What is the UK and Swiss Tax Cooperation Agreement?
With the HMRC having recently sent out their first batch of warning letters to Swiss Account Holders, I though it may be useful to recap the details of the UK and Swiss Tax Cooperation Agreement.
The new information-sharing agreement was made between UK and Switzerland and came into force on 1 January 2013. The agreement covers undeclared Swiss bank accounts held by UK residents. This agreement changes the way that banking will be conducted in Switzerland and the information sharing enables HMRC to find out about Swiss offshore accounts held by UK taxpayers.
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HMRC warning letters to Swiss Account Holders
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) recently sent out their first batch of 6,500 warning letters to UK holders of Swiss bank accounts. These warning letters, sent at the end of September, advised Swiss account holders that they have a six week deadline to ensure they are compliant with the new UK tax laws which came into effect in January 2013.
Affected taxpayers are advised to consider using the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility to bring their tax affairs to order.
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Small business owners get £2,000 Employment Allowance Tax cut
The Employment Allowance tax cut will give businesses and charities up to £2’000 a year tax saving.
The planned tax cut will be introduced from April 2014 through the National Insurance Contributions Bill and is expected to benefit more than 1.2 million small businesses in UK. The aim of the Employment Allowance is to assist small businesses to grow by supporting the cost of employment. When this new regulation comes into force, it will result in approximately 450,000 businesses not needing to pay National Insurance Contributions at all.
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Health and Wellbeing Tax Plan | A new campaign for tax defaulters
The latest campaign from HMRC, the Health and Wellbeing Tax Plan, launched on 7 October 2013 and will run until 6 April 2014.
The Health and Wellbeing Tax Plan is a new campaign for tax defaulters, aimed at those who work in the health and wellbeing sector, including alternative medicine or therapy. It and is designed to encourage voluntary disclosure of income or gains that have not yet been declared to HMRC, allowing health and wellbeing professionals to bring their tax affairs up to date.
New tax break for married couples
If you are married or in a civil partnership, you may be able to benefit from the new tax break for married couples announced last week – a transferable tax allowance for married couples.
This new tax break will come into effect from April 2015 and will allow one individual to transfer a fixed amount of their personal allowance to their spouse or civil partner. The transferable tax allowance will only be available to couples where neither of the partners is a higher rate taxpayer.
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Childcare Vouchers | Tax-Free Childcare scheme
As you may be aware, the Government has announced plans to launch a new Tax-free Childcare scheme in autumn 2015 which will eventually replace the existing Childcare Voucher scheme.
If you are a parent currently receiving Childcare Vouchers, you may be impacted by the changes proposed as the new Tax-Free Childcare scheme will limit access to the scheme based on income and is targeted to working families, where both parents work. One of the key changes is that the scheme will no longer be administered through Employers, enabling self-employed and lower income families to benefit going forward.
Read on for further information and to see whether this change may impact you.
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