Optimising your marginal income tax rate

And if so, how to take away some of the pain

Nobody wants to fall out with HMRC but unfortunately there sometimes comes a time when, despite everyone’s best efforts (or even sometimes because of them), you’re faced with the prospect of litigation. For some, this may feel like a chance at vindication, for others the mere thought will fill you with dread. Whichever camp you’re in, before you take the next step, here are some key considerations to ensure the conduct of your case is both necessary and effective.

But should you attend a meeting with HMRC?

When HMRC advise you that they’ve opened an investigation into your tax affairs, it’s unnerving, to say the least. It’s also not uncommon in the early days of your investigation for HMRC to invite you to attend a meeting with them. Which begs two questions: are you obliged to attend and if not, should you go?

But do you have to send HMRC all the information they’ve asked for?

You’ve received the letter from HMRC announcing they are enquiring into your tax return.  HMRC will typically say what concerns them – a certain transaction or potentially omitted income or capital gain – and you’re into the first round of correspondence.

Bearing in mind our recent post about furlough fraud, the chances are that there’s more than a few people who will be facing an HMRC inquiry in the coming months.

We’re in the process of updating our website, and as part of that process, we’ve had cause to reflect on our values as a firm and what we think makes us different. These things are never particularly easy to articulate but, in our case, we believe that it’s a combination of factors, which include our understanding of what matters to our clients, the depth of our expertise, our approach when it comes to collaborating with other professionals and the long term relationships we take the time and trouble to establish.

Will it be guilty until proven innocent?

Financial support has been provided at an unprecedented level by the Government during Covid-19, and one of the most popular support mechanisms has been the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“CJRS”).  By the end of June, 9.3 million employees of 1.1 million employers had been furloughed under CJRS at a cost of £25.5 billion to the Treasury.

Some might say this is not a difficult question, but in a lesson learnt, the Yorkshire and England cricketer Adil Rashid has experienced a “googly” to rival one of his own from HMRC.

Protecting your wealth from Inheritance Tax

Investing in commercially operated woodlands is a way to protect your wealth from inheritance tax with other tax benefits too.  They are claimed to deliver impressive financial performance.