Business Tax Insider Monthly Newsletter

The end of a marriage (or civil partnership) is often difficult and stressful. Unfortunately, the tax rules could make a bad situation worse.

Mark McLaughlin points out that transfers of business assets as part of court orders in divorce proceedings can have unwelcome capital gains tax consequences. 

The tax legislation provides various reliefs for business losses, both for income tax and corporation tax purposes. The provisions include a specific relief for terminal losses.

Sarah Bradford outlines the tax relief available to business owners for terminal losses.

Stamp duty is in many ways a strange and archaic tax, although a lot of work has been done recently on bringing it more ‘up to date’.  

Alan Pink explains the new rules imposing market value on transactions in shares for stamp duty purposes, as included in Finance Act 2020.

Prior to February 2019, making research and development (R&D) claims was something of a minefield for small firms. Some claims were submitted with no more than a single figure included in the tax computation, representing the total qualifying R&D expenditure, while others contained extremely detailed information about the individual projects undertaken and the costs to justify the claim.

Iain Rankin looks at changes in HMRC’s new simplified claims procedure for research and development, and how small firms may benefit.

The decision on how to structure a business can make a huge difference to the amount of tax the business, and the individuals making up that business (e.g. spouses or civil partners), pay each year to HMRC.

Alan Pink considers the rival attractions of the limited company and partnership structures for husband and wife (or civil partner) businesses from a tax perspective.

The Coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating effect on businesses; many are struggling to survive severe financial difficulties.

Mark McLaughlin looks at the tax treatment of waiving salary and a potential pitfall.
 

Many family businesses were left struggling as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. A period of lockdown followed by the need to operate in a Covid-secure manner may mean that the business is no longer viable. Where this is the case, the decision may be made to stop trading and close the family company down. 

Sarah Bradford explores ways in which the family company may be shut down and the tax implications of each.
 

Recently, the issue of whether somebody is trading has conjured to mind images of toilet paper, and lots of it (i.e. due to a well-known and long-established case on whether a trade existed; see below). 

Lee Sharpe looks at how the perennial issue of trading status stacks up today.

For individual shareholders of family or owner-managed trading companies, a company purchase of own shares (CPOS) can be a useful ‘exit’ strategy in the right circumstances, subject to certain company law requirements being satisfied. Mark McLaughlin considers whether capital gains treatment on a company purchase of its own shares is always the best choice.

The Covid-19 pandemic has adversely affected many businesses. Unfortunately for some, the impact of the pandemic has meant that their business is no longer viable. Sarah Bradford takes a look at some of the implications of closing your business if you are a sole trader or run an unincorporated business.

Buy-to-let (BTL) ‘partnerships’ are probably at the peak of their popularity at the moment. In some ways this is surprising, for reasons we will come on to discuss. Alan Pink looks below the surface of some strange business arrangements, and points to some possible unintended consequences of partnership changes.

Thanks to Covid-19, many more of us have been spending more time working from home. Readers will be aware that the standard allowances for employees have been made a little more generous; but so far, no similar measures have been offered for the self-employed. Lee Sharpe looks at the basis of self-employed tax relief for working from home and warns that the standard deductions may not cover the full claim potentially available.