I can’t believe that there is a TV channel dedicated to Christmas films over the summer. But maybe the season of goodwill has come early given Rishi Sunak’s Summer Economic Update, as it’s very much give, give, give – with no take, take, take, as there were no implied tax increases. Perhaps the most interesting …

The potential for moving pension rights back to the UK has become somewhat of a hot topic. Given the complexities of UK tax legislation, one of the many things advisers need to be aware of is the impact this could have on their clients’ lifetime allowance. A transfer of an individual’s rights under a registered …

No one likes to see the value of their investment portfolio fall. However, in every crisis there are opportunities, and I don’t mean the ridiculous mark ups on hand sanitiser that we saw. When markets have fallen, taking the opportunity of crystallising capital losses to set off against future gains may help ease the pain …

Retirement wealth planning platform, James Hay, has announced that Alex Kovach has joined the platform as its Chief Commercial Officer. Kovach joins from one of the leading D2C platforms, Interactive Investor (ii), where he led the commercial function for the past five years. During his time at ii, he was instrumental in the platform increasing …

In a surprising turn of events, HMRC won its appeal battle over tax relief being claimed on in-specie contributions. However, what was even more surprising, was the judge’s comments on HMRC’s pension tax manual and how in essence, the HMRC guidelines can be challenged…by HMRC themselves. As the caped crusader’s wingman would say, “You can’t …

It’s a difficult time. We all know that, and we’ve probably said these exact words to family, friends, clients and colleagues a thousand times already throughout this coronavirus crisis. Our lives are currently consumed with the developing situation we face, and it’s understandable that certain topics are not at the front of people’s minds. Sadly, …

Effective financial planning and the tapering of the annual allowance are almost completely at odds with one and other. However, the recent change to tapering afforded advisers an opportunity to potentially mitigate an annual allowance charge for at least some of their clients. There has been a fair amount of column inches written over the …

Tucked away in this year’s Budget was quite an important change in relation to the taxation of life insurance bonds which could spell good news for many. The amendment to the legislation was driven by the decision in the recent First Tier Tribunal case of Marina Silver v The Commission for HMRC (2019) UKFTT 0263 …

Notifying HMRC that they are liable for an AA charge can be a daunting prospect for clients, but advisers can provide the helping hand. The annual allowance (AA) is a mechanism for restricting the tax relief available on pension savings with any ‘excess’ tax relief being recouped via the associated charge. It should be noted …

Previously I’ve looked at how married couples and civil partners could consider transferring investments from one party to the other to maximise unused allowances and lower tax rates. Whilst tax planning is relatively easy where investments are held in an individual’s own name, care is needed when it comes to jointly held investments between spouses. …