Iain Wallis

Proven Tax Strategies for High Net Worth Individuals

0191 603 0270

What’s George up to?

By

Budget 2015George Osborne delivered a headline grabbing budget and unusually for all the landlords and property investors out there, there is much to consider.

The biggest impact will be the restriction on relief for finance costs on property to the basic rate of income tax. These costs include:

• mortgage interest
• interest on loans to buy furnishings
• fees incurred when refinancing your properties

For higher rate taxpayers that could become very expensive and increase your tax bill by 25%.

This will be introduced gradually from 6 April 2017, so there is still time to organise your affairs to make your portfolio more tax efficient, but you will need to take action now to get everything in place.

So maybe now is time to consider incorporation though as you’ve heard me say many times “it depends” Incorporation may trigger capital gains tax, stamp duty land tax and possibly moving away from a very nice interest rate. Short term pain may help the long term gains and it’s always much easier to shelter wealth within a limited company.

Those of you who let your properties furnished will from April 2016 no longer be able to claim the wear and tear allowance which will be replaced by allowing residential landlords to deduct the actual cost of replacing furnishings.

There is however some good news with the increase in rent a room relief so it’s not all bad!

Despite the bold newspaper headlines announcing an increase to the nil-rate band for IHT to £1m, this will be gradually phased over the next four/five years and will only apply if your estate is passed to direct descendants. So, if you’re planning on leaving your hard earned wealth to someone other than your kids or you’ve assets exposed to Inheritance tax it’s as important as ever to get everything organised. So now may be the time to undertake our Inheritance Tax Risk Assessment Audit to identify where any liability could be reduced and to ensure that your affairs are in order.

Most of our compliance clients have taken out our Fee Protection Insurance, protecting themselves in case of an HMRC enquiry. For those who haven’t, please be aware that George also announced that he’ll be spending around £300 million over the next 5 years to tackle non-compliance by small and mid-sized businesses, public bodies and affluent individuals. This measure will result in additional tax receipts of over £2 billion by 2020-21 – so you have been warned!

Finally, if you’re one of the estimated million buy-to-let and other private landlords hoping to keep beneath HMRC’s radar, then please don’t think that anymore! HMRC will be employing more investigators and giving them the power to acquire data from online and electronic payment providers to help find you. It’s far better to come clean and disclose to HMRC before they find you and to help you do this, HMRC are providing a digital disclosure channel to make it easier to disclose any undeclared liabilities. Find HMRC before they find you!

If you are interested in receiving further information or booking a strategic consultation with Iain to see where he can help you legally avoid tax, please contact Jacqueline on telephone 0191 603 0270 or email admin@iainwallis.com.

It’s not always a bunch of Roses

By

valentinesCongratulations to anyone who may be intending to ‘pop the question’ over a romantic candle lit meal this evening.

To those of you who consider yourself ‘unromantic’ or think it all to be ‘a bit of stuff and nonsense’ or ‘created by florists to make more money’, and yes I have some sympathy for that view, bear in mind there could be costly implications – and that’s not just the ring!!

Unmarried couples are not recognised as a legal entity and this becomes even more of an issue where children are involved. Legally, you become stuck in no-man’s land somewhere between land and complex trust law and in the event the relationship breaks down, you could find yourself in all sorts of problems and not just of the emotional type. Who gets the CD collection will be the least of your worries!

It’s far better to try and get things in order at the outset, to provide both of you with some degree of reassurance before it gets to the stage of arguing over what’s what:

• The first, a Cohabitation Agreement deals with the ownership of assets and the distribution of these.

• Second, a Declaration of Trust reflects the contribution of each individual to any assets such as property.

• For those in business together, a Partnership Deed, which deals with each party’s interest in the business.

• Finally a Will. Cohabitees are not entitled to automatically inherit from their partner’s estate. If you wish your partner to inherit, particularly any assets jointly owned, you need to have a Will in place.

For further information or to book a strategic session with Iain, please contact Jacqueline on 0191 6030 270 or email admin@iainwallis.com.

Landlord & Letting Show Coventry 26-27 November

By

Finalist Logo GeneralWe will be exhibiting at the Landlord & Letting Show taking place at Hall 2, Stoneleigh Park, Coventry, on Wednesday 26th & Thursday 27th November 2014, and we hope you can join us! Maybe on day two help us celebrate as we are finalists in the prestigious Landlord & Letting Show Awards with the winners to be announced during the show.
It’s free to attend and the event aims to educate and inform property professionals by offering access to:
• A comprehensive product and services exhibition

• Free seminars covering a wide range of topics delivered by leading industry experts.

• There are two presentations from me entitled “5 Top Tax Tips to Legally Avoid Property Taxes” one on Wednesday at 11.30 and one on Thursday at 14.00. These are always full so be sure to be there in plenty of time

• Associations and Government Bodies
• Fantastic networking opportunities
• Information on the latest legislation
Visit the website at http:www.warwickshire.landlordshow.info to find out more and book free show tickets, then come along and visit us on stand 38.

Always happy to chat legal tax avoidance and share the love.

Happy Valentines Day

By

valentinesCongratulations to anyone who may be intending to ‘pop the question’ over a romantic candle lit meal this evening.

To those of you who consider yourself ‘unromantic’ or think it all to be ‘a bit of stuff and nonsense’ or ‘created by florists to make more money’, and yes I have some sympathy for that view, bear in mind there could be costly implications – and that’s not just the ring!!

Unmarried couples are not recognised as a legal entity and this becomes even more of an issue where children are involved. Legally, you become stuck in no-man’s land somewhere between land and complex trust law and in the event the relationship breaks down, you could find yourself in all sorts of problems and not just of the emotional type. Who gets the CD collection will be the least of your worries!

It’s far better to try and get things in order at the outset, to provide both of you with some degree of reassurance before it gets to the stage of arguing over what’s what:

 • The first, a Cohabitation Agreement deals with the ownership of assets and the distribution of these.

 • Second, a Declaration of Trust reflects the contribution of each individual to any assets such as property.

 • For those in business together, a Partnership Deed, which deals with each party’s interest in the business.

 • Finally a Will. Cohabitees are not entitled to automatically inherit from their partner’s estate. If you wish your partner to inherit, particularly any assets jointly owned, you need to have a Will in place.

 For further information or to book a strategic session with Iain, please contact Jacqueline on 0191 206 4080 or email admin@iainwallis.com.

 

MENU