Why use a tax adviser or an accountant to prepare your personal tax return?
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(This is a sticky post, please find current news items below) By andrew cazalet in tax |
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Rather an odd question for a tax adviser to ask you might think? I was asked recently by someone why they should instruct me specifically to do their tax return which set me thinking...
There are many reasons of course but mainly clients tell me they want to be sure they are doing it right and have not missed anything they can claim ie for peace of mind.
Others are just busy people and want to park the hassle with someone else.
Even for pure advisory clients I find the process of completing the return helps identify areas in which a client had not realised there might be savings.
Some clients want a second opinion on personal and business financial matters. Many clients are in the financial area themselves and they could talk about it with friends and family but some people prefer a more confidential different voice.
There is a good article here albeit from a US perspective which explains why you can do better than just using google and online software. But then I would say that wouldn't I?
Budget 2009
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Thursday, 23 April 09 - 09:37 AM (GMT) By andrew cazalet in tax |
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Some thoughts and information re the Budget 2009
New Higher Rates of Tax
The new marginal rate of income tax of 50% applies to income over £150,000 starting from April 2010. This is above the planned increase of 45% and a year earlier! What has been less publicised is the progressive withdrawal of the tax free personal allowances by £1 for every £2 income exceeds £100,000. This means those earning between £100,000 and £112950 suffer a marginal rate of income tax of 60%.
Where possible it would seem sensible to advance income and pay tax now before 5 April 2010 at only (!) 40%. Or consider using a company to control the extraction of profit or maybe share options possibly taxed as capital gains at only 10-18%?
Further Extension of Carry Back of Trading Losses
The ability to carry back losses of up to £50,000 up to three years (instead of just one under the old rules) has been extended for unincorporated businesses to 23 November 2010 ie tax years 2008/09 to 2009/10. For limited companies the extension applies to those with accounting periods ending between 24 November 2008 and 23 November 2010.
Help with Time to Pay Taxes
The Business Payment Support Service http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pbr2008/business-payment.htm has been instructed to accept “time to pay” arrangements in a wider range of circumstances. The advisers have been asked to take account of reasonable estimates of current year losses in pressing for previous years taxes.
Relief for Pension Contributions restricted at Higher Rates
From 6 April 2011 the relief for pension contributions for higher rate taxpayers earning above £150,000 will be restricted gradually so that those individuals with an annual income of £180,000 or more will effectively receive only a 20% tax deduction, the same as a basic rate tax payer. This may mean that some individuals will only receive relief at 20% but will later be taxed on their pension income at 50%.
Furnished Holiday Letting Relief to be abolished
The relief for loss making short term letting businesses will be abolished from 6 April 2010. These rules currently allow the offset of losses often made on holiday letting income against other taxable income subject to certain conditions.
However in the meantime HMRC does accept that it cannot discriminate as it did previously against individuals owning property in the EU – as opposed to in the UK. This means properties within the EEA area now qualify for relief until it’s general abolition in April 2010.
Budget Funny!
Some tweets below captured live on Wednesday from inside the Treasury (allegedly)
“ BUDGET CONSULTATION: Please tweet us your ideas for the Budget as Alistair has not got a clue. The final TwitBudget will be published here.
BUDGET2009. Treasury msg to HMRC: Sh+tting ourselves here, we haven't finished writing the Budget yet and Alistair has gone AWOL
Budget2009 update: Alistair has locked himself in the toilet and won't come out. Gordon has called in MetPolice to break down the door.
Budget2009: Back of fag packets currently being assembled into final document
#budget09 Alistair forgot to say "minus" before the growth forecast figures for 2010 and 2011. Next government's problem anyway “
Hat tip for that to http://twitter.com/HMRevenue
You can follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/andrewcazalet
There is a good summary of the main general Budget provisions here
Please do get in touch if you have any questions or clarification. Feel free to pass this on if you know anyone who might be interested.
New Service – A Free Tax Health Check
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Tuesday, 04 November 08 - 09:59 AM (GMT) By andrew cazalet in tax |
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As a firm of specialist Chartered Tax Advisers with over twenty years of experience we are confident we can save most businesses and families money. We will review your accounts and financial affairs at no charge and make suggestions to save you tax. All this usually involves is rearranging your tax and business circumstances to take advantage of legally available reliefs for those in different circumstances. We will then give you a fixed fee quote to implement the strategy.
If you want to continue with your existing accountant for compliance services – tax returns, accounts etc we are happy to work alongside him or her. If you want a quote for a full comprehensive service we can of course provide this.
For this service qualified tax advisers would normally charge at least hundreds of pounds. We offer this service for free for a limited period until 31 December 2008.
We are based in West London but provide tax advice and tax consulting services for all areas of Central and West London – West End, Ealing, Mayfair, Knightsbridge, Chiswick, Fulham, Chelsea, Notting Hill, Belgravia, Bayswater, Kensington, Ladbroke Grove, Kingston, Marylebone, Barnes, Putney, Richmond, Wandsworth, Kew, Putney and beyond.
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