HLAS

Business and employees are both constantly looking for ways to optimise their financial strategies. One often overlooked strategy in doing this is salary sacrifice. Salary sacrifice involves an agreement between an employee and their employer to reduce the employee’s salary in exchange for certain non-cash benefits. While it may seem counterintuitive at first glance, salary sacrifice can be a useful tool for saving taxes for both parties involved. Benefits for the business For a business, implementing salary sacrifice schemes can lead to good tax savings. For instance, offering non-cash benefits such as pension contributions or cycle-to-work schemes in exchange for [...]

A couple of changes were made to capital gains tax (CGT) allowances and tax rates in the Spring Budget that will be of particular interest to anyone that owns residential property in addition to their own home. Annual exemption Each individual has a CGT annual exemption – an amount of capital gain that you can make without paying any tax on it. This is being reduced for 2024/25 to £3,000 (currently £6,000). This means that anyone selling capital assets, such as property or shares, will pay more tax. Since we still have a few weeks before the start of the [...]

Penny Appeal, a charity based in Wakefield, have been ordered to stop sending unsolicited marketing texts by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The charity sent more than 460,000 unsolicited texts over a ten-day period to 52,000 people who had either not provided consent or had clearly opted out. The texts were sent at the time of Ramadan in April and May 2022 to encourage people on a daily basis to donate. 354 complaints were made, including the complaints that texts were often received late at night. The ICO’s investigation found that the charity had worked from a new database where [...]

The Charity Commission has published new guidance designed to help charities when they face decisions over whether to refuse or return a donation. Generally, the starting point for a charity is to accept donations given to the charity. However, they are certain circumstances where they must refuse a donation and the new guidelines help to make this clearer. The guidelines set out the type of donations that legally must be refused or returned. These include donations received from illegal sources or come with illegal conditions. An example would be where the donation has come from terrorist or other criminal activity. [...]

2024 seems to be a good year to be a small business. The UK Government is doubling down on its commitment to the nation’s 5.5 million small businesses by announcing the launch of a new Small Business Council. Small businesses are the backbone of the UK economy, comprising 99.9% of all businesses and supporting a staggering 27 million jobs across the country, with an annual turnover of £4.5 trillion. Recognising their pivotal role in the UK economy, the government has declared 2024 as the year of the SME. The Small Business Council is tasked with working alongside the Prime Minister’s [...]

Multiple Dwellings Relief (MDR) is a stamp duty land tax (SDLT) relief that is currently available if you buy two or more residential properties in a single transaction or a series of linked transactions. It allows the rate of tax to be calculated based on the average value of the properties purchased rather than the aggregate value, which saves SDLT on the overall purchase. The relief was originally intended to promote investment in residential property and increase the amount of private rented houses available. However, an external review initiated by the government has concluded that the relief has not really [...]

A consultation was launched last week to look at ways to make food labelling fairer and clearer. This is part of an initiative looking at how to give shoppers more information about how and where the food they buy is produced, and to give the products of British farmers better recognition. The proposals should help shoppers to make decisions that align with their values. As an example, imported pork may be cured into bacon in the UK and feature a Union Jack on the packaging. It should be obvious to consumers that the pig was reared abroad, which might be [...]

In times of economic uncertainty or because of operational challenges, you may find your business is facing tough decisions, including the possibility of redundancies. While such situations can be daunting and emotionally challenging, careful consideration and planning can help reduce the impact on both employees and the business as a whole. In this article we discuss some key factors that a business should consider when contemplating redundancies. Assess the situation Before making any decisions, conduct a thorough assessment of your business’ financial health, operational needs and long-term viability. You will want to look at trends in your business’ revenue as [...]

Tax-Free Childcare is available to working families to help them save on their childcare costs. However, many may not be making use of this provision and with the Easter break soon upon us, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is encouraging families who have not yet signed up to consider doing so. Tax-Free Childcare can be worth up to £2,000 annually per child, or £4,000 if the child is disabled. It can be used to help pay for approved childcare for children aged 11 and under, or 16 and under if they have a disability. The way it works is that [...]

The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) has attracted a lot of criticism since its introduction because of the way it penalises couples that have a single high earner. Currently, a couple where the two parents both earn £49,000 each are unaffected by the HICBC. However, another couple where one parent earns £60,000 while the other parent doesn't work lose their entire child benefit amount. To reduce this unfairness, the Spring Budget increased the ‘high-income’ threshold from £50,000 to £60,000 with effect from 6 April 2024. Not only that but the HICBC will now be calculated at 1% of the [...]