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R&D Tax relief changes in April 2024 Research and development (R&D) tax relief has proven to be a powerful catalyst for encouraging investment in innovation for businesses across the UK, with recent figures available via HMRC revealing that the UK claimed over £7.6bn in total relief for the 2021-2022 tax year – which is a…

Changes to UK company law – 4 March 2024 Companies House will be introducing tougher checks on company names and data matching to remove inaccurate information and crack down on abuse of the register. The new rules have been introduced as part of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act which comes into effect from…

National Insurance credit scheme to tackle child benefit gaps The government will legislate to allow parents who have not claimed child benefit, including those affected by High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC), to apply for top-up National Insurance credits. The credits will be available for parents and carers, including those that fall within HICBC. The…

Payrolling of employment benefits from 2026 will change P11D requirements The reporting and payment of income tax and Class 1A National Insurance Contributions (NICs) on benefits in kind (BIK) will need to be made through payroll software from April 2026. The reporting change to employment benefits is part of HMRC’s plans for a move to…

HMRC received £345m in late payment interest charges The amount of late payment interest paid to HMRC has soared in recent years to £345.8m, nearly three times higher than the £127m recorded in the year to October 2021. A freedom of information (FOI) request has revealed the true amount of late payment interest paid to…

Creative Tax Relief Increased TV, film and video game production companies are set to benefit from an expansion of tax reliefs for the creative sector, with effect from January 2024, children’s TV, animated TV and animated film production will be able to claim an extra £42,500, while high-end TV, film and video game producers will…

Capital Gains Tax allowance reduces to £3,000 from April 2024 The capital gains tax (CGT) allowance is going to be halved from £6,000 to £3,000 in April 2024. The reduced allowance will come into effect from 6 April 2024 and due to the freezing of tax thresholds more people will pay CGT. Figures released indicate…

VAT investigations up 23% last year in 2023 The number of VAT investigations which were undertaken in 2023 was up by 23% as HMRC launched nearly 105,000 enquiries into unpaid VAT, particularly targeting mid-sized businesses. This follows a downturn in investigations during the pandemic. The volume of compliance investigations yielded an extra £11.4bn in unpaid…

Expansion of the VAT zero rate available on the installation of certain energy saving materials The VAT relief will cover electrical battery storage, water source heat pumps and diverters retrofitted to energy saving materials such as solar panels and wind turbines. The rules which will come into force on 1 February 2024 will be in…

Enterprise Investment Scheme Extended In the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor advised that the government will legislate to extend the lifetime of enterprise investment schemes and venture capital trusts for at least 10 years. This is excellent news for thousands of start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) who will continue to be supported each year,…