When Boris Johnson announced that if he becomes the next Prime Minister he will increase the 40% tax threshold from £50,000 to £80,000, there was a degree of scepticism as to whether he could deliver on what at first appears to be an exceptionally generous promise. Might this just be another exaggerated claim similar to …

Back in February – in the days when the original Brexit date was imminent – we spent 4 weeks touring the country and saw 361 advisers and paraplanners across 12 of our Masterclasses. With Brexit and market volatility in mind, we wanted to find out from our audiences of financial planners, whether they are providing …

HMRC’s recent study titled, ‘Lifetime gifting: reliefs, exemptions, and behaviours’ set out to explore peoples’ awareness of Inheritance Tax (IHT) rules and exemptions and to what extent these factors drive gifting behaviour. The results, published in May, gave an interesting steer as to what motivates individuals to gift, and it appears it was not as …

Giving gifts is never easy, but when inheritance tax is involved it becomes a hell of a lot trickier and if not managed appropriately, a simple gift could bring unintended consequences to beneficiaries In the run up to the end of the tax year I received a lot of questions on the use of the …

Recent articles reporting the furore around the annual allowance (AA) and how it ‘unfairly’ impacts on certain individuals in public sector defined benefit (DB) schemes piqued my interest. Adding fuel to the fire was the news that the British Medical Association (BMA) is reportedly calling on the government to reform both the AA and the …

As part of the Spring Statement, the government issued a policy paper headed “Tackling tax avoidance, evasion, and other forms of non-compliance” which set out its approach and achievements in tackling these issues. The paper reveals some interesting facts and clearly demonstrates that HMRC is making significant headway. It is hard to believe that since …

As we approach the end of the tax year, advisers’ attentions are drawn to maximising clients’ ISA and pension contributions. For many it is a manic time of the year, with additional stresses of getting clients to do their part to meet the tight deadlines. However, one issue that can be overlooked at this time …

In the last month I have received a number of queries from financial advisers on the subject of the ISA additional permitted subscription (APS). The APS has been available since 6 April 2015 and allows the surviving spouse or civil partner of an individual who dies, entitlement to an APS which is equal to the …

The recent outcome of the HMRC V Parry and Others (A3/2017/0687) judgement from the Court of Appeal clearly demonstrates that gambling on legal outcomes can be a risky business. With two outcomes in your favour, you feel luck is on your side, and then bang it’s all over, with the only winner being HMRC. Now …

With outsourcing retaining its popularity in the growing platform market, there are just a few platforms using their own technology. Indeed, The Lang Cat, recently predicted that the number of platforms using proprietary technology will drop to just 15 per cent by 2020. Paul Bagley, Director of Distribution & Adviser Marketing at James Hay, explains …