessment queries from the helpline to HMRC’s digital services, including online guidance, digital assistant and webchat. 

This move has been planned for a ‘quiet’ time for Self-Assessment queries and the helpline will reopen on 4 September 2023 so taxpayers can receive expert support in the 5 months running up to the Self-Assessment deadline on 31 January 2024.

HMRC says that the helpline receives far fewer calls over the summer, with calls around 50% higher between January and April compared with June to August. It remains to be seen what the impact of the closure will be, but this is likely to result in significant disruption for taxpayers.

The Chair of the Treasury Committee said:

'Given the potentially significant impact closing the Self-Assessment helpline may have on taxpayers, we’re looking for clarification that HMRC has fully considered the costs and benefits of this decision.

There are also concerns around the short notice with which this was announced. HMRC must be open, upfront and transparent when making decisions which could impact so many individuals.'

HMRC has stressed that this trial will free up 350 advisers (full-time equivalent) to take urgent calls on other lines and answer customer correspondence. HMRC also stresses that the vast majority of Self-Assessment taxpayers use HMRC’s online services, with 97% filing online.

If you have any Self-Assessment queries and are unable to reach HMRC, please call, we will be happy to assist.

Source: HM Revenue & Customs Tue, 20 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0100

VAT Exempt services

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A business that incurs expenditure on taxable and exempt business activities is partially exempt for VAT purposes.

This means that the business is required to make an apportionment between the activities using a 'partial exemption method' in order to calculate how much input tax is recoverable.

Businesses that make both taxable and exempt supplies must keep a separate record of exempt supplies along with details of how much VAT has been reclaimed.

There are a number of partial exemption methods available. The standard method of recovering any remaining input tax is to apply the ratio of the value of taxable supplies to total supplies, subject to the exclusion of certain items which could prove distortive. The standard method is automatically overridden where it produces a result that differs substantially from one based on the actual use of inputs. It is possible to agree a special method with HMRC.

The VAT incurred on exempt supplies can be recovered subject to two parallel de-minimis limits.

The tests are met where the total value of exempt input tax:

  1. Is under £625 a month (£1,875 a quarter/£7,500 a year); and
  2. Is less than half of the total input tax incurred.

If both tests are met the VAT can be recovered. Businesses that are partially exempt, need to complete this calculation on a quarterly basis as well as completing an annual calculation.

Source: HM Government Tue, 20 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Regulated businesses hit with Anti-Money Laundering fines

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The Money Laundering Regulations (MLR) are designed to protect the UK financial system and put in place certain controls to prevent businesses being used for money laundering by criminals and terrorists.

HMRC has named 240 supervised businesses that have been fined a total of £3.2 million for not complying with the anti-money laundering rules. The fines were issued between 1 July and 31 December 2022 for breaches of the regulations designed to stop criminals laundering money from illegal activity.

One of the businesses, based in London, was hit with a large fine of £1.4 million for failing to carry out risk assessments, not having appropriate anti-money laundering controls, and failing to conduct proper due diligence checks.

This crackdown on money service businesses has resulted in a significant reduction in these types of firms over the last number of years.

HMRC is clear that money service businesses provide vital services to the community, offering currency exchange, money transmission and cheque cashing. However, criminals can exploit them to launder the proceeds of crime and so must have a robust risk assessment and policies, controls, and procedures to prevent this.

Source: HM Revenue & Customs Tue, 20 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0100

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