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Once upon a time, many people periodically emptied their loft full of old belongings they no longer needed and sold them at a local car boot sale to make extra cash. Nowadays, online platforms like eBay, Vinted and Gumtree have largely replaced car boot sales in the popularity stakes.

Mark McLaughlin looks at the tax position for those selling personal possessions, or buying and selling items, using online platforms.

The loan relationships regime applies specifically to companies (CTA 2009, s 292 et seq.). A write-off of a debt by a lending or creditor company may be ineligible for tax relief – even if the corresponding adjustment in the other company that benefits from the release is still taxable – where the loan arguably has an ‘unallowable purpose’. 

Lee Sharpe considers some relatively obscure anti-avoidance legislation, and how it may apply to smaller family companies.

In her Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024, the Chancellor announced a number of changes to capital gains tax (CGT) rates, some of which took effect immediately. This complicates the CGT calculation for 2024/25, not least because HMRC’s self-assessment calculator does not take account of the in-year tax changes. This means that if a taxpayer has made a chargeable gain in the period from 30 October 2024 to 5 April 2025, the self-assessment calculator will give the wrong answer. 

Sarah Bradford explains when an adjustment is needed to the capital gains tax figure for 2024/25 calculated by HMRC’s self-assessment return software.

Family investment companies (FICs) are now increasingly used for succession and estate planning. As I now get lots of accounting and tax questions about the various types of investments made by FICs, I thought it would be useful to examine the more prevalent points for our readers.   

Peter Rayney explains the ongoing accounting and tax treatments for typical investments made by family investment companies.

A company is a separate legal entity, distinct from the shareholders that own it. Consequently, if the directors and shareholders want to use the profits made by the company for their personal use, they will need to extract those profits first. There are various ways in which this can be done; some are more tax-efficient than others.  

Sarah Bradford considers options for extracting profits from a company in a tax-efficient manner in the 2024/25 tax year.

HMRC recently undertook a ‘One to Many’ letter campaign, wherein HMRC’s skilled data analysts undertake to mine nuggets from a huge range of sources to test for omissions or errors in tax returns. 

Lee Sharpe reports on HMRC getting all ‘Nancy Drew’ with its sleuthing over company reporting and shareholders’ dividend income returns. 

Some company shareholders may either be unaware or have forgotten about a relatively unknown capital gains tax (CGT) relief that offers a reduced CGT rate of only 10% on qualifying gains of up to £10m during their lifetime, if certain conditions are satisfied.  

Mark McLaughlin highlights a relatively unknown and infrequently used but generous capital gains tax relief.

Owner-managers can spend a significant amount of time and energy building a successful and profitable trading company.

Joe Brough looks at tax issues for business taxpayers and their tax advisers when a company is coming to an end.