Huge tax bill because of advice from a mate down the pub
Today’s Blog is a classic example of not taking tax advice from a ‘mate down the pub’ and concerns a locum doctor’s £160k travel and subsistence expense claim falling down when subject to scrutiny at the First Tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) who found that he’d submitted “impossible” figures and made deliberate errors. Background Doctor Nwaneri […]
Tax avoidance, is it worth it?
Let’s start with a couple of truisms, tax evasion is against the law, whilst tax avoidance is a legal means of reducing your tax bill. That being said, it is also true that not all tax avoidance is legitimate. Are you with me so far, good; but no-one should be in any doubt that every […]
Should you save, invest or overpay your mortgage?
Today’s Blog is targeted at the lucky cohort of individuals would have bought their own home, albeit with probably a hefty mortgage from their bank, and who have some spare income or perhaps a lump sum that’s been saved up. The question is, do you save your extra cash, invest it or use it to […]
Employment Rights Act 2025
Labour’s flagship policy on employment, as encapsulated in ‘The Employment Rights Act 2025’, is now in force. As is usual with political parties, the implementation of some of the more controversial changes, have been delayed until April 2026, and a quite a few until 2027. So, if you’re an employer, what do you need to […]
Is the value of your state pension under threat?
It’s common knowledge that the state pension has an annual increase every April, but I suspect that very few of you fully understand the mechanisms involved in calculating the annual rise percentage, which is normally announced in November, for the following year. Unfortunately, whilst the headline percentage increase for 2026/27 of 4.8%, was splashed all […]
Pension Drawdown
The Budget I will start this week’s Blog with a disclaimer as you might be expecting a Blog today on Rachel Reeves’ second Budget. This will be posted next Friday as at this stage all I could have done is provide you with a list of the main changes, together with my initial observations. Any […]
‘It’s not my fault’ says Rachel Reeves
In her speech on Tuesday, the Chancellor strongly hinted that the Budget will be painful, not because of what she’s done but because of the actions of others. She then claimed that the pain to come will be worth it, to tackle the country’s debt mountain, help public services and promote growth. Who did she […]
Is it time to change the VAT threshold?
With the budget less than a month away, there are strong rumours that the Chancellor is considering making changes to VAT to increase the amount of tax collected and boost investment. The run-up to a Budget inevitably sees a swirl of rumours and speculation and this year is no exception. In fact, it’s hard to […]
Isn’t it about time we had an accountant in No. 10
I will start today’s Blog by admitting that on this week’s topic, I am a teeny-weeny bit biased, but for good reasons I believe. It seems inconceivable, that there hasn’t been a Chancellor of the Exchequer in living memory who has held any form of accountancy qualification or even experience. Yes, a few have had […]
VAT – A quirky little tax!
I will start today’s Blog with a brief history of Value Added Tax in the UK. VAT was introduced in 1973, replacing Purchase Tax and is the third-largest source of government revenue after Income Tax and National Insurance, amounting to over £167bn in 2024-25 (15.4%, of all tax) . Over the years, different governments, both Labour […]
