Something You Need to Know about Principal Private Residence Relief to Avoid CGT

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Before you start the game of property investment, be aware that the Inland Revenue is always interested in the profit you make by selling your properties.

But the sale of your main home will rarely result in any Capital Gains Tax (CGT) liability, because of the principal private residence (PPR) exemption.

•Determination of Principal Private Residence
It is not necessary to have lived in it as the only or main residence for all the period of ownership, but it must have been occupied for at least part of the period of ownership as your only or main residence.
HM Revenue and Customs state that to qualify, “residence is one of quality rather than the length of occupation which determines whether a dwelling-house is its owner’s residence”. A dwelling house must have become its owners home at some point during ownership even though no minimum qualifying period of occupation is required to qualify for the relief.

•Nomination of Principal Private Residence
The nomination is made by sending a formal election to your tax office within two years of purchasing the second home. Once made, the nomination can be changed, and be backdated by up to two years, and can even be done after you have sold one of the two homes, which can lead to some useful tax planning. If you acquire a second home and do not make a nomination within the two year time limit, your main residence will be decided by the Revenue as a question of fact, which could mean you miss out on some valuable opportunities to claim relief.
Clearly, by careful planning with the PPR election, significant tax savings can be made, wherever there are two homes, nomination can be made to ensure that both are classed as qualifying main residences at some point in order to shelter the last three years from tax on both properties. Ordinarily, the property that is expected to realise the largest gain on sale will be the property that retains the nomination for the largest duration.
At Taxfile in Tulse Hill, South London you can pop in to see one of their tax advisers and for a reasonable fee they will recommend the best solution in order to minimize your tax liability.

Casual labour / subcontracting

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It is not widely known that you must establish someone’s status when you pay them any money for helping you with their labour.The trick or tip is to get them to supply their unique tax reference number. They should invoice you for their services . If they don’t offer an invoice, it’s best to issue a self billing invoice for them to sign at the time you hand over the money.
Lots of people will offer their services to you if you have work which needs doing. In some industries it’s well regulated such as within the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS).
Most labour suppliers will be registered as self employed or a partnership and frequently these days as a limited company.
Each of them will have its own unique tax reference number (UTR).
They are not obliged to put this on their invoice to you.
You must request it if you fall into the classification termed by the government as a contractor or subcontractor.
There is a useful helpline for Construction Industry Scheme if you are not sure about your position and always try to get professional tax advice from companies like Taxfile in South London where their tax accountants make sure to sort out all your tax affairs.
If for example you are doing up a buy to let then you do not necessarily have to register just for this one activity, just make sure you follow the invoicing guidelines as above.
It may seem a lot to ask of the person doing the work for you but these days you just can’t be sure of how the government will react if they discover you have paid someone without adequate proof that they are registered to pay tax on their own profits.
For more information on the new CIS you can refer back to our blog post dated 25th August 2007 entitled ”What is the Construction Industry Scheme?”

Your personal tax allowance

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Everyone who lives in the UK is entitled to a personal allowance. This is the amount of income you can receive each year without having to pay tax on it. Depending on your circumstances, you may also be able to claim certain other allowances.
There are three levels of personal allowance for 2007/2008 tax year:
•Basic rate, which is 5225 (with no income limit)
•age 65 to 74, which is 7550 (with an income limit of 20900)
•age 75 and over 7690 ( with an income limit of 20900).
It is important to bear in mind that if your income is over the income limit, the age related allowance reduces by half of the amount (£1 for every £2) you have over that limit, until the basic rate allowance is reached (you’ll always get the basic allowance, whatever the level of your income).
If you become 65 or 75 during the year to 5 April 2008, you are entitled to the allowance for that age group.

So if, for example, you are 69 and have an income of £22,000( £1100 over the limit) your age-related allowance would reduce by £550 to £7,000.

If HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) knows your age you should get the personal allowance automatically. But bear in mind they won’t know your age unless you’ve told them or shown your date of birth on a tax return or claim form. If you haven’t done this already and you are 65 or over you need to contact your Tax Office.
If you want to claim a tax refund because you didn’t use your personal allowance (or for any other reason), you need to do so within five years from the 31 January following the end of the tax year concerned. Taxfile in South London can help you claim the overpaid tax . Their tax advisers deal with the Inland Revenue on your behalf , taking the strain off you at a taxing time, making sure that you never pay more than your minimum tax liability, whether this be income tax, capital gains tax (CGT) or inheritance tax(IHT).

What is the Construction Industry Scheme?

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The Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) sets out the rules for how payments to subcontractors for construction work must be handled by contractors.

A contractor is a business or other concern that pays subcontractors for construction work. A subcontractor on the other hand is a business that carries out construction work for a contractor.
Under the Scheme, all payments made from contractors to subcontractors must take account of the subcontractor’s tax status as determined by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). This may require the contractors to make a deduction, which they then pay to HMRC.

As of 6 April 2007 the new Construction Industry Scheme replaced the previous scheme. The main changes in the scheme are the following:

• There are no more CIS cards, certificates or vouchers.

• Contractors have the responsibility to ‘verify’ new subcontractors by contacting HMRC.
•Subcontractors are still paid either net or gross, depending on their own circumstances, but it is HMRC who tell the contractor during verification which treatment to use.
•There is a higher rate tax deduction of 30% if a subcontractor has not registered with HMRC.

• The standard rate of deduction for those registered with the Inland Revenue is 20% .
• There are no more CIS annual returns. Now contractors must make a return every month to HMRC, showing payments made to all subcontractors. Returns must be made using official forms. Photocopies are not acceptable.
• Contractors must declare on their return that none of the workers listed on the return are employees. This is called a Status declaration.
•Nil returns must be made when there are no payments in any month. These can be made over the telephone as well as over the Internet or on paper. If made by paper, this must be on an official form. Photocopies will not be accepted. There will be financial penalties for failure to submit a return (including nil returns).

For most of subcontractors, the new CIS is still a puzzle. For this reason, the tax accountants at Taxfile in South London can unveil the mystery behind it. You can pop in to see one of our tax advisers in our office in South London, just two minutes away from Tulse Hill station or you can visit us on www.taxfile.co.uk.

Business welcomes tax Tory plans

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The Tories yesterday set out proposals for easing the burden of tax and regulation on British businesses in an attempt to improve the economy’s competitiveness.

However Chancellor George Osborne said that any tax reductions would have to be paid for by tax increases elsewhere, such as new environmental taxes:

” Any reductions in specific taxes will have to be balanced elsewhere, most notably green taxes.”

The former Cabinet minister John Redwood called for a series of tax reductions including abolishing inheritance tax, reducing corporation and capital gains taxes, abolishing stamp duty on share deals and raising the threshold for the higher rate of income tax.

Mr Redwood said that ” reducing the tax burden was the best way to stimulate economic growth and increase overall prosperity.[…] we believe a lower tax economy would be a more successful economy. If you have the courage to cut the rates , the rich pay more.”

The proposals received great support from business organisations.

Richard Lambert, CBI director-general said that the goal of getting corporation tax down to 25% and reducing tax on small businesses, represents a welcome direction of travel after a period when the burden of business taxes has grown substantially. He added, ” A focus on cutting regulation and red tape, one of the biggest irritants for firms trying to succeed and expand, is also positive. Too often, while our European competitors manage to implement EU directives in a few pages, the UK gold plates them with reams of prescriptive and complex regulations and guidance.”

Companies like Taxfile In South London can help you understand better the way corporation tax and capital gains taxes, inheritance tax and income tax works, giving you the right accounting advice at the right price.

Tax Enquiry Nightmare Gets Worse

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If you are unlucky enough to be the subject of a tax enquiry by the tax man, it could now be an even worse nightmare for you than ever before. HMRC has recently introduced a new bonus scheme for the tax inspectors who conduct the enquiries, which means they have a vested interest in coming down hard on ordinary folk and negotiating far less. The more tax they find you need to pay – in their opinion – the more they will earn.

The average extra tax they are demanding in recent enquiries now averages a worrying £7,778 for each self-assessment enquiry it undertakes – that’s a steep jump of £3,251 extra on last year’s average. The new statistics also show that the amount of extra tax generated just from the band of those earning more than £200k per year has risen to £197 million which is a 150% increase on the preceding year. Clearly those bonuses are having the desired affect on the individual tax inspectors who appear to be squeezing every last penny from each of the enquiries they are undertaking.

It’s times like these when services of tax advisers like TaxFile really come into their own. Because they know the rules (and any allowable expenses) as well as the tax inspectors do, they level the playing field for ordinary hard-working people and can argue the case on your behalf. For a low fixed fee the whole headache can be taken over by an accounting professional who is on your side. Taxfile have offices in South London. Telephone 0208 761 8000 for further information.

Don’t forget 31 July deadline to renew Tax Credit info

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31 July is the date by which HMRC needs to receive your Tax Credit record update. You should have received your Renewal Pack by the end of June latest (if you haven’t, call 0845 300 3900). HMRC needs the renewal to check for any changes to your circumstances. Remember to read the instructions very carefully and send off before the deadline otherwise you may run the risk of Tax Credit payments being interrupted, or worse, being asked to return some of the money paid since 6 April 2007 plus any amounts overpaid for the previous year.

If you were awarded more than one tax credit award during the 2006-7 period, you need the equivalent number of Renewal Packs.

More details on how to renew your tax credit information at the HMRC website.

Brussels wants to impose VAT on food & children’s clothes

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The European Commission is trying to harmonise VAT rates across its member countries. In so doing it wants the UK to fall in line with a rate of at least 5% on food and children’s clothing.

When it joined the EU in 1973 the UK had fought very hard not to have to charge VAT on such items (as well as the printed word, e.g. newspapers) and, as a concession to Brussels it had agreed to impose a ‘zero rated’ level of VAT. That way, VAT was effectively levied but at a valueless rate. Now Brussels wants the zero rate to be scrapped and replaced by a rate of 5% minimum, for certain products including nappies, for example.

The labour Government will fight to retain the zero rate and can use its veto if required. If successful, UK families will save a staggering £28 billion each year.

Taxfile, a walk-in “tax advice shop” based in South London, can help with all VAT matters including VAT returns and registering for VAT as well as book keeping, general accounting, tax advice and so on.

Taxman’s mistakes mean 1 million pay wrong bill

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There are more than a million of us in the UK who are paying the wrong amount of tax, thanks to the taxman. £157 million was overpaid to the Revenue last year, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). 540,000 of us – that’s over half a million – were overcharged, but still others were undercharged, the latter totalling £125 million in the same period.

The NAO attributes the staggering level or errors to the fact that many people change jobs so frequently and this makes the calculation more complicated. But it doesn’t end there. Correcting the mistakes will cost both the Revenue and the tax-payer time and money, as well as unnecessary stress. Unexpected tax demands will come as a shock, particularly to vulnerable groups such as pensioners, who are likely to be the most severely affected.

Matthew Elliott of The Tax-Payers’ Alliance commented that “This report demonstrates yet again that the tax system is becoming too complicated and taxpayers who do not have the money to afford top accountants are getting tied up and ripped off by the taxman….It’s the complexity of the system that’s trapping people, so it needs radical reform.”

At TaxFile in Tulse Hill, South London you can drop in to see one of their tax advisers and, for an affordable fixed fee, they will sort your tax out for you and relieve you of the stress and uncertainty. TaxFile bridge the gap between you and the taxman. They level the playing field. They specialise in one thing; tax, and do not charge the higher fees normally associated with swishy accountants.

Taxman wants powers to seize tax straight from bank accounts

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HM Revenue & Customs is seeking the right to seize unpaid tax straight out of bank and building society accounts, without consent. Apparently such powers would be used only against deliberate tax evaders in a bid to avoid seeking a court order. They are part of a consultative document called, “Modernising Powers, Deterrents and Safeguards“. It would work like this: the relevant amount would be frozen in the account. It would be withdrawn by HMRC only if a payment ultimatum had not been met after several written letters were sent, several telephone calls had been made, and at least one visit had been made to the non-payer’s home. We all know that tax bills are not always correct, however, and this is a major worry for some.

A spokesman for HMRC defended the idea saying that it would use the proposed powers only against chronic late payers and continued, “We do not, and will not, seek access to personal bank accounts unless all other exacting avenues of communication have failed.”

Tax advice from such companies as South London based TaxFile can help to level the playing field when a tax dispute arises. As we say above, tax bills from the HMRC are not always correct first time, and a little professional advice from an expert in the field of tax accounting will mean that you only pay the correct amount of tax and nothing more.