Tag Archives: tax advice

Not Just For The Rich – Part 3 [Tax Advice]

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The month of Easter brings with it the excitement of egg shaped chocolate, cute little bunnies and bank holidays. But, more importantly the new tax year has begun!

So for the final part of my free tax advice series here are some reliefs to bear in mind for 2014/15:-

  • Spend, spend, spend – A client of mine delivered 3 huge sacks of receipts to our office last year for me to sort through, which well & truly brought tears to my eyes! But it does highlight the importance of self-employed individuals keeping their receipts as it’s so easy to forget what expenses you have incurred. And please, be as savvy as my client was and organise as much of it as possible as you’re going along, you’ll be glad you did when it comes to filing your tax return at the end of the year.
  • More rewarding than a Saturday night takeaway – Putting the money away into a pension pot. Not only will this help keep your heart in good health but the Treasury will also add an extra 25% to your pot for every pound you pay in. In addition, if you pay higher or additional rate tax you can claim tax relief for the same amount.
  • Rent (no not the musical) – Urbanites like me will happily pay to live somewhere the size of a small shoe box so, if you have a spare cupboard or perhaps a spare room in your main residence and are willing to take on a lodger  the Rent-a-room rules, exempt from tax, rental income of less than £4,250. Additionally anything received over this amount is taxed on a more favourable basis, more details can be found on HMRC’s website here.

That concludes my 3-part series. As mentioned at the start of the series there is plenty of free tax advice available and not least of all on our very own Goodman Jones Blog page where our Google like search box will help you to explore or narrow the advice.

Not Just For The Rich – Part 2 [Tax Advice]

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The week has flown by and the excitement of the 2014 Budget has come and gone leaving us here at Goodman Jones with plenty of tax consequences and planning to appraise for the coming tax year.

​With that in mind here are some things to consider before we start the tax cycle all over again:-

  • Quids in –Most individuals are entitled to a personal allowance each year (£10,000 for the coming year 2014/15) which means that the taxman only get his mitts on income above this amount. For couples, this is a real opportunity to consider your income sources esp. investments and whether you’re making the most of both your personal allowances.
  • Check your PAYE code!! – The importance of this has already been highlighted by my colleague Alison Tutt. Read her blog here:
  • ISA, ISA baby – Don’t know what ISA stands for? Well, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you are putting your savings away in one. Why? Because all the income earned or gains made from an ISA is tax free!

Saving rates for Cash ISAs may seem too low to be worth the bother but the great thing about ISAs is that you can keep contributing into them (subject to a maximum each year, which for 2013/14 is £5,760). So, no matter how big the pot gets any bonus or interest earned in an ISA continue to remain tax free. Junior ISAs are available too.

​Dividends and gains from a stocks and shares ISAs are also free from tax, but always seek advice before investing in one. Although the amount you can invest is subject to an annual maximum (£11,520 in 2013/14 but reduced by any amount paid into a Cash ISA in the same tax year) anybody investing in the stock market should have one.

​NOTE: In the 2014 Budget it was announced that ISAs are set to become even better from 1 July 2014 when they become New ISAs (NISAs). The annual maximum investment in a NISA is £15,000 and this can be invested in a Cash or Stocks and Shares NISA or a combination of both.

​Freebies part 3 next week.

Not Just For The Rich [Tax Advice]

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I was recently reading an article which complained how the rich were able to get away with paying so little tax because they could afford to pay for tax advice. But a quick Google shows you just how much free advice is on the wonderful web. Moreover, you can get plenty of advice by joining the various blogs /forums where individuals are free to put their queries forward and advice will be fed back from a wide variety of opinionated users and, more importantly, advisors in the relevant industry.

So ‘doing my bit for mankind’ I have decided to do a series of 3 blogs giving free tax advice that everyone can take advantage of.

My first looks at two things to consider before we reach the end of the tax year:-

The giving gift – Charitable donations are eligible for higher rate tax relief and the relief is not restricted to just monetary donations, items which are donated to charity and then sold on are also eligible. Nowadays most of the high street charity shops are set up to take your details so they can write and tell you how much they’ve made from selling your donations. Also, if you make regular contributions each year, be sure to get it included in your PAYE code now as it will save you having to make the claim for relief at the end of the year.

One for the Pros – If you pay professional subscription/membership fees yourself and they are necessary or helpful to your job then you can claim to relieve the cost against the relevant income source. More details can be found on HMRC’s website here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-subs.htm

If you hurry and inform HMRC before 5 April you can claim relief for expenses incurred in years as far back as 2009/10.

More freebies to follow next week!