Loan Charges The following is an extract taken from a letter received by a client and which will relate to many contractors who were involved in what is commonly called “Loan Charges”. There are no details which can identify our client and the client is happy for us to reproduce this information.   Changes to...Read More

There have been a number of changes to the tax rules applying to residential property in recent years. The first significant “attack” on residential landlord’s in recent times was the restriction on tax relief for those Landlord’s who had borrowings relating to their residential property business. This affects only individuals and partners, not limited liability...Read More

There are exemptions for some trivial benefits given to an employee and to a limited extent a director of a close company. A trivial benefit is one that: Costs £50 or less (including VAT); If it is a voucher, it cannot be convertible into cash; Isn’t a reward for service or in any way contractual;...Read More

In all likelihood you will be aware that IR35 changes mooted for April 2019, have been delayed until April 2020. This gives us an opportunity to explore alternative options and to this end we are holding a seminar on 24 April to be presented by Paul Mason of Abbey Tax. Paul is an eminent and...Read More

Contractors who work through personal service companies (PSC)and contract to private sector businesses will see their contracts brought under tighter scrutiny from April 2020. It will be the role of the private company to decide if the contractor is working under a contract and has the working practices which would indicate them to be working...Read More

What is it? It is a part of HMRC’s ambition to become one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world. It commences on 1 April 2019 with VAT. All UK businesses that are VAT registered and above the £85,000 VAT threshold will be required to keep their records digitally and submit VAT...Read More

For those people not living in and around Aberdeen it is reasonable not to know of the controversy over Aberdeen Football Club’s proposed new stadium to the east of Westhill, but within the Aberdeen City boundary. Let me first of all nail our colours to the mast; we are wholeheartedly in favour of the new...Read More

Following setbacks in court, HMRC have decided that they are changing how the Flat Rate Scheme (FRS) operates. We are somewhat bemused by their headlining of the changes as “tackling aggressive abuse of the VAT Flat Rate Scheme”, since as far as we can see all that businesses have done is followed the rules and...Read More

Dealing with the Revenue on a daily basis, I have to say that the times we live in at the moment are the most turbulent I’ve ever experienced. Local offices have disappeared at a rate of knots. The drive to centralisation is relentless. Call centres seem to be at the heart of day to day...Read More

All of 2015 has seen huge changes in the Oil industry in the North East, most of it very unpleasant. A massive fall in the price per barrel has seen drastic cuts in personnel and overheads. At the time of writing no-one can with any degree of confidence tell us when the price will bounce...Read More