Some (potentially!) interesting tax updates

We know that the thought of reading a tax update might be the last thing you want to do today – however, this one may be interesting to you if:

• You either work as a contractor or employ contractors yourself 
• You’ve been used to claiming the Employers Allowance (this finishes in April 2020)
• You’re considering selling rental properties in the near future
• You’re interested in buying an electric car in the next few months

1. If you work as a contractor or employ contractors yourself

There’s been a lot of talk in the business press about changes to how contractors’ employment status is treated. You may have heard this being referred to as changes to ‘off-payroll working rules’ and ‘IR35’.

If you’re concerned that this may affect you, here’s what you need to know:

• These changes aren’t aimed at small companies. If your annual turnover is less than £10.2m and you have 50 staff or fewer, the changes don’t affect you
• If you or one of your team works on a client site as a contractor, you may already be aware of the ‘IR35 legislation’ aimed at preventing people working as self-employed when they are really an employee
• If you’re worried that you or one of your team could be deemed to be an employee of the business, there are two things you can do. 1) use this HMRC tool to check the employment status. 2) we can review your contracts to see if they are – or can be made, compliant

2. You’ve been used to claiming the Employers Allowance (this finishes in April 2020)

From 6th April 2020, the Employment Allowance will only be available to smaller businesses who had an Employers’ National Insurance bill of £100,000 or less in the previous tax year. Businesses excluded will not be able to claim the £3,000 annual allowance. If you’re affected by this, be aware that your monthly PAYE bill will be higher and to include this in your budgets for next year. If we complete your payroll and/or forecasts, this will obviously be taken care of for you.

3. You’re considering selling rental properties in the near future

Rules around the tax on the sale of a rental property are changing, especially if that property used to be your main home. The deadline for paying the tax on the gains from property sales is also changing. In simple terms, if you’re selling a rental property after 6th April 2020, you could be paying more tax and have to pay that tax sooner. If you are considering selling a rental property in the near future, please get in touch with us as soon as possible to help you plan the most tax-efficient way and timing to do this.

You’re interested in buying an electric car in the next few months

If you’ve seen the new Tayman or Tesla and are interested in buying an electric car through your business (of any make), the tax you pay personally will be substantially reduced from April 2020. In some instances dropping down to no tax to pay. Remember, company cars that are fully electric cars are treated much more favourably than petrol, diesel or even hybrid cars. (We go into more detail in our How to buy an electric car blog).

If any of the points above have raised questions for you – or indeed you have any other questions to ask our tax experts at Wow, please just shout.

Obviously, after the general election, the new government will probably make a budget statement soon after and there could well be more changes coming. Keep your eyes peeled! We’ll keep you updated with anything that may be of interest.