Efforts are being made by the Government to motivate businesses to own lower CO2 emission cars in the push to become a greener society. From April 2021, new tax measures - particularly relating to capital allowances - are being introduced to encourage and incentivise businesses to opt for more climate-friendly vehicles. First Year Allowances (FYAs) The Government announced during its last budget in 2020 that FYAs would be restricted to expenditure for new zero emission and new electric cars from 01 April 2021 onwards, with these FYAs being extended until April 2025. These allowances allow the whole of the expenditure incurred by the business to be deducted against trading profits in the period. It is important to note that the FYAs ar...

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is payable on the acquisition of land and property over a certain price in England and Northern Ireland. Different taxes apply if the land/property is located in Scotland (Land and Buildings Transaction Tax) or Wales (Land Transaction Tax). The tax payable is calculated using tax bands. Where the price/consideration for a property is higher, portions of the consideration may be subject to SDLT at progressively higher rates of SDLT. As a result of Covid-19, the government has confirmed that the residential rates of SDLT for property transactions between 8 July 2020 and 31 March 2021 are as follows: Property or lease premium or transfer value SDLT rate Up to £500,000 Zero The next £425,000...

HMRC have announced temporary changes to to the time limit and rules for notifying an option to tax for VAT on land and buildings. Current Time Limit Normally, HMRC will need to be notified of an option to tax within 30 days of opting to tax the property. This can be done by either: printing and sending the signed notification to HMRC emailing a copy of the signed notification to HMRC The notification need to be signed by a relevant person in the business. Temporary Change to Time Limit Where a decision is made to opt to tax a property between 15 February 2020 and 30 June 2020, the time limit to notify HMRC is 90 days. For an overview of the tax implications of opting to tax a property, please see the following art...

Individuals who submit a self assessment tax return are required (subject to certain exceptions) to make payments on account to HMRC by 31 January and 31 July. The payments are based on the previous years income tax liability, and represent an advance payment for the following year's tax liability. The government has announced that the July 2020 payment on account may be deferred to January 2021, for individuals in self assessment. Initially the measure was only expected to apply the self-employed, however HMRC have since confirmed that it applies to all taxpayers with payment on account liabilities. Deferral of July 2020 Payment  Due to the effect of COVID-19, the government has brought in several measures aimed at supporting ...

Private residence relief (“PRR”) was first introduced over 50 years ago and is one of the more widely known tax reliefs, providing relief from capital gains tax ("CGT") on the sale of your home. That said, there has been contention over the definition of the terms “period of ownership” and “periods of occupation”, both of which are crucial for determining if PRR can be applied. Last year we wrote a blog on the case of Higgins v HMRC where the Upper Tribunal held that the period of ownership for PRR purposes starts from the date the contract for purchase was signed, even though the property in question had not yet been built. Mr Higgins has appealed his case to the Court of Appeal who has now reversed the Upper Tribunal�...