This update is only with reference to DCPUs with a payload of one tonne or more. DCPUs with a payload of less than one tonne continue to be treated as cars.

On Monday 12 February 2024 HMRC updated its guidance on the tax treatment of Double Cab Pick Ups (DCPUs), following a 2020 Court of Appeal judgment. The guidance had confirmed that, from 1 July 2024, DCPUs with a payload of one tonne or more would be treated as cars rather than goods vehicles for both capital allowances and benefit-in-kind purposes.

Since then, the government has listened carefully to views from farmers and the motoring industry on the potential impacts of the change in tax-treatment. The government has acknowledged that the 2020 court decision and resultant guidance update could have an impact on businesses and individuals in a way that is not consistent with the government’s wider aims to support businesses, including vital motoring and farming industries.

HMRC have today announced that its existing guidance will be withdrawn, meaning that DCPUs will continue to be treated as goods vehicles rather than cars, and businesses and individuals can continue to benefit from its historic tax treatment.

This move is resultant of the government making clear that it will be legislating to ensure that DCPU vehicles continue to be treated as goods vehicles for tax purposes.

The government will consult on the draft legislation to ensure that it achieves that outcome before introducing it in the next available Finance Bill.

This is great news as businesses that make use of DCPUs in their businesses will, in most cases, have the ability to write off the full cost of their investment.

The following notes explain the detail:

• The tax on the benefit-in-kind will now not increase when employers provide these vehicles to their employees; and the capital allowances available in the first year of use will now not be reduced when a business purchases this vehicle for use in their trade.
• This will ensure a continued generous and consistent treatment of DCPUs for capital allowances, benefit in kind, and VAT purposes, maintaining simplicity in the tax system.
• HMRC will withdraw its updated guidance during the afternoon of Monday 19 February 2024.

Arrangements that HMRC announced on 12 February 2024 to help DCPU owners adapt to the updated guidance are now redundant because the tax-treatment is not changing.

Skills Bootcamps help you develop new skills that employers are looking for. They are a great opportunity to train in a new industry or progress in your current career.

Types of Skills Bootcamps

There are hundreds of Skills Bootcamps available across many areas, for example:

• digital, including data engineering, software development and marketing;
• technical, including construction and engineering;
• green, including electric vehicle maintenance and heat pump technology;
• health and social care, including care management and well-being;
• HGV driving, including if you’re new to HGV driving or want to return;
• business and administration, including project management and insurance.

Skills Bootcamps take up to 16 weeks to complete. They are flexible, so you can fit learning around your family or other commitments.

Entry requirements for Skills Bootcamps

You need to be 19 or over to do a Skills Bootcamp. For most Skills Bootcamps, you do not need to have any previous knowledge in the subject. You just need to speak a good level of English and have a willingness to learn.

Some courses may have additional entry requirements, such as needing you to have a certain qualification or experience. If there are any, they will be listed in the relevant course details.

Qualification you will earn

You might get a qualification from your Skills Bootcamp but not all will offer you one. If you are offered one, the level of qualification you will get will depend on the provider and the course you’re doing.

You can read the details for each individual Skills Bootcamp to check if you’ll get a qualification at the end.

While you might not get a qualification, Skills Bootcamps will help you get a job or get a place on a different course that will give you a qualification at the end.

Find a Skills Bootcamp

Skills Bootcamps can take place at a college, another training provider or online.

You can find the right Skills Bootcamp for you on GOV.UK, then apply directly through the training provider’s website.

We have just passed the filing deadline for the 2022-23 tax year, and any 2022-23 returns filed after 31 January 2024 will be subject to late filing penalties.

However, this post is focussed on processing your returns for 2023-24 and the message is, lets get your returns processed as soon as possible after 5 April 2024.

What could delay this process?

• Salary earners – employers have a legal obligation to let you have a form P60 (that includes all your salary, tax and NIC details, by the 31 May following the end of the tax year. And shortly after this date, details of any taxable benefits (form P11D).
• Self-employed persons should have their accounts computerised, and with our support, accounts should be available for 2023-24 during the summer period.
• Company owners/directors – again, accounts should be computerised and up-to-date, which means information regarding any dividends, benefits or salaries for 2023-24 should be available during the summer 2024.
• Investment income from bank and building society deposits should be sent to you by post or be available from banking apps.
• Pensions income from non-State sources should by sent to you as a P60 form.
• You should be able to calculate the amount you have received as State Pension by totting up the receipts deposited to your bank statements.

For most self-assessment taxpayers this should cover the majority of the figures that need to be declared on their tax returns. And if this data is processed before the end of July 2024, you will have advanced notice of any taxes payable January and July 2025 in good time to consider how you will fund the payments.

Sooner rather than later

Access to information is best organised so that conclusions can be drawn well in advance of any filing or decision making deadlines. In which case, aim to have a comprehensive draft of your 2023-24 self-assessment tax return before August 2024. In this way there may still be time to consider any residual planning options and you will have six months to consider how you will fund any 31 January 2025 tax payments.

In a previous blog post we outlined the importance of reviewing your income before the end of the current tax year. The message was a simple one, any meaningful planning has to be implemented – for 2023-24 – before 6 April 2024, the end of the tax year.

A similar deadline applies to business planning, but the deadline is not focussed on the 6 April – unless your accounts year end is the end of March or the 5 April – but on the last day of your accounting year end.

Action, you take (or do not take) before the end of your accounting year end can have dramatic effects on your published accounts and any resulting tax liability.

For example, imagine you are a building tradesperson and need to buy a replacement van. Do you buy before the end of your accounts year, which is the 31 March 2024, or afterwards? Some of the issues you should be considering are:

• If you are self-employed, will you be able to offset the full cost of the van, say £20,000, if you buy before the 31 March 2024 or would you be advised to defer the expenditure to April 2024 as you estimate that the 2024-25 trading year will be more profitable?

Incorporated businesses, where the owners are paid directors and receive the bulk of their earnings as salaries and dividends, face more planning choices. For example:

• What options are on the table regarding the payment of year end bonuses? Should they be paid before or after the year end and as salary, dividends or some form of salary sacrifice (including pension top-ups)?

And don’t forget your bank manager. How will business funders react to your planning arrangements?

If your business year end is 31 March 2024 or during the spring/summer 2024, now is the time to consider your options. Pick up the phone. We can help you consider your options and arrive at a business plan for the current and following trading years.

More than 38,000 pubs will benefit from the six-month freeze on alcohol duty from 1 February 2024. According to HM Treasury:

• The great British pub receives further boost from I February as a six-month alcohol duty freeze to 1 August 2024 takes effect.
• This tax saving will help support around 38,175 pubs to face rising costs.
• Duty freeze comes in addition to £4.3 billion in business rates cuts and duty protection for pints sold in pubs.

“British pubs are a significant part of the fabric of communities across the UK and a further freeze on alcohol duty will help to support the sector while the government continues to bring down inflation while driving growth and investment.

“This will impact around 38,175 pubs across the country and was announced as part of a multi-billion support package by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in his Autumn Statement which also included £4.3 billion business rates relief.

“The six-month duty freeze, from 1 February to 1 August 2024, follows the biggest reform of alcohol duties taking effect last August, where, for the first time in over 140 years the UK’s alcohol duty system simplified so the duty paid reflects the amount of alcohol in it.

These reforms cut duty on pints in pubs by up to 11p when compared to the same product sold in supermarkets. Not increasing alcohol duty in line with inflation has now saved a further 3p to the duty on a typical pint of beer, 2p to a pint of cider, 4p to a glass of whisky, or 18p to a bottle of wine.