HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is to change the way that taxpayers and their agents can make payments. From 15 December 2017 and 13 January 2018, the pay at the post office service will be withdrawn and HMRC will no longer accept payment by personal credit card. However, the Revenue has confirmed that taxpayers will… Read more…

According to new data from Populus, nearly half of people aged over 50 are willing to forgo luxuries in later life to leave a larger inheritance for their children. The study, commissioned by Saga Money, also found that 80 per cent of over 50s intended to pass some form of inheritance on to their children.… Read more…

The UK’s small business economy is expected to grow by nearly a fifth in total by 2025, but some areas are predicted to grow much quicker than others. The predictions result from a survey by Hampshire Bank Trust and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). The CEBR research predicts that alongside the growth… Read more…

The UK Government has pledged that by 2040 all new cars sold will need to be either electric or some form of plug-in hybrid. However, before this deadline was even announced many within the motor industry believed that by 2025 as many as one in three cars will incorporate an electric power plant. Much of… Read more…

The deadline to register trusts and estates under new rules has been extended by two months, following complaints that the original deadline was too ambitious, potentially leaving many unable to comply. Under the new rules, trusts and estates that have a tax liability are required to register with the HMRC trusts and estates online service… Read more…

A report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has called on the UK Government to revive its plans to increase National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for the self-employed. Earlier this year, during the Spring Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, announced that the Government would seek to abolish Class 2 NICs… Read more…

UK-based SMEs are not doing enough to ensure the data they hold is secure, it has been reported. Findings from a newly-published report show that more than two out of three SMEs considered that there was room for improvement in protecting their business data, while four out of 10 questioned said they did not have… Read more…

Changes to the Dividend Tax regime, which will see the existing tax-free allowance fall from £5,000 to £2,000 from April next year, are set to hit small business owners and investors. The changes currently being considered by MPs as part of the Finance Bill 2017-19 had been delayed when what is now the Finance Act… Read more…

Students who have been heading back to university in recent weeks could be entitled to a helpful tax refund, according to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). Those who worked through their summer holidays may have been taxed through PAYE, as if they were earning at that level year-round, but it is unlikely that their earnings… Read more…

Late payments are a headache that most small businesses are familiar with, but new research shows that late payments create problems for the economy as a whole. Figures published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills show that UK SMEs are losing £250 billion in cash flow as a consequence. Because SMEs tend to… Read more…