IHT Planning alongside Grandchildren
IHT Planning alongside grandchildren – An exciting time for children but not so much for their parents if they have not made financial provision to plan for this expense. And expensive it is! Not only the major items like tuition fees and accommodation but what about the cost of living – rent, bills, food, books, […] Continue reading
The Rules of the Lifetime ISA as it stands
The Rules of the Lifetime ISA as it stands :- Much has been theorised about the Lifetime ISA since it was announced. The questions is, will LISA be beneficial or not to savers? Following the initial announcement of LISA an updated technical note was published on 15 September 2016. This followed detailed discussions with the […] Continue reading
Dividend Changes to Trustees
Dividend Changes to Trustees On the surface, the new dividend tax rules may appear to be bad news for trustees – there’s no £5k dividend allowance for them and trust dividend tax rates have increased. But scratch a little deeper and the impact on the levels of income received by beneficiaries may not be as bad […] Continue reading
Property landlords tax changes
Tax changes for property landlords (buy to let) : It was announced at summer Budget 2015 that tax relief available to landlords of residential properties for finance costs will be restricted to the basic rate of income tax. This will be phased in from April 2017 and will be fully in place from 6 April […] Continue reading
When £5,000 of dividends are not tax free?
When £5,000 of dividends are not tax free? The legislation that followed detailed that this is not an allowance (such as the personal allowance). It was actually a zero rate of taxation that would be applied to the first £5,000 of dividends received by an individual. Whilst that may seem to be a technicality, it […] Continue reading
The Lifetime Allowance (LTA) Rules
The Lifetime Allowance (LTA) Rules Pensions may still be the best place for savings even though individuals have reached their lifetime allowance. And yet this appears to be a watershed for many. Pension funding is possibly being switched off without a thought. But such drastic steps should only be taken if there is a better financial […] Continue reading
Companies investing in Life Assurance Bonds – Inheritance Tax (IHT) Business relief
Companies investing in Life Assurance Bonds – Inheritance Tax (IHT) Business relief Business relief, or Business Property Relief (BPR) as is it often called, gives a substantial relief from tax. It reduces the value transferred by either 100% or 50% depending on circumstances. The legislation, Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA), is ‘designed’ to give relief […] Continue reading
Looking after the grandchildren – IHT Planning
Looking after the grandchildren – Inheritance Tax Planning Pension flexibility has made pension contributions much more attractive as a means of funding an individual’s own retirement as there is 100% access but also because of the death benefit options. Cascading your wealth through the generations via your pension can be a great way to look […] Continue reading
Attorneys and court appointed deputies
Guidance for attorneys and court appointed deputies On 18 May 2016, the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) published advice for attorneys and court appointed deputies when making gifts on behalf of another person. In broad terms, the rules on making gifts are designed to protect the person’s best interests and ensure that attorneys and […] Continue reading
The power of diversity for retirement planning – retire tax efficiently!
Recently released figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) show that £5.9bn has been withdrawn since the pension freedom reforms came into force in April 2015. Although signs are that the numbers of people accessing their pension is beginning to reduce, this has no doubt provided a welcome tax boost for HM Treasury. But […] Continue reading
What do dividend tax changes mean for trustees?
From 6 April 2016 dividends paid by UK companies and UK authorised mutual funds (i.e. Unit Trusts and OEICs) that are taxed as dividends (i.e. 40%+ invested in equities) no longer come with the non-reclaimable 10% tax credit. However, individuals will in future get a £5,000 dividend allowance, meaning dividends up to this amount will […] Continue reading
LISA – a new arrival to the tax planning family
The new Lifetime ISA has created more choice when saving for retirement. Rather than act as a pension replacement, the new Lifetime ISA will offer additional tax relieved savings for young savers – to save for their first home or as a top up to their pension saving. But there’s a danger that some of […] Continue reading
Budget 2016 – what this means for you
Budget 2016 It’s business as usual for pension saving as the Chancellor confirmed there will be no imminent changes to pension tax relief. And the introduction of the new LISA saving vehicle from April 2017 adds another attractive complementary option to the saving landscape. Taken together with cuts in CGT rates, further boosts in income […] Continue reading
Pension Planning for business owners – Best way to extract profits
Pension Planning for business owners Business owners are having to rethink the best way to extract profits from their company and pensions are most definitely in their thoughts. Changes to how dividends will be taxed from April could see a reduction in the spendable income they currently receive. A pension contribution could be the best […] Continue reading
High earners – the race is on to maximise Pension funding
The impending Budget has ramped up the urgency for high earners to top up their pension funding. These individuals may see their annual allowance (AA) cut from £40k to £10k from April. But there is also likely to be an announcement on the outcome of the pension tax relief review on 16 March and there’s no […] Continue reading
10 pension funding opportunities not to be missed
Pension Funding Opportunities The following contains the 10 pension funding opportunities not to be missed. Pensions remain the most tax efficient way to save for retirement. And the new freedoms have removed any lingering barriers to accessing funds and passing on unused funds on death. With further cuts to funding limits around the corner, maximising […] Continue reading
The Residence Nil Rate Band – 10 Important things
The Residence Nil Rate Band – 10 important things You could save as much £140,000 in IHT when the family home passes to your children on death. The new IHT Residence Nil Rate Band (RNRB) will be introduced in April 2017. It is in addition to an individual’s own nil rate band of £325,000, and […] Continue reading
Tax and Pension Legislative changes of 2015
Tax and Pension Legislative changes of 2015 The tax and pension legislative landscape rarely remains still for long. But 2015 heralded significant changes which could affect individuals, both now and in the future. 1. New pension income options Radical changes last April heralded possibly the biggest shake-up to UK savings and pensions ever. Defined contribution (DC) […] Continue reading
ISA Allowance on Death – Additional Permitted Subscription
Introduction Since 3 December 2014, where a person holding an ISA dies and that person was married or in a civil partnership, the surviving spouse/civil partner is entitled to an extra ISA allowance equal to the value of the ISA(s) held by their spouse/civil partner (even where the spouse/civil partner does not actually inherit the […] Continue reading
Dividend changes – what it means for investors
Next year will see major reforms to dividend taxation. There will be both winners and losers when the £5,000 annual dividend allowance is introduced next April. Higher rate taxpayers could be better off by up to £1,250 a year (£1,530 for additional rate taxpayers) but some basic rate taxpayer could be worse off by as […] Continue reading
Profit extraction – Dividends & Pensions
The tricky business of profit extraction – Dividends & Pensions The dividend changes will strengthen the case for business owners using pension contributions to extract profits from their company tax efficiently. Many directors of small and medium sized companies may be facing an increased tax bill next year as a result of how dividends will […] Continue reading
How the 2015-2016 PIP rules work
2015-2016 PIP Rules. The Pension Input Period (PIPs) rules are to be simplified so that all pension funding is measured across the tax year from 6 April 2016. Aligning all PIP with the tax year makes it much easier for the vast majority of individuals to understand how much they can pay into their pension […] Continue reading
Your top ten Budget questions answered
The Budget and Finance Bill have seen a significant surge in the number of queries we’ve been receiving. This special Budget Insight takes a look at your top ten questions to us and how this might affect your clients and the future advice they may need. Top ten Budget questions answered:- Hot topics have included; […] Continue reading
2016 annual allowance cut for high earners
Pensions – 2016 annual allowance cut for high earners – a window of opportunity? Some high income individuals will face a cut in the amount of tax-efficient pension saving they can enjoy from 6 April 2016. This might be the trigger to maximise pension funding this tax year for individuals likely to be affected now […] Continue reading
2016 PIP changes give 2 bites at the AA cherry
2016 PIP changes gives two bites at the AA cherry The move to simplify the pension input period (PIP) rules potentially gives some individuals two bites at the annual allowance (AA) cherry this tax year. Not everyone will benefit, but some individuals will have an extra AA of up to £40k to use before 6 April 2016. […] Continue reading
Why Review Your Defined Benefit Scheme?
Why Review Your Defined Benefit Scheme? Aspect Current Scheme Personal Pension/SIPP Control The Scheme Investment Options are chosen by the Trustees. This is designed to meet the cost of the benefits. The benefits may be adversely affected by changes to the company or scheme. The company can wind up the scheme and transfer benefits to […] Continue reading
Budget 2015 : At-a-glance
Budget 2015 George Osborne has delivered his seventh Budget as chancellor, the first for a majority Conservative government since November 1996. Here is a summary of his main announcements. Personal taxation and pay New national living wage will be introduced for all workers aged over 25, starting at £7.20 an hour from April 2016 and […] Continue reading
Pensions and Divorce
Pensions, Divorce and Freedom A solicitor dealing with divorce may find that the new legislation causes issues which they had not anticipated. Financial advisers can help them through this time by pointing them in the right direction in relation to material which explains the basic changes to legislation but also by pointing out areas which […] Continue reading
2015 Budget for all
2015 Budget for all Modern Budgets have become a piece of political theatre and George Osborne certainly didn’t disappoint in this respect, scoring points, almost at will, at the expense of his political opponents. The difficulty in analysing a 21st century Budget is the “timeline”. This Budget contained a restatement of many previously announced items […] Continue reading
Pension or ISA ?
Pension or ISA ? It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself – Epicurus Accepted logic is, for savings where access is required before age 55 ISA’s are a great option, but with pension freedom upon us and unlimited access pensions […] Continue reading