Rent-a-room relief
The rent-a-room scheme is a set of special rules designed to help homeowners who rent-a-room in their home. If you are using this scheme, you should ensure that rents received from lodgers during the current tax year do no exceed £7,500. The tax exemption is automatic if you earn less than £7,500
Employees on full-time and part-time contracts
When a new employee is added to the payroll it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure they meet the employee’s rights and deduct the correct amount of tax from their salary.
HMRC’s guidance lists the following requirements that an employer must meet for employees on full-time and part-time
Changes to NIC from January 2024
A reminder that the main rate of Class 1 Employee National Insurance contributions (NIC) will be reduced from 6 January 2024. This change will see Class 1 NICs reduced by 2% from 12% to 10% in a change set to benefit some 27 million employees.
This reduction will only apply to annual earnings
CGT exempt allowance halving from April 2024
The annual exempt amount applicable to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is to be halved from April 2024. This means that the exempt amount will be reduced from £6,000 currently, to £3,000 from April 2024. The exempt amount was as high as £12,300 2022-23.
Any taxpayers with small gains should consider the
Tax Diary January/February 2024
1 January 2024 – Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 March 2023.
19 January 2024 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 January 2024. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 January 2024).
19 January 2024 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return
Planning changes to boost solar rollout
Homes and businesses will be able to install rooftop solar panels more easily, under new rules that were recently announced.
Changes to permitted development rights rules will mean more homeowners and businesses will be able to install solar panels on their roofs without going through the planning
What data do organisations hold about you?
If you are concerned that an organisation is holding personal information you have a legal right to ask for a copy of the information that they hold about you.
If it is a public organisation, write to their Data Protection Officer (DPO). Their details should be on the organisation’s privacy
Pensioner Cost of Living Payment
The Cost of Living support package has been designed to help over 8 million households in receipt of mean tested benefits. The details for Cost of Living Payments due in the 2023-24 tax year were published earlier this year and have recently been updated.
Eligible recipients will receive up to
Pension Credit deadline
Pension Credits can provide extra income to those over State Pension age and on a low income. The credits were first introduced in 2003 to keep retired people out of poverty.
Pension Credit can top up:
your weekly income to £201.05 if you are single; or
your joint weekly income to £306.85 if
Help to Save scheme
The Help to Save scheme is intended to help those on low incomes to boost their savings. Eligible users of the scheme can save between £1 and £50 every calendar month and receive a 50% government bonus. The 50% bonus is payable at the end of the second and fourth years and is based on how much