Business

Draft legislation released in July contains more bad news for those renting out residential property. The Finance Bill 2018/19 draft legislation published just before the summer holidays has confirmed the following measures: From 6 April 2019, the rules for rent-a-room relief (which exempts up to £7,500...

The way savings are taxed is being reviewed by the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS). The OTS is looking at the way in which savings and investment income is taxed, which can be very complicated. According to its paper, published in May 2018, “the interactions...

The income threshold at which student loan repayments begin rose on 6 April 2018. English and Welsh students who started their courses after 31 August 2012 can now earn £25,000 a year – up from £21,000 – before they have to start repaying their student...

With Brexit now less than a year away, how insular are your investments? Brexit – or more accurately the start of the transition/implementation period of the UK leaving the EU – begins on 29 March 2019. By the end of the following year, the UK’s...

There are advantages to planning your ISA investments around the start of the tax year. With ISAs all the taxation benefits occur after investment is made, yet the focus is often on year-end contributions. Various articles on ISAs filled the weekend press in March, and...

  A recently released report shows dividend payments in the UK grew more than 10% in 2017. The report included good news for investors, as UK listed companies paid out £94.4 billion of dividends in 2017. This was up 10.5% on the previous year and a new...

Investors and their advisers should start to turn their focus to the end of the tax year on 5 April. ISA contributions have historically always been focused on the end of the tax year. This is the case even though it would make more sense to...

Last month saw another Budget – for Scotland, this time.  The Scottish Budget in the middle of December contained potential omens for the whole of the UK with its proposed changes to income tax bands and thresholds. In the foreword to the main Budget document,...

November marked the first rise in the Bank of England Base Rate in over ten years. At the start of November, the Bank of England raised its base rate for the first time since 5 July 2007. Just over a decade ago, the previous increase...