Working from home and claiming tax relief on expenses

As more of us are now working from home, more often, because of the recent impact has had on businesses and attitudes concerning the practice of working from home, how can employees be reimbursed for the extra expenses they incur working from home, and what exactly can they claim for? It comes as no surprise to find that many of us have had to work from home over the past couple of years. While…

Changes to the SME R&D tax relief

Changes announced late last year concerning the R&D tax relief scheme come into force on April 1 this year, are you ready? Aiming to put UK at the forefront of R&D and help companies compete on the world stage, the government has introduced various R&D tax reliefs, including R&D for small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), universities and charities, as well as R&D Expenditure…

Annual Investment Allowance explained: Tax relief for small businesses

The Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) is a form of tax relief that allows businesses to claim 100% of expenditure on specific categories of machinery and plants. The allowance is intended to encourage small to medium-sized businesses to invest, with a vision to stimulate growth in the UK economy. 
What has changed? The government has recently made a sizeable increase to the claim allowance, from…

Homeworking Tax Relief for Your Employees

The rules surrounding small or medium-sized business (SME) tax relief given for homeworking vary depending on whether you’re a sole trader, a partner (within a partnership), or an employee of the SME; even if you are also the owner. In this article we’re going to be looking at the tax relief available to employees. If you’re an owner-employee, or you employee others who occasionally work from…

Tax Relief on Pension Contributions

In an effort to encourage you to put something aside for your retirement, the Government provide varying levels of tax relief on private pension contributions, whether you’re placing money into a personal or workplace pension (or both). This tax relief on private pension contributions can be used to reduce the amount of tax you pay, or increase the size of your pension fund, with you being…

How to Get Corporation Tax Relief on Work Training Costs

If you’re the owner of a small to medium-sized business (SME) currently operating as a Limited company, you can receive Corporation Tax relief against work-related training costs occurred when you and your employees attend corporate training courses. Business Expense vs. Capital Expenditure In a recent article on how to understand self-employed expenses we gave the example of a self-employed…

The Social Investment Tax Relief Scheme Explained

In a move designed to help social enterprises access new sources of finance, the Government has unveiled the social investment tax relief scheme, encouraging individuals to support social enterprises by investing funds in qualifying social organisations across the country. Announced as part of Budget 2014 on 19 March, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne claimed that individuals…

How The Cap on Income Tax Reliefs Affects You

Last year the Chancellor announced the government was intending to introduce a cap on currently unlimited income tax reliefs, due to take effect from the tax year 2013-14. This cap has now been put into place, with HMRC having since published guidance on the new rules. The cap has been set at either £50,000, or 25% of your adjusted total income for the current tax year (whichever is the…

Green Taxes and Reliefs for Businesses

The general idea behind the government offering green taxes and reliefs to businesses up and down the land is to encourage you to act in a more environmentally friendly manner; whether you’re a large organisation using a significant amount of energy annually, or you’re a SME that hardly uses any energy at all. It should be remembered that, at a more general level, you can claim capital…