Inheritance Tax (IHT) is due when a person’s estate (their property and possessions) is worth more than £325,000 when they die. This is called the ‘IHT threshold’.

The current rate of IHT is 40% on anything above the threshold. The rate may be reduced to 36% if more than 10% of the estate is left to charity.

Who pays Inheritance Tax

Usually the executor or personal representative for the person who has died pays IHT using the funds from the estate.

Trustees are responsible for paying IHT on trusts, which are a way of looking after assets (money, investments, land or buildings) for people. A trustee is a person who looks after the trust.

If you’ve got an inheritance or a gift from someone who has died you only owe IHT if their estate is more than £325,000 and either:

• it says in the will that you should pay Inheritance Tax
• the deceased’s estate can’t pay it

There are certain reliefs from IHT. These include estates that include certain business assets or agricultural property.

It is also possible to reduce any IHT due on death by reorganising your estate while you are alive. This can be done with the use of trusts or by gifting assets. As you can imagine there are complicated rules that set out how these strategies can be used. Additionally, any assets left to your spouse or civil partner (providing they are UK domiciled) are exempt from IHT.

Ever wondered how you can register a trade mark that makes your brand recognisable, for example a logo or a sound?

Registering a trade mark lets you stop other people from using it without your permission. A trade mark registration lasts 10 years and is only valid in the country of registration. You can renew it every 10 years. Company names and domain names aren’t automatically trade marks. Company names are registered with Companies House (so no-one else can register a company with the same name at the same registry). Domain names for internet use are registered with a domain registrar and are similarly protected.

If you want to protect your brand name or image you will have to go through a different registration process.

Register a trade mark in the UK

1. Firstly, you will need to check that your brand qualifies as a trade mark – you can’t change it after you’ve submitted an application.
2. Find out if an identical or similar trade mark already exists – it’s your responsibility to do a thorough search.
3. If a similar mark does not exist you can proceed to register your trade mark.
4. The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) checks your application.
5. The IPO makes your application public to give other people the chance to oppose it.
6. The IPO accepts or refuses your trade mark application – they’ll send you a certificate if they accept it.

If you are establishing a recognisable brand image the last thing you want is a competitor to capitalise on your hard work by plagiarising your trade mark. The best way to protect your investment is to register your trade mark. The IPO website explains how this can be done or you can employ a registration firm to do the form filling for you. http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-applying/t-apply.htm

Last week we published details of who is, and who is not, entitled to payment at National Minimum Wage rates. This week we have listed the current rates of NMW that apply.

There are currently three aged based national minimum wage rates and an apprentice rate, which are usually updated in October each year. The rates that apply from 1 October 2013 are as follows:

• for workers aged 21 years or more: £6.31 per hour
• for workers aged 18 to 20 inclusive: £5.03 per hour
• for workers aged under 18 (but above compulsory school age): £3.72 per hour
• for apprentices aged under 19: £2.68 per hour
• for apprentices aged 19 and over, but in the first year of their apprenticeship: £2.68 per hour

Apprentices aged 19 or over who have completed one year of their apprenticeship are entitled to receive the national minimum wage rate applicable to their age.

Note for employers:

Don’t forget that it’s a criminal offence not to pay someone the National Minimum Wage or to falsify payment records. Employers who discover they’ve paid a worker below the minimum wage must pay any arrears immediately.

HMRC officers have the right to carry out checks at any time and ask to see payment records. They can also investigate employers, following a worker’s complaint to them. If HMRC finds that an employer hasn’t been paying the correct rates, any arrears have to be paid back immediately. There will also be a penalty and offenders might be named by the government.

It’s the employer’s responsibility to keep records proving that they are paying the minimum wage – most employers use their payroll records as proof. All records have to be kept for 3 years.

 UK businesses should be aware that the Government are consulting on the possible release of data held by public departments, particularly, HMRC. We have reproduced extracts from a recent press release that sets out the scope of the present consultation.

“The data held by the public sector is among the most useful and valuable anywhere. This is why the UK Government is at the forefront in making a step change in the availability of data held by the public sector, with the potential to deliver significant public benefits.

… some of the customs data that HMRC holds has the potential to be used in ways which could generate real public benefits if made more widely available, without compromising the core principle of taxpayer confidentiality. In particular, the ability for HMRC to share and publish certain export data would enable HMRC to more effectively support and contribute to public and private sector initiatives to help UK exporters compete and prosper in the global market place.

This consultation proposes the release by HMRC of a limited set of exporter data alongside similar data that HMRC already makes available in respect of importers. Release of some exporter data would provide a number of potential benefits such as:

• greater visibility of UK exporters to new customers in the global market place;
• assisting developers to create exporter registers and online shop fronts to advertise and showcase UK exporters and their products;
• enabling those who provide export services to more easily identify their customers;
• helping importers to locate alternative UK suppliers.

There are likely to be further positive uses which emerge only once the data is available.”

The National Minimum Wage is the minimum pay per hour almost all workers are entitled to by law. It doesn’t matter how small an employer is, they still have to pay the minimum wage.

Who is entitled to the minimum wage?

Workers must be school leaving age (last Friday in June of the school year they turn 16) or over to get the minimum wage. Contracts for payments below the minimum wage are not legally binding. The worker is still entitled to the minimum wage.

Workers are also entitled to the minimum wage if they are:

• part-time
• casual labourers, e.g. someone hired for 1 day
• agency workers
• workers and home workers paid by the number of items they make
• apprentices
• trainees, workers on probation
• disabled workers
• agricultural workers
• foreign workers
• seafarers
• offshore workers

Apprentices under 19 or in the first year of a level 2 or 3 apprenticeship get an apprentice rate. All other apprentices are entitled to the National Minimum Wage for their age.

Not entitled to the minimum wage

The following types of workers aren’t entitled to the minimum wage:

• self-employed people running their own business
• company directors
• volunteers or voluntary workers
• workers on a government employment programme, e.g. the Work Programme
• family members of the employer living in the employer’s home
• non-family members living in the employer’s home who share in the work and leisure activities, are treated as one of the family and aren’t charged for meals or accommodation (e.g. au pairs)
• workers younger than school leaving age (usually 16)
• higher and further education students on a work placement up to 1 year
• workers on government pre-apprenticeships schemes
• people on the following European Union programmes: Leonardo da Vinci, Youth in Action, Erasmus, Comenius
• people working on a Jobcentre Plus Work trial for 6 weeks
• members of the armed forces
• share fishermen
• prisoners
• people living and working in a religious community

 You won’t get minimum wage if you’re:

• a student doing work experience as part of a higher or further education course
• of compulsory school age
• a volunteer or doing voluntary work
• on a government or European programme
• work shadowing

Employers should note that HMRC have powers to enforce payment of the NMW in situations where workers have been underpaid.