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On a sunny Newcastle morning, Vera was reviewing her company’s January 2025 management accounts.  Vera was the sole director and 100% shareholder of Land Rovers 2U Ltd.  The business was on course for a healthy pre-tax profit of around £550,000 for the year ended 31 March 2025. She had been planning to pay herself a substantial ‘bonus’ before the year end. However, following the recent tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) changes, she was now a little perplexed and did not know whether it was best to pay herself a dividend or a bonus. 

Peter Rayney examines owner-managers’ cash extraction for 2025/26. 

Tax return enquiries from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are an ‘occupational hazard’ for those who file self-assessment returns. It is not uncommon for HMRC to request a meeting with taxpayers during a tax return enquiry. This is particularly the case for individuals with complex tax affairs, and self-employed taxpayers.

Mark McLaughlin considers how taxpayers might respond to a request by HMRC for a meeting during a tax return enquiry.

Making tax digital for income tax self-assessment (MTD for ITSA) is introduced progressively from 6 April 2026. Individuals within its scope will need to keep digital records and make quarterly returns and a final declaration to HMRC using MTD-compatible software. It will apply to individuals with unincorporated trading or property businesses in excess of the threshold. 

Sarah Bradford explains how traders and landlords can work out their making tax digital for income tax self-assessment start date, and what they need to do to comply.

English law, for historical reasons, distinguishes between two types of ownership: legal and beneficial. The latter type is of particular relevance in the context of land and certain financial instruments, but can apply in principle to anything that is capable of being owned. 

Fabian Barth explains which VAT treatment applies to the most common types of transfers of beneficial proprietary interests. 

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.