Posts by Richard Jackson
Capital gains tax comes under review
The Chancellor has asked the Office of Tax Simplification to review capital gains tax. Within a week of giving his Summer Statement, the Chancellor wrote to the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) asking it to “undertake a review of capital gains tax (CGT) and aspects of the taxation of chargeable gains in relation to individuals…
Read MoreThe ISA – So much cash, so little interest…
The latest statistics on ISAs have emerged, showing nearly £270bn is held in cash. Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) reached their 20th birthday in April last year. Somewhat belatedly, HMRC has now issued ISA statistics up to April 2019. These reveal some surprising – and not so surprising – facts about ISAs: Overall ISA subscriptions in…
Read MoreDividends fall by more than 50 per cent post-Covid
Dividends paid by UK companies dropped dramatically in the second quarter of the year. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on dividend payments has been highlighted by recent research from Link Asset Services, one of the leading UK company registrars. It looked at the dividend payments from UK listed companies in the second quarter of…
Read MoreWills: Inheritance disputes on the increase
More arguments about wills and inheritances are reaching the High Court. A recent report from the Ministry of Justice revealed that, last year in England and Wales, 188 cases involving contested wills were heard in the High Court, an increase of nearly 50% over the previous year. In practice that figure almost certainly understates quite…
Read MoreSummer stamp duty changes may cause tax issues
The Chancellor’s Summer Statement introduced temporary changes in stamp duty land tax on homes, which prompted similar – but not identical – changes in Scotland and Wales. In his Statement on 8 July, the Chancellor raised the starting point for stamp duty land tax (SDLT) in England and Northern Ireland from £125,000 to £500,000 until…
Read MoreThe ISA – So much cash, so little interest…
The latest statistics on ISAs have emerged, showing nearly £270bn is held in cash. Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) reached their 20th birthday in April last year. Somewhat belatedly, HMRC has now issued ISA statistics up to April 2019. These reveal some surprising – and not so surprising – facts about ISAs: Overall ISA subscriptions in…
Read MoreCapital gains tax comes under review
The Chancellor has asked the Office of Tax Simplification to review capital gains tax. Within a week of giving his Summer Statement, the Chancellor wrote to the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) asking it to “undertake a review of capital gains tax (CGT) and aspects of the taxation of chargeable gains in relation to individuals…
Read MoreTax planning – accumulated runs: two tricky hundreds
The cricket season may only now be slowly getting underway, but May saw the Chancellor score two centuries which, in different times, would have deeply worried investors, with implications for tax planning. Every month the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes a detailed summary of the public sector finances, showing how much the public sector…
Read MoreInvestment trust or investment fund?
The debate about the relative benefits of investments trusts and investment funds (unit trusts and OEICs) could be coming back into focus. Investment trusts have a history going back over 150 years, long before the first unit trust appeared in 1931 or, later still, the birth of the open-ended investment company (OEIC).The major difference between…
Read MoreCalling time on the pension triple lock?
The state pension triple lock may not survive much longer. The impact of Covid-19 on earnings could mean a change in the way that state pensions are increased in each year. If nothing is done, it could give pensioners a large income boost, but cost the government dearly. At present, the new (single tier) state…
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