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Given the increase in school fees over the last 20-30 years, and more particularly since January 2025 with the application of VAT to such fees, there has never been more incentive to pay those fees in a more tax-efficient manner.

Chris Thorpe outlines some of the potential traps in using trusts to pay school fees. 

Business property relief (BPR) is a valuable inheritance tax (IHT) relief, despite the restriction in relief at the 100% rate to the first £2.5m of an individual’s relevant business property from 6 April 2026. Above that threshold, the BPR rate reduces to 50%. However, any unused 100% relief allowance can be transferred to a spouse or civil partner.

Mark McLaughlin warns of a potential risk for business owners seeking inheritance tax business property relief and highlights a possible solution.

The difficulties of affording a house and the potential for help from the ‘bank of mum and dad’ are often discussed. Parents may be willing to assist and this will commonly be by transferring money to children and because there is no ‘gift tax’ on such payments, it might be thought that this is the end of the matter. However, there may be inheritance tax (IHT) implications.
 
Richard Curtis considers some of the inheritance tax implications of parents helping their children pay mortgages.

When a business incurs input tax on its purchases, it’s entitled to reclaim it from HMRC, provided the business has the correct evidence to make the claim.  But sometimes, through an oversight, it isn’t claimed on time; so, what are the rules for claiming back input tax late?

Andrew Needham looks at the procedures for making late claims for input tax.

In this article, PETs refer to potentially exempt transfers for inheritance tax (IHT) purposes; GWRs refer to gifts with reservation of benefit; and POAT to pre-owned assets tax.

Malcolm Finney considers whether giving assets away is always easy for inheritance tax and pre-owned assets tax purposes.

Putting a property in someone else's name can be sensible planning. However, it is not always straightforward, and documentation is key.

Consider the following scenario. A friend’s parents devised a genius plan: uncle needs to clear his mortgage of £200,000. Dad will buy uncle’s flat in Manchester for £200,000 to pay the bank, then let him live there rent-free. To help his two (adult) children, he decided to buy it in their names and instructed his conveyancer to draft the documents. 

Tristan Noyes highlights some of the potential difficulties in transferring a property interest to family members, from both a tax and non-tax perspective.

HMRC has stated that expenditure on business entertainment cannot be claimed as a deduction against profits (and is therefore also non-VAT-recoverable), even if a genuine business expense. 

However, that is not entirely correct – there are exceptions.

Jennifer Adams considers when business entertainment is allowable and circumstances in which it is not. 

The employment-related securities legislation deals with arrangements involving shares and securities provided by reason of employment where the full value of the employment reward provided to the employee is not included in the salary package and is charged to tax.  

Jennifer Adams considers the tax implications of shares in a family company being awarded or gifted to family members of employees. 

A sole trader looking to expand their business might be weighing up the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of a partnership or a limited company. They are very different, with not only very different tax consequences, but functions as well. 

Chris Thorpe looks at partnerships and companies and considers which business model might be best.  

Under the loan relationships rules for companies, debits on loan arrangements are not deductible for corporation tax purposes in some circumstances.

Kevin Read highlights a recent case concerning the loan relationship rules for companies. 

When HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) opens a tax return enquiry, the natural reaction of most taxpayers is to speculate about the reason why their tax return has been selected. In fact, HMRC does not need an excuse to open a tax return enquiry; a small proportion of tax returns are simply selected at random. . 

Mark McLaughlin looks at whether a taxpayer can find out if an HMRC enquiry has been opened as the result of an accusation made by a third party. 

When considering the tricky matter of remuneration planning, there are two things to consider; the amount of remuneration, and what form it takes. 

Chris Thorpe looks at what to watch out for with regard to paying employees and directors.

Despite the reduction in National Insurance contributions (NICs) in Spring Budget 2024, more employees are paying tax at higher rates on their earnings due to the freezing of tax thresholds. Some may find that any pay rise or bonus attracts additional tax and NICs such that the net pay increase is minimal.  

Jennifer Adams looks at some alternatives to rewarding an employee with a pay rise or a bonus. 

Mark McLaughlin looks at company purchases of own shares and warns not to become too focused on the more difficult rules for capital treatment. 

A company purchase of its own shares from a shareholder is a popular ‘exit’ strategy when an individual shareholder is retiring, or a dissenting shareholder is departing.