Iain Wallis

Proven Tax Strategies for High Net Worth Individuals

0191 603 0270

Pot Holes! Does Fiscal Phil build our Wonderland?

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Fiscal PhilIntroduction

Fiscal Phil in his 2018 Budget provides a few nasty surprises. The Budget yesterday had all the potential to be a fairy tale, but no!

The annual forecasts are set to rise with more people forecast to be in jobs by 2022. As a result the tax receipt projections are up, making more spending possible!

Fiscal Phil For Business

Fiscal Phil  put the focus on building business in the 2018 Budget.  There’s a generous extra allowances for spending on Plant and Machinery. It’s up from £200,000 to a massive £1 million for one year from 1st January 2019 to 31st December 2019. Takecare when planning capital expenditure. This is very important  especially when a business year end straggles those 2 dates. Unless your year end is December the allowance will be apportioned.

The same timing considerations should be given when building or improving a commercial property.  The new Structures and Buildings Allowance (SBA) will be a great help.Those of you constructing or renovating a commercial building take note.

There’s also a welcome reduction of one third in the business rates for the small shops, bars, cafes and restaurants. Who could his toilet humour with a  complete waiver of business rates on public loos. It’s now cheaper to do  business on the High Street!

Fiscal Phil For Individuals

This Budget has hit business and property owners big time!  The rules have changed for those wishing to dispose of their shares in their own company at a reduced rate of tax.  The criteria for claiming Entrepreneurs Relief (ER) has also tightened. It’s also exceedingly gloomy on the house front. If you  rent out a former home there’s no good news at all. The final period for the private residence relief has been reduced.  In addition to the Letting Relief has all but disappeared.

But on the positive side all individual basic rate taxpayers will be £130 per annum better off as the increase in personal allowances is brought forward by one year.

Action

Are you interested in receiving further information or would you like to book a strategic consultation with Iain. Please contact Jacqueline on telephone 0191 603 0270 or email admin@iainwallis.com Let him show you where he can help you legally avoid tax.

What’s George up to?

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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.

Why are HMRC so inefficient?

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HMRCThese days HMRC call us customers but alas they’ve yet to discover the concept of customer service and the ability to deliver a great customer experience.

As agents we get a dedicated number to phone them and whilst they take an age to answer that, if you have to call them arm yourself with a large cup of coffee and prepare yourself for a long wait

But even that’s not enough! A recent survey found that nearly 50% of calls to HMRC went unanswered! Do you think you could survive as a business if you behaved like that? Their incompetence knows no bounds and how much time do you waste waiting listening to that dreadful music.

So here’s four things that you can do to avoid losing the will to live when calling HMRC
1. Start early: yes they do take calls from 8 am so call then before the lines get too busy and while they are alert
2. Don’t call just before lines close as they all want to rush home so your call will not be answered
3. Be prepared like any good scout and have key information to hand, know why you are calling them and what you want to achieve
4. Dial on speaker phone and do other work while waiting for them to answer.

Good luck and remember you’re a customer not a taxpayer!

Landlord & Letting Show Coventry 26-27 November

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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

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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.

 

2013/14 Tax Return Deadline …… “Use the White Space”

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So, you were too busy and missed the self-assessment deadline of 31 October 2013 and are now you are frantically trying to complete and submit online by 31 January to avoid the £100 penalty, interest and potential penalties.

Yep that deadline is approaching far faster than you appreciate but equally with every passing day goes the need to be stuck in some detox vortex where you are forced to have a green smoothie for breakfast and eat more greens than a rabbit does in an average year.

However, what to do when you and/or your accountant , (though hopefully not your accountant but you’d be surprised ) can’t decide what or how to declare a complex transaction or one which may be open to a different interpretation by HMRC?

The law states “you must provide any additional information you think HMRC will need to check your tax bill” and this is where the ‘white space’ comes into its own. That said there is a degree of crystal ball gazing as who knows what HMRC think some days

Here are a few situations where I’d suggest you use the white space:

1. To back up a complicated entry on a tax return, for example, a capital gains tax calculation on the sale of your home where you have used part of it for business.

2. Where you’re claiming Principal Private Residence Relief on a property that’s been let out but used to be your main home.

3. Where you aren’t sure of a figure for example, where the tax rules require you to make a judgement, say, on the amount of a business expense to claim

In the majority of cases, not using the white space to explain a questionable tax return won’t cause you any trouble, but should HMRC question your tax return and thinks you haven’t declared information you ought to have, the result may be a penalty charge or a greater penalty if it turns out you made a mistake. Remember that the law does not require perfection, more that you take reasonable care when preparing the return.

As a reminder, you are responsible for the entries on your tax return, even where your accountant completes it for you. So, please don’t just check the figures; make sure the white space entry is completed if appropriate.

If you are struggling with the deadline approaching or are interested in receiving further information or booking a strategic session with Iain, please contact Jacqueline on 0191 206 4080 or email admin@iainwallis.com.

 

Autumn Statement 2013: the key bits. Analysis and comment to follow

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Personal Taxes and Tax Credits

 Personal Allowance, Rates of Tax, National Insurance Contributions for 2014/15

  As announced at Budget 2013, people born after 5 April 1948 will be entitled to a basic personal allowance of £10,000 for 2014 to 15. The ‘higher rate threshold’ (the sum of the basic personal allowance and the basic rate limit) will be £41,865. As the personal allowance will be £10,000 for 2014/15, this means that the basic rate limit will be £31,865 the rates of tax will be announced at Budget 2014.

For 2014/15, there are no changes to the percentage rate of contribution for Class 1, Class 1A, Class 1B and Class 4 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) but there are changes to all of the thresholds and limits. The weekly rates for Class 2 and Class 3 NICs will be increased. The Class 1 Upper Earnings Limit (UEL) and the Class 4 Upper Profits Limit for NICs will continue to be aligned with the point at which higher rate tax becomes payable £41,865.

 

Tax Credit, Child Benefit and Guardian’s Allowance: rates for 2014/15

 

Tax Credits – disability elements increased in line with CPI of 2.7%. Other rates are increased by 1%. The family element of child tax credit is not increased annually and remains at £545

Child Benefit – increased by 1%.

Guardian’s Allowance – increased in line with CPI of 2.7%.

 

Recognising marriage in the tax system

 From April 2015, a spouse or civil partner who is not liable to Income Tax or not liable above the basic rate for a tax year will be entitled to transfer £1,000 of their personal allowance to their spouse or civil partner provided that the recipient of the transfer is not liable to Income Tax above the basic rate. The transferor’s personal allowance will be reduced by £1,000. The spouse or civil partner receiving the transferred allowance will be entitled to a reduced Income Tax liability of up to £200.

 Abolition of NICs for under 21s

 From 6 April 2015 employers will no longer be required to pay Class 1 secondary National Insurance Contributions (NICs) on earnings paid up to the Upper Earnings Limit (UEL) to any employee under the age of 21.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT ) Private Residence Relief – Final period rule

 The final period exemption applies to a property that has been a person’s private residence at some time even though they may not be living in the property at the time they dispose of it and they may be claiming private residence relief on another property at the same time. From 6 April 2014 the final period exemption will be reduced from 36 months to 18 months.

Income tax relief for qualifying loan interest

 From April 2014, the income tax relief for interest paid on loans to invest in close companies and employee-controlled companies will be extended to investments in such companies resident throughout the European Economic Area (EEA).

CGT Non residents and UK residential property

From April 2015 a capital gains tax charge will be introduced on future gains made by non-residents disposing of UK residential property. A consultation on how best to introduce this will be published in early 2014.

 CGT Annual Exempt Amount

The annual exempt amount will be £11,000 for the year 2014/15 and £11,100 for 2015/16 and subsequent years. The exemption for most trustees will be £5,000 and £5,500 respectively.

 

Tackling Tax Avoidance and Evasion

The government has announced 5 measures to help tackle tax avoidance which have effect from 5 December 2013.

 Changes to the debt cap provisions

 The measure comprises of 2 changes to improve the effectiveness of the World Wide Debt Cap (WWDC). The first change is to the grouping rules and the second change is to the regulation-making powers. It will have effect in respect of the change to the grouping rules for accounting periods starting on or after 5 December 2013 and the change to the regulation-making powers will have effect on or after the date that Finance Bill 2014 receives Royal Assent.

Controlled foreign companies (CFC): profit shifting

 The measure switches off the partial exemption rules for loan relationship credits of a CFC that arise from an arrangement with a main purpose of transferring profits from existing intra group lending out of the UK. It also amends the anti-avoidance rule relating to the transfer of external debt to the UK to ensure that the rule works as intended. The first part of the measure will apply to arrangements entered into on or after 5 December 2013 and the second part will have effect for accounting periods beginning on or after 5 December 2013.

Partnerships review: partnerships with mixed membership

 The first element of the partnerships review measure will affect mixed membership partnerships where partnership profits are allocated to a non-individual partner in circumstances where an individual member may benefit from those profits. The second element will affect cases where partnership losses are allocated to an individual partner, instead of a non-individual partner, to enable the individual to access certain loss reliefs. The changes will take effect from 6 April 2014 with the exception of anti-avoidance rules concerning tax-motivated profit allocations. These rules come into force from 5 December 2013 in order to protect against risks to tax revenue.

Avoidance schemes using total return swaps

 The measure blocks avoidance schemes where deductions are claimed for payments between companies in the same group under derivative contracts which are linked to company profits. It will apply from 5 December 2013 to schemes entered into on any date.

Double Taxation Relief (DTR): revenue protection

The measure will make two changes to the DTR rules to prevent avoidance. Both changes will have effect from 5 December 2013. It will have effect on non-trading credits for accounting periods beginning on or after 5 December 2013, with transitional provisions where accounting periods straddle this date. The amendment to the rules on refunded tax credits will take account of payments made by the foreign tax authority on or after 5 December 2013.

Further details of these 5 measures can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement, Tax Information and Impact Notes, Draft Finance Bill 2014 Legislation and Explanatory Notes.

Other measures included are found below.

Charities established for tax avoidance purposes

 Legislation will be introduced in Finance Bill 2014 to prevent a charity from being entitled to claim charity tax reliefs if one of the main purposes of establishing the charity is tax avoidance. The definition of a charity for tax purposes will be amended to exclude such charities.

 High risk promoters

 A new information disclosure and penalty regime for high risk promoters of avoidance schemes will be introduced. Objective criteria for identifying high risk promoters and a higher standard of reasonable excuse and reasonable care that will then apply to them will also be introduced. Clients of these promoters will also have certain obligations including identifying themselves to HMRC.

 Accelerated tax payment in avoidance cases

 Legislation will be included in Finance Bill 2014 to require payment of the tax in dispute in a tax avoidance enquiry when an ‘avoidance follower penalty notice’ is issued. This will take effect from Royal Assent which is expected mid July 2014.

At present taxpayers (in most cases) can hold on to the disputed tax while the dispute is being investigated. This can take a number of years, and there is evidence that some taxpayers enter into avoidance schemes primarily for the cash flow benefit.

The government will also consult on possible wider criteria for issuing a payment notice in avoidance enquiries.

 

Fuel Duty Main Rate Freeze

 The increase due in September 2014 has been cancelled and there will be no further increase in the current Parliament.

Inheritance Tax Online

 HMRC will be investing in a new online service to support the administration of Inheritance Tax. This will do away with the need to complete paper versions of forms and enable people to proceed with their application for probate and submit Inheritance Tax accounts online. It will also improve the customer experience as well as HMRC’s ability to perform compliance activities. It is anticipated that the new online service will become available in 2016.

Taxability 2013/14: Over 65 proven legal ways to save tax

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Do you really want to give the taxman £521,700?

 

It’s a lot of money, isn’t it? But, even before the current economic crisis, that’s how much someone earning £30,000 a year would have paid in taxes over their lifetime. While if you are lucky enough to earn more than £30,000, your lifetime tax bills will probably have been even higher.

However, because of the economic crisis, as the country starts to pay the billions to balance the Government books, your tax bills will almost certainly soar even higher still.

As a result, there is a tax bombshell about to explode.

 Of course we all have to pay our fair share of taxes. But there’s no reason why you should pay more than your fair share of that tax burden, is there?

Unfortunately, paying more than their fair share is precisely what many people do… often without even realising it.

So, because we don’t want you to be one of them, here’s our up to date easy-to-use tax-busting checklist.

In just a few pages it reveals 70 powerful ideas to shave many pounds – perhaps even many thousands of pounds – off your tax bills.

Just think, even if you can only shave 5% off your tax bills, if you earn £30,000 a year that tiny 5% saving adds up to an extra £26,085 in cash to spend and enjoy during your lifetime.

And if your earnings are much more than £30,000 per annum then your savings could well be disproportionately higher – quite possibly as much as a 50% reduction in the tax you have to pay.

 What could you do with that sort of money?

The TaxAbility checklist has been specifically designed to help you start to identify where and how to make these sorts of savings.

And it has been designed to take less than 25 minutes to complete. It could be the most profitable 25 minutes you’ll spend this year.

Once you’ve filled it in we strongly recommend that you discuss all of your “no” answers with your Chartered Accountant.

Of course, if you don’t have a Chartered Accountant, or you would simply like someone to give you a fresh perspective on your options, we would be delighted to help you.

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Iain Wallis – Proven Tax Strategies For High Net Worth Individuals

So what about the 2013 Budget?

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 Headline grabbing announcements in the Budget do little to hide the three brutal truths and the billion bombshell that will mean excruciating pain for many in the UK

 
The anorak wearers amongst you in reading about the budget have spotted in Table B.5 on page 104 of the Treasury’s full “Budget 2013” document (which you can download here http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/budget2013_documents.htm) National Debt is going to rise in the next 5 years from £1,189bn to £1,637bn

That’s a staggering increase of £448bn. Given that there are 63.2 million people in the UK, that equates to £7,088 per person. try obtaining that on an interest free credit card!

So today I’ve  launched a free “2013 Tax Minimisation Review” initiative to help local taxpayers and businesses get to grips with the pain behind the Budget.

There are some very welcome headline grabbing announcements in this Budget. But we shouldn’t get carried away, since the underlying message is one of three brutal truths.

The first brutal truth is that public finances are still in a terrible mess.

In fact, the bombshell is that the people and businesses in the UK  will be forced find an extra £448 Billion just to pay back our share of the extra money the government is now going to borrow over the next 5 years. So for some local people the pain is going to be excruciating as the country balances the books with even higher tax bills, even lower wage increases and even fewer public services and benefits.

And even if they work hard and manage to avoid all of that, high earners could find the government taking up to 60p from every extra pound they earn: 60% – is the effective tax rate on income just above £100,000 due to the withdrawal of the personal allowance.

Middle earners could have as much as 65p taken from them  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/middle-classes-face-65-tax-rate-after-child-benefit-squeeze-8439162.html

While low earners can lose a staggering 73p once the claw-back of benefits is also taken into account http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2242158/The-families-hammered-73-tax–income-tax-National-Insurance-combine-loss-benefits.html

The second brutal truth is that it is businesses and not Budgets that offer us the best hope of putting things right by replacing the jobs and wealth lost, and generating the extra taxes needed to pay for everything.  So the region’s job and wealth creating businesses need to stand up and be counted by taking urgent action to make it happen.

The third brutal truth is that the 2013 tax regime is hideously complicated and contains a huge number of pitfalls for the unwary.

The good news, though, is that it now also allows the really well advised to make some very big tax savings. And that’s why we’ve launched our free 2013 Tax Minimisation Review service for businesses and individuals – to make sure that no-one suffers by paying a single penny more than their fair share of tax.” 

 Readers who do not want to pay a single penny more tax than they need to can claim a free 2013 Tax Minimisation Review by calling Iain] on 0191 206 4080.

Further information on this topic can be obtained from Iain@iainwallis.com

Some timely tax planning tips with 5 April coming fast

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Here’s a few tax tips to ponder and take action upon before the end of the tax year:

Income Tax

Those property investors who do not trade through a limited company have no choice as to when to make up your accounts.

Letting income will always be that arising in each tax year to the 5th April.

In looking to save tax in any business approaching a year end, you would look to defer income and maybe bring forward expenditure.

Now with rental income it’s pretty hard to defer income as I would expect you receive your rental each month so not much planning opportunity there then so what about expendtiture. Well now we’re talking.

If you’ve some major repairs on the horizon, maybe a complete repaint and remember we are talking repairs here not capital expenditure, get in place a contract for the work to be undertaken. If you’ve contracted to have the work done then these costs can be brought into your letting accounts which a) may reduce the level of profit and save tax or b) turn a profit into a loss and again save tax.

Remember that loses can only be offset against other property income or carried forward in perpetuity to offset against profits. 

As an aside tax losses are personal and so a) can not be transferred to anyone and b) go with you to the grave.

Capital Gains Tax

You may have in your portfolio a property that is sitting on a nice capital gain. Now may be a chance to offload that at a slightly below market price for a quick sale and a tax free gain. Each individual can currently make capital gains tax free of £10,600. So a property held jointly could show a gain in excess of £21,200 and if sold before 5th April 2012 not create a tax liability.  I say in excess because you pay capital taxes on the net sale proceeds less the cost of acquisition.

Inheritance Tax

As with income tax and capital gains tax there is an exemption for inheritance tax. The annual exemption is currently £3,000 and thus the first £3,000 of any transfer of value will be exempt from Inheritance Tax. If the exemption is not used then this can be carried forward. So assuming no gifts were made last year, Mum and Dad could gift £6,000 to their children completely tax free. As an impoverished trainee accountant it was a relief I often brought to my parents attention, though this simple tax planning strategy always fell on deaf ears!

Further information on this topic can be obtained from Iain@iainwallis.com

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