You’re probably more than a little familiar with your personal tax allowance and tax band. But a survey in 2015 by the International Longevity Centre UK think-tank, revealed that a shockingly high proportion of people don’t understand fairly commonplace tax terminology, with only 20% understanding the term ‘marginal tax rate’. And the trouble is, not understanding your marginal tax rate could leave you with a tax bill well above 45%!

It’s fast becoming the impossible dream for some. Getting your foot on the property ladder or perhaps helping your children to do so is becoming a real financial stretch, particularly with all the other demands on your budget. Just saving fo the deposit is bad enough, let alone securing a mortgage once you’ve found your dream home.

Who doesn’t want something tax free? Individual Saving Accounts (ISAs) offer you exactly that: a chance to earn interest on your savings free of tax, even if you’re a higher rate taxpayer. But few people take full advantage of what ISAs can really offer.

So you’re the subject of a tax inquiry. Suddenly those folks at HMRC who hitherto have been almost impossible to get hold of, are breathing down your neck and showing a vigour and enthusiasm about your affairs that’s making you very uncomfortable. But a ‘tax inquiry’ can’t be too bad, you think to yourself as you slide the letter to the bottom of the “to do” pile and get on with more pressing business.

What do you do next?

The brown envelope is sitting on your desk and the letter inside has just informed you that you’re the subject of an HMRC tax inquiry. The chances are the bottom may have just fallen out of your stomach and you may be tempted by all sorts of reactions which may or may not include run, hide, falsify or ignore.

With ever-increasing car road tax rates and the squeeze on diesel, you could be forgiven for thinking the government hates cars. And with what feels like an increasingly complex company car tax regime, it’s not always easy to weigh up your best company motoring options.

Entrepreneurs’ relief is available to sole traders or partners selling or giving away all or part of their business. It is a capital gains relief and is also available to company directors and employees having 5% or more shareholding. If you are eligible for ER, you’ll pay tax at 10% on all gains on qualifying assets.

Inheritance Tax planning is often something which people put off. However, it’s important to understand the tax allowances and reliefs for Inheritance Tax purposes in order to take advantage of:

In our last post, we looked at the essentials of the new MTD for VAT regime, so in this post, we’re going to take a closer look at the provisions for keeping digital records.