In the last 12 months, the UK Government has provided several schemes aimed at supporting businesses through COVID-19. These include the the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Scheme (CBILS), where the Government has agreed to back loans provided under these schemes to help businesses obtain funding and to encourage lending from loan providers. Under the SME R&D tax relief scheme, small and medium sized companies (SMEs) that engage in qualifying research and development projects may also claim enhanced corporation tax relief in relation to certain qualifying expenditure, and where the company is loss making, part of the loss may be surrendered for a repayable tax credit from the Government under ...

In light of delays, HMRC has announced that the deadline for registering certain trusts and updating records under the Trust Registration Service ("TRS") is likely to be extended from 10 March 2022 to 12 months after the date of the delivery of the upgraded TRS. The implementation of the EU’s Fifth Money Laundering Directive in the UK has had an impact on the registration of trusts, as more trusts are now required to register with the TRS who were previously not required to register (although there are still some trusts that are excluded from registration). HMRC's guidance (which can be found here) provides an overview of the Trust Registration Extension and those who are required to register. The Government in July 2020 set a regis...

Coronavirus Support Measures The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (i.e. the furlough scheme) will be extended until the end of September 2021. Whilst there will be no change to the terms for employees, as businesses re-open employers will be asked to contribute. From July, they will be asked to contribute 10% of the cost of unworked hours, rising to 20% in August 2021. The Self Employment Income Support Scheme will also be extended until September 2021, with those who filed a 2019/20 Self-Assessment Tax Return now able to make a claim. Restart Grants will be available to businesses in England of up to £6,000 per premises for non-essential retail, and up to £18,000 per premises for hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal c...

As part of the government’s coronavirus measures, businesses were given the option to defer their VAT payments between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020 under the VAT Payment Deferral Scheme. Initially, they were given until 31 March 2021 to pay any VAT liability accumulated in that period. However, it was later announced as part of the government’s Winter Economy Plan that these businesses would be able to opt to pay their VAT liability in up to 11 equal instalments over 2021-22 (interest free) using the VAT Deferral New Payment Scheme. Your Options In effect, if you deferred your VAT liability as part of the VAT Payment Deferral Scheme, you currently have three options for paying this: Pay the full amount of deferred VAT o...

Running a company imposes an abundance of filing obligations, those of common knowledge include accounts and company tax returns. However, there are also additional filing requirements that are often overlooked / incorrectly inputted despite the fact that omission / inaccuracy of these filing requirements can lead to fines and implications down the line. This article will highlight some of these filing obligations and the implications of failing to comply with these obligations. The Confirmation Statement The confirmation statement (annual return) is essentially just a check that the information Companies House has about a company is correct every year. Every company is required to submit one, including non-trading / dormant compan...

What is Domicile? Domicile is a concept of common law in the UK and each individual has only one domicile. Many people are unsure as to what this nebulous concept means; it is not the same as nationality, residence, or citizenship. Your domicile status is best defined as the country where your ‘homeland’ is, whereby the country in which you have a permanent home and where you plan to live indefinitely are two of the predominant contributing factors in determining this. Why is Domicile Important? Many people are internationally mobile; therefore, domicile helps to establish which UK tax rules are applicable to these individuals. The legal system where you are considered to be domiciled works alongside your residence status to ...

At PD Tax Consultants we value companies for all kinds of reasons, ranging from setting up employee share schemes to facilitating a management buy-out. In this article, we have provided a brief overview of the methods we typically use to value unquoted trading companies. It is important to understand that valuing companies is both a science and an art, and each valuer will make different judgement calls resulting in a differing result. With this in mind, it is often appropriate to use two or more valuation methods in order to ascertain a better idea of a value range and to ensure that the valuation reached is reasonable. 1. Maintainable Earnings Method The first and most commonly used method for valuing trading companies is the mai...

Efforts are being made by the Government to motivate businesses to own lower CO2 emission cars in the push to become a greener society. From April 2021, new tax measures - particularly relating to capital allowances - are being introduced to encourage and incentivise businesses to opt for more climate-friendly vehicles. First Year Allowances (FYAs) The Government announced during its last budget in 2020 that FYAs would be restricted to expenditure for new zero emission and new electric cars from 01 April 2021 onwards, with these FYAs being extended until April 2025. These allowances allow the whole of the expenditure incurred by the business to be deducted against trading profits in the period. It is important to note that the FYAs ar...

In the latest of a series of concessions made in light of COVID-19, HMRC has announced that taxpayers will not be issued with a late-filing penalty if they fail to submit their 2019/20 tax return by the 31 January deadline - provided that it is submitted by 28 February 2021. Whilst taxpayers who can submit their tax return by 31 January are encouraged to do so, the £100 automatic late filing penalty will not apply if the return is filed by the new deadline. It is important to note that taxpayers are still required to pay their tax bill by 31 January 2021, therefore interest will be charged from 1 February on any outstanding liabilities. Taxpayers who are unable to pay their tax bill on time can apply to spread the bill over a numb...

Only/Main Residences If you sell a property which is your only residence and has been your only home throughout your period of ownership, you will not be required to pay Capital Gains Tax ("CGT") if a capital gain arises on the disposal. This is because Private Residence Relief ("PRR') is available for the full period of ownership, reducing any chargeable capital gains to nil. This also applies if you own several residences and have elected for one to be your main residence for PRR purposes (please see our previous article Principle Private Residence "PRR" Elections: Your Options for further details of this). Additional Residences Furthermore, if you sell a property which is not your main residence at the date of disposal but...