Inflation Rises
Mr Carney prepares to write a letter as inflation rises The latest inflation numbers show prices rising at their fastest rate for nearly four years. The May inflation data came as a surprise to many pundits. The expectation had been for inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), to remain at April’s level […]
Worrying statistics for the retirement gap
A significant minority of people are heading for a retirement which is going to be very tricky to fund. They have neither a private nor a workplace pension. A new study by Aegon, the Readiness Report, found that as many as one in seven people aged between 55 and 65 face going into old age […]
After The election
And after the election… There is unfinished business for the new government to deal with. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. However, when it comes to general elections, there is plenty of history to suggest that tax increases are more likely in the first Budget to occur after the polls have […]
The Future of Income Tax
The electoral politics of income tax The 2017 election manifestos offered little good news on the future of income tax. Judging by the manifestos of the three main political parties, the days of appealing to voters by cutting income tax (and its alter ego, national insurance) are over: The Conservatives repeated their 2015 manifesto promise […]
Could you take on an apprentice?
With the cost of going to university soaring, apprenticeships are booming as the government makes them an attractive alternative to higher education and the debt a degree incurs. Is your company able to offer an apprenticeship scheme? Apprenticeship is a mix of learning on the job and formal tuition, allowing apprentices to gain a qualification […]
Government Reveals Payment Practices Regulations
From April, large companies will have to report their payment practices twice a year – including the average time it takes to pay supplier invoices. A guidance for large businesses to report payment practices, the ‘duty to report’ guidance, was published in early February and it states that from 6 April 2017, large companies and […]
HMRC, the ultra-rich and the not-so-rich
Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee thinks that the “government must take a tougher stance on taxing the very wealthy.” In 2009, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) set a specialist team to focus on the tax affairs of high net worth individuals (HNWIs is the jargon). At the time, HNWIs were defined as people with net assets […]
PAYE? OMG! – Decoding Financial Jargon
A recent survey of 2,000 people carried out by Nationwide, found that although 79% of participants knew what abbreviations such as OMG and LOL mean, only half correctly guessed the meanings behind financial terms such as APR and PAYE. A lack of basic knowledge and understanding of these terms can be a major contributor to […]
The End of the Tax Year: 5 April Reminders
As the end of the tax year nears, remember the 5 April is a multi-faceted deadline. In 2017, the tax year ends on Wednesday 5 April, over a week before Easter. The Budget is almost a month earlier (8 March), but that should not affect most tax year end actions. As a reminder, here […]
Government urged to reconsider business rates overhaul
Some firms are being faced with a huge rise in their bills, thanks to new rates due to take effect in April. Prime Minister Theresa May is being urged to reconsider “penal and unfair” rises in business rates which represent the first change in almost a decade. For the first time, the government will be […]
