Month: June 2023

Marriage Allowance how it works

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

Duty free limits if you are travelling abroad

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

National Insurance credits

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

HMRC increases interest rates

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

Transfer of unused IHT nil rate band

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.

Selling overseas property

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

Protecting intellectual property

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,

HMRC’s Self-Assessment line summer closure

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

VAT Exempt services

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

Regulated businesses hit with Anti-Money Laundering fines

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