Welcome to our Spring newsletter

Our lead article deals with the Personal Tax Account (PTA). A number of our clients have asked about PTAs and we answer some of your queries here. The PTA is an early step in the long path the government has embarked upon in its Making Tax Digital project.

There are a number of welcome changes being made to the taxation of benefits on employees and directors with effect from 6 April 2016. We highlight one of these changes - the 'trivial benefits' exemption.

You may have a website but do you track your website statistics? Google Analytics is a free and easy to use online service that allows you to access information about the visitors on your website.

We summarise some of the issues charities may need to consider to ensure valuable tax exemptions are available.

Two articles deal with new taxes on certain aspects of property ownership:

• The prospective reduction of interest relief on buy to let properties needs to be considered by landlords now even though the restrictions do not start to apply until April 2017. Our detailed article illustrates the potential problem areas.
• The second article warns of the extra charges that may arise from April 2016 on certain property transactions. Supplementary rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax or Land and Buildings Transaction Tax may apply to some property purchases in the UK.

If you are a director-shareholder of a company, the issue of how to tax efficiently extract profits from the company from 6 April 2017 may well get more expensive but there are ways to ameliorate the position. We examine some of the opportunities in the savings income regime.

If you are an employer, we advise you to guide your employees in the right direction with a new tax break that may apply to them - the Marriage Allowance.

Finally, we include special briefings where we look in more detail at:

Year End Tax Planning
As now is an ideal time to turn your mind to a review of your personal and business tax strategies, we are including our ‘Year end tax planning’ guide which includes many tax efficient tips you may wish to consider.

Essential Employer Update 2016
Real Time Information reporting of payroll information is now firmly established and the end of concessions from the full rigours of the penalty regime is in sight.

Many more employers will need to consider the impact of auto enrolment on their business in the next few months. We clarify some points about the use of ‘postponement’.

Our Essential Employer Update also considers a new National Insurance rate for apprentices, tax codes, changes to benefits and expenses and the use or misuse of zero hour contracts.

Inheritance Tax Planning - new horizons
The introduction of the ‘residence nil rate band’ in April 2017 and the changes introduced for inherited pension funds from April 2015 potentially affect the IHT plans of many individuals.

Our briefing explains the additional exemptions potentially available with the residence nil rate band and the proposed ‘downsizing’ relief.

The new exceptions to tax charges on pension funds on death are also explained.

The changes may have a profound effect on IHT planning. All existing wills need to be reconsidered in the light of these changes.

Please contact us if you have any questions regarding any of the articles we have included in our newsletter or if you would like further information on a topic we haven't covered. Your views are always important to us and we would welcome your feedback.

Charities - doing the right thing

Disclaimer

Essential Employer Update 2016

Inheritance Tax Planning - new horizons

Managing tax rates if you are a director-shareholder

Marriage Allowance - are your employees missing out?

Property income - facing up to the interest relief restrictions

Reporting benefits is getting easier

Reviewing your website visitors

The dawn of Personal Tax Accounts

Watch the tax charge when buying a residential property

Year End Tax Planning