The recent Spring Budget did little to make the life of those letting, buying or selling property any easier. For example:

• The reduction in the higher rate of CGT on affected property sales from 28% to 24%.
• The removal of multiple dwellings relief for Stamp Duty Land Tax purposes.

These competing changes must make life tricky for buyers and sellers.

Landlords, repairs or capital purchases

Landlords, who have been completely flummoxed by a recent round-Robin sent out by HMRC, suggesting that the replacement cost of a boiler with a more efficient version was a capital purchase not a repair, are relieved that it is, after all, a repair and not capital expenditure.

Owners of Furnished Holiday Let Properties

Owners of Furnished Holiday Let properties, who have enjoyed several tax breaks for many years – as their FHL business was treated as a trade and not an investment – must be disarmed by the Chancellor’s stated intention to abolish the FHL status from April 2025. Presumably, from that date, FHL property income and gains will be treated the same as a buy to let rental or sale.

It will be interesting to see if any transitional arrangement are put in place to soften the transition from April 2025.

Meanwhile, present owners of FHL properties may be advised to seek advice on any actions to be taken before April 2025. But beware, government has confirmed that anti-forestalling rules will be applied from the date of the Budget (March 2024) to block methods that obtain CGT relief under the current rules by utilising unconditional contracts ahead of the new rules coming in in April 2025. Draft legislation on this will be published later this year so more information will be available at that time.

Is this a good time for property owners?

Probably not if you own FHL property, but homeowners should escape aside from the Stamp Duty changes.

Principle Private Residence Relief – in most cases, no CGT to pay when you sell your own home – is still in place. You can still let out a room in your home and pay no tax if the rents received are less than £7,500 per annum and you abide by the Rent-a-Room Relief rules.

And if you are concerned by any of the issues raised in this post please call

It’s interesting to consider the challenges that are plaguing small businesses at present. For example:

• A frustrating inability to reestablish profit levels to fund investment or to maintain the living standards of employees and shareholders.
• Cash flow constantly hovering at zero or at overdraft limits.
• Having to witness the slow decline in profits retained in previous years to maintain dividend payouts or absorb current losses.
• Making sense of the import and export rules since we left the EU.
• The impact of higher interest rates; particularly, meeting rising repayments and their effect on profits and cash flow.

Not an inspiring background if you are a UK SME.

However, those companies who can make way in the face of these opposing headwinds can leverage their hard won achievements to sing their own praises.

Success breeds success.

Rudyard Kipling had it right in his poem “If you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs…”

When your results evidence success, and you are in a minority at that time, then you will stand out from the crowd and be an attractive business partner.

In our experience, the one course of action that supports this positive business development outcome, is the willingness to engage in rigorous business planning. We can bear witness to this statement. And even if a business has to accommodate a reduction in profits for a period to meet external difficulties head-on, those affected who have flexible business plans in place will be the ones to weather the storm.

If you presently have no formal business plans, pick up the phone, let’s have a discussion to see how we could help and have your business stand out or the crowd.

One of the more impactful changes in the recent budget was the easing of the High Income Child Benefit Charge. Up to 5 April 2024, this has been recovering Child Benefits received by parents if the total income of one or more parent exceeded £50,000.

Basically, parents with income between £50,000 to £60,000 have had to repay all or part of their Child Benefits to HMRC as part of their self-assessment return.

Unfortunately, the following change will not apply to the present 2023-24 tax year or earlier years.

But from 6 April 2024, the lower limit is extended to £60,000 and the upper limit to £80,000. Accordingly, if the highest earner has income in excess of £60,000, for every £200 their income exceeds £60,000 they will have to repay 1% of the Child Benefits received, and when their income exceeds £80,000, effectively all Child Benefits received will have to be repaid.

The mechanism that HMRC use to facilitate this recovery is called the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC).

But what to do if you have been required to register for self-assessment for 2023-24 or previous years and the highest parental income for 2024-25 will be higher than the old £50,000 limit but lower than the £60,000 or £80,000 new limits?

Consider the following options:

• If you have previously cancelled your Child Benefits, as the HICBC charge would have recovered any benefits received. Consider re-registering for Child Benefits if the income of the highest earning parent is under £80,000.
• If you registered for self-assessment for 2023-24 or earlier years affected by the HICBC, and the income of the highest earning parent is now under the £60,000 lower limit, and as long as you are not required to submit a self-assessment return for any other reason, then you could apply to HMRC to withdrawn from self-assessment and the obligation to submit a formal tax return each year.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issued a press release recently reminding working families to save money on their childcare costs in time for the school holidays by making use of the Tax-free Childcare support.

With the Easter break looming, families yet to sign up for Tax-Free Childcare could be missing out on annual savings of up to £2,000 per child, or £4,000 if their child is disabled.

Tax-Free Childcare can help pay for approved childcare for children aged 11 or under, or up to 16 if the child has a disability. Parents can receive up to £500 (or £1,000 if their child is disabled) every 3 months, which means for every £8 paid into their online account, they will automatically receive an additional £2 top up from the government.

It takes just 20 minutes to apply online for a Tax-Free Childcare account and can be used to help pay for a child’s nursery, childminder, breakfast or after school club or holiday activity club. It can also be used alongside the 15 or 30 hours free childcare offer and to help pay for any specialist equipment needed for a disabled child when they’re attending childcare.

Once an account is opened, parents can deposit money immediately, so it is ready to be used whenever it is needed; and unused money in the account can be withdrawn at any time.

Families could be eligible for Tax-Free Childcare if they:

• have a child or children aged 11 or under. They stop being eligible on 1 September after their 11th birthday. If their child has a disability, they may get up to £4,000 a year until 1 September after their 16th birthday;
• earn, or expect to earn, at least the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage for 16 hours a week, on average;
• each earn no more than £100,000 per annum; and
• do not receive tax credits, Universal Credit or childcare vouchers.

A full list of the eligibility criteria is available on GOV.UK.

Eligible working parents of 2-year-olds can now register to access 15 hours free childcare per week from April 2024.

The offer will expand to 30 free hours of childcare for working parents from nine months old up to the date when their child starts school (by September 2025), and is set to save parents using the full 30 hours up to £6,900 per year.

Families can learn more about the childcare offers available to them and what could fit their family by visiting Childcare Choices.

As we have mentioned in previous posts, Companies House have been tasked with introducing a number of changes introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCT Act), that came into force on Monday 4 March 2024.

Changes introduced 4th March include:

• greater powers to query information and request supporting evidence;
• stronger checks on company names;
• new rules for registered office addresses (all companies must have an appropriate address at all times – they will not be able to use a PO Box as their registered office address);
• a requirement for all companies to supply a registered email address;
• a requirement for subscribers to confirm they’re forming a company for a lawful purpose when they incorporate, and for a company to confirm its intended future activities will be lawful on its confirmation statement;
• greater powers to tackle and remove factually inaccurate information; and
• the ability to share data with other government departments and law enforcement agencies.

New criminal offences and civil penalties will complement the measures introduced.

Companies House have confirmed that they will now be making their priority the cleansing of the register to remove details of those appointed without consent.

Companies House CEO Louise Smyth said:

“These new and enhanced powers are the most significant change for Companies House in our 180-year history.

“We’ve known for some time that criminals have misused UK companies to commit fraud, money laundering and other forms of economic crime.

“As we start to crack down on abuse of the register, we are prioritising cases where people’s names and addresses have been used without their consent. It will now be much quicker and easier to report and remove personal information that has been misused.”

As further changes mandated by the ECCT Act are introduced later this year we will post details on this blog.