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‘Deathbed’ inheritance tax (IHT) planning should be avoided where possible. It is often difficult, and also potentially risky because if the planning backfires it will probably be too late to do anything about it.

Mark McLaughlin warns that a ‘deathbed’ inheritance tax planning arrangement can have unfortunate consequences if not handled correctly. 

There is an old saying that goes broadly: ‘When you owe the bank £1,000 and you cannot pay, you’ve got a problem; when you owe the bank £1 million and cannot pay, the bank has a problem’. 
This article looks at the approach to bad debts and particularly doubtful debts, as is commonly termed ‘provision for bad and doubtful debts’. In particular, why HMRC might disagree with the timing of a corresponding tax claim.

Lee Sharpe looks at provisions for bad debts and when they should be allowed for tax purposes.

HMRC has recently written to individuals who, between 6 April 2019 and 5 April 2023, received a director’s loan that has been released or written off and who may not have declared the amount written off as income on their self-assessment tax return. The letter explains what action you might need to take.

Sarah Bradford explains what to do if you get a letter from HMRC about a director’s loan which has been waived or released.

For tax years preceding 2024/25, a business could only enter the cash basis if its turnover was less than £150,000 per year, and it had to leave once its turnover exceeded £300,000. 

From the start of the 2024/25 tax year, the turnover threshold has been removed, with the cash basis being made the default way for businesses to calculate their taxable profits, although accrual accounting can still be used should a business wish to do so. 

Joe Brough explains how the transitional rules should be applied when eligible businesses make the switch from accruals accounting to cash accounting following their change to the default basis of calculating taxable profits from 2024/25. 

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.