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TX (F6) Course Notes TY 2018
TX (F6) Course Notes TY 2018
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Syllabus A: THE UK TAX SYSTEM AND ITS
ADMINISTRATION
Syllabus A1a. Describe the purpose (economic, social etc) of taxation in a modern economy
1. Inflation
2. Employment
Higher tax levels should increase employment (if spent by governments in the
right way!)
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Social Justice Purpose
This simply means the higher earners pay a higher % of their income as taxes - thus
redistributing the wealth in society from the rich to the poor
The opposite of this is Regressive taxation where higher earners pay a lower % of
their earnings as tax
Ad Valorem Principle
This is where the tax levels (% of earnings) remain the same regardless of income
levels
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Syllabus A1b) Explain the difference between direct and indirect taxation
c) Identify the different types of capital and revenue tax.
Basically the more income or profit, the more tax you pay..
Basically the more the asset is sold for (or the higher the gift), the more tax you pay..
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Indirect Taxes - taxes paid to HMRC indirectly through an intermediary
Basically think of this as a shop for example - you buy an item with tax on it, but
you pay the shop. The shop then pays this tax to the HMRC.
Example: VAT
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Syllabus A2. Principal sources of revenue law and practice
HMRC
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs *Salutes* ;)
Purpose of HMRC
Most taxpayers never deal with HMRC direct - instead they file their tax returns
online and pay electronically (compulsory for companies)
The responsibility for assessing how much tax is payable is down to the taxpayer
under a system called "self - assessment" (good name then, really!)
Individuals can still ask HMRC to calculate the tax though for them - companies
can't
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Structure of the UK tax system
Commissioners
The main body of HMRC is divided into District offices and Accounting and
payment offices
District Offices
The Commissioner appoints Officers of HMRC to implement the day to day work of
HMRC
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Syllabus A2b) State the different sources of revenue law.
A2c) Describe the organisation HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and its terms of reference.
There's a few of these sources, but do try and learn the basics - here we go..
1. Updated annually by the Finance Act (made by the chancellor of the exchequer)
- referred to as "The Budget"
Case Law
These are decisions made previously by judges in court about taxation matters
HMRC Guidance
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The main types are:
These allow laws to be relaxed where their implementation would cause undue
hardship
3. Internal HMRC Manuals Give guidance for their staff but are also available to the
public
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Syllabus A2d. Explain the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion, and the
purposes of the General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR).
It's arranging your income to minimise tax - although HMRC are introducing anti-
avoidance legislation to lower the advantages to the taxpayer
This fights artificial and abusive schemes (unreasonable courses of action) which
are used to avoid paying tax
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Syllabus A2e. Appreciate the interaction of the UK tax system with that of other tax
jurisdictions.
These are agreements between countries over how certain items are taxed - and
take precedence over UK law
They either:
EU Influences
The EU would like to remove differences between countries policies as these can
cause distortions and be barriers to trade for some countries
EU countries do NOT have to align their tax policies - but can jointly enact laws
called Directives
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Syllabus A2g. Explain the need for an ethical and professional approach.
Examples:
If the client commits an offence - you need to decide if it was an error or fraud
You then explain to the client that they should disclose the error to the HMRC
If the client won't disclose still - then you must stop representing the client and
disclose matters to HMRC if it's in the public interest or you think there might be
money laundering
Their duties and responsibilities should be towards both clients and HMRC
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The accountant must uphold standards of the ACCA that is
The ACCA “Code of Ethics and Conduct” sets out five fundamental principles which
members should adhere to meet these expectations, namely:
1. Integrity
2. Objectivity
4. Confidentiality
5. Professional behaviour
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Syllabus A3. The systems for self-assessment and the
making of returns
Syllabus A3a. Explain and apply the features of the self- assessment system as it applies to
individuals.
Remember it is the responsibility of the taxpayer to calculate their own tax liability
2. There are deadlines for filing the SA (31/10 for paper and 31/1 online) or 3
months after being given notice if its later
4. Payment is due 31st January the following year (interim payments on account
may also be paid)
5. 31st January the following year is known as the filing date (for both paper and
online) - different to the "actual file date"
6. Online filing - Tax returns submitted electronically automatically calculate the tax
due
8. When the HRMC calculate the tax they make no judgement on the accuracy of
the information given to them
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Syllabus A3b. Explain and apply the features of the self- assessment system as it applies to
companies, including the use of iXBRL
They must pay the tax within 9m + 1day of their of their chargeable period end
(CAP) but they do not have to file their return until 12 months after the CAP end.
Therefore many submit their corporation tax return before the 9m + 1day payment
deadline too
iXBRL?!! See this is what happens when you let a bunch of accountants try to come
up with something "cool" :)
iXBRL allows for the exchanging of business information electronically and tags the
accounts so they can be read by a computer
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Other Options
3. Conversion Software
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Syllabus A4. The Time Limits
Syllabus A4a.Recognise the time limits that apply to the filing of returns and the making of
claims.
HMRC
May amend any obvious errors (e.g. adding up errors) within 9 months of the date of
filing
Taxpayer
Notification of Chargeability
The onus is on the taxpayer to inform HMRC that they are liable to tax - must be
done within 6 months of the first tax year - unless there's no actual tax liability
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Syllabus A4b. Recognise the due dates for the payment of tax under the self-assessment
system, and compute payments on account and balancing payments/repayments for
individuals.
This is the date for income tax, NIC class 2 & 4 and CGT
These are made if less than 80% of last years tax liability was deducted at source
(unless less than £1,000)
Therefore employees don't need to make POAs as more than 80% of their tax
liability is deducted at source
They only apply to income tax and class 4 NIC - NOT FOR CGT
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CALCULATION of POAs
Example
Jack’s tax bill was £10,200 - of which 2,500 was collected using PAYE
Answer
POA 2 £3,850
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Syllabus A4c. Explain how large companies are required to account for corporation tax on a
quarterly basis and compute the quarterly instalment payments
The taxpayer would do this if he expects the taxable income to be lower this year
than last (as last years was used to calculate the POA)
If the actual taxable income ends up being higher then interest will be charged on
the underpaid POA tax, and a penalty if the reduction in POA was fraudulent (and
not an innocent error)
Payment of Tax
2. Estimated tax is payable 9 months and one day after the end of each accounting
period (due date), with provisions for quarterly instalment payments for ‘large’
companies. Payment must be made electronically
3. Interest due to the HMRC on tax paid late will run from the due date to the date
of payment at a rate of 3% per annum.
4. Interest on overpayments of tax will run from the later of the due date or the date
tax was actually paid at a rate of 0.5% per annum.
Under self assessment interest on tax paid late will be deductible against
interest receivable.
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Quarterly Instalments
The profit limit must be divided by the number of 51% related group companies
and time apportioned for a chargeable accounting period of less than 12
months.
4. The four quarterly instalments will be made in months 7, 10, 13 and 16 following
the start of the accounting period.
Thus for the accounting year ended 31 March 2019 the first quarterly instalment
payment would be due October 14, 2018 followed by further payments due
January 14 2019, April 14 2019, and July 14, 2019
5. Quarterly payments are not required if the company was not large in previous
CAP.
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Syllabus A4d. List the information and records that taxpayers need to retain for tax purposes.
Business records and personal records need to be retained for a number of years
after the tax returns have been submitted for that year.
Retention of records
Personal records 12 months from 31January following end of the tax year
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Syllabus A5. The Procedures relating to compliance
checks, appeals and disputes
Syllabus A5a) Explain the circumstances in which HM Revenue & Customs can make a
compliance check into a self-assessment tax return.
A5b) Explain the procedures for dealing with appeals and First and Upper Tier Tribunals
Appeals
Tax appeals are heard by the Tax Tribunal which is made of:
• Upper Tribunal
Deals with complex cases.
Opening up a tax assessment means that either the taxpayer or HMRC thinks the
taxpayer has paid too much or too little tax and wants this to be corrected.
The following table shows when a taxpayer or HMRC can open up a tax
assessment.
HMRC can open a normal enquiry for a tax return, 12 months from the date of
submission.
However, if HMRC suspects something more serious, they can raise a discovery
assessment.
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The time limit for raising this discovery assessment depends on the reason of
suspicion of HMRC (mentioned below).
After HMRC raises a discovery assessment, taxpayers can raise an appeal within 30
days.
Taxpayers claim for overpayment relief 4 years from the end of the tax year
— No careless or deliberate behaviour 4 years from the end of the tax year
— Tax lost due to careless behaviour 6 years from the end of the tax year
— Tax lost due to deliberate behaviour 20 years from the end of the tax year
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Syllabus A6. Penalties for non-compliance
Syllabus A6a. Calculate late payment interest and state the penalties that can be charged.
The amount of penalty is based on the amount of tax understated, but the actual
penalty payable is linked to the taxpayer’s behaviour, as follows:
2. There will be a moderate penalty (up to 30% of the understated tax) where a tax
payer fails to take reasonable care.
3. There will be a higher penalty (up to 70% of the understated tax) if error is
deliberate.
4. There will be an even higher penalty (up to 100% of the understated tax) where
the error is deliberate and there is also concealment of the error.
The late payment penalty for balancing payments are 5% for tax unpaid 30 days
after payment due date, further 5% if still unpaid after 6 months and a further 5% if
still unpaid after 12 months.
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Late payment interest
If a tax liability is paid late, in addition to the late payment penalty, interest will be
charged.
If the liability is outstanding for less than a full year, then this will be apportioned
accordingly.
For example a corporation tax liability of £300,000 was outstanding for 4 months.
How much late payment interest will be payable assuming a rate of 3%?
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Syllabus B: Income Tax And Nic Liabilities
If a person is UK resident in a particular tax year they must pay income tax on
their UK and overseas income.
If a person is not UK resident, then they do not pay UK income tax on their
overseas income, they only pay on their UK income.
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STAGE 1: Is the person automatically resident overseas?
If one of the two tests below are satisfied, then the person is automatically resident
overseas and will only pay UK income tax on his UK income.
In UK for less than 16 days in the tax Employed overseas and visits UK for
year. less than 91 days during the tax year.
OR
Illustration:
Shayna is in the UK for 40 days during the tax year. She was not previously UK
resident.
Solution:
No - Shayna satisfies Test 1 – Short stay in the UK. This is because she is in the UK
for less than 46 days and has not been UK resident previously.
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STAGE 2: Is the person automatically UK resident?
If any of the tests below are satisfied, then the individual is automatically UK
resident and will pay UK income tax on his worldwide earnings. If none of the above
tests are met, then there are detailed rules to follow to determine residency.
Illustration:
Hemant is in the UK for 60 days during the tax year, his only house is in the UK.
Solution
Yes - Hemant will be considered to be UK resident for this tax year because he
satisfies Test 2 – nowhere else to go.
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The foundation of the detailed rules is based on:
How many days did they spend in the UK in this tax year?
Ties
2. House in UK which is used during the tax year. (at least 1 night during the tax
year)
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Illustration:
During this tax year she purchased a villa in India where she lived for most of this
tax year.
She has a house in the UK where her husband and children stay. During this tax
year she spent 100 days in the UK.
Solution:
This is because:
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Syllabus B2. Income from employment
Employed or self-employed?
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If there is no contract of service, the following suggest employment:
Factors Explanation
Illustration:
Liam is a driver of luxury cars and started working for Super Cars Ltd on 6 April.
He works a set number of hours each week and is paid an hourly rate for the work
that he does.
When Liam works more than the set number of hours, he is paid overtime.
Liam is under an obligation to accept the work offered by Super Cars Ltd., and the
work is carried out under the control of the customer services manager.
All the vehicles used by Liam are provided by Super Cars Ltd.
What are the factors that indicate that he should be treated as an employee?
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Solution:
Risk – none. He works for a set number of hours and is paid at an hourly rate. If he
works more than the set number of hours, he is paid overtime.
Control – the customer services manager controls the manner in which the work is
done.
Equipment – all of the cars driven are provided by Super Cars Ltd.
Conclusion:
Liam will pay income tax under the employment income rules.
Super Cars Ltd will pay Employer’s Class 2 NIC and Class 1 A NIC on behalf of
Liam.
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Syllabus B2b. Recognise the basis of assessment for employment income.
Emoluments
Emoluments are amounts that an employee will pay income tax and national
insurance contributions on.
They include:
• salary
• bonus
• benefits
Example
Peter became entitled to be paid a bonus on 31 January 2019 (Tax year 18/19).
He was actually paid the bonus on 30 April 2019 (Tax year 19/20).
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Illustration:
Note His salary is due for a tax year which runs from 6th April - 5th April and
salaries accrue evenly over a tax year.
Therefore, the salary per month must be calculated and then totalled to give a figure
for the entire year.
Additionally, Frank receives the following bonuses based on the company’s results:
For the year ending 31/12/2017 £3000. He became entitled to the bonus on
31/12/17 and was paid the bonus on 31/5/18.
For the year ending 31/12/2018 £10,000. He became entitled to the bonus on
31/12/18 and was paid the bonus on 31/5/19.
• Required:
Solution:
His bonus of £3,000 will be taxed in the tax year 17/18 as he became entitled to it
on 31 December 2017.
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His bonus of £10,000 will be taxed in the tax year 18/19 as he became entitled to it
on 31 December 2018.
Conclusion:
Salary= £37,500
Bonus = £10,000
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Syllabus B2c. Income assessable
1. Salary
2. Wages
3. Bonus
4. Commission
5. Benefits in kind - there are 2 types of benefits - taxable benefits and exempt
benefits.
Only taxable benefits will have income tax paid on them, exempt benefits will
not.
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Syllabus B2d. Allowable deductions
Salary x
Commission x
Benefits in kind x
= Gross emoluments x
Less allowable deductions (x)
= Total employment income x
Allowable deductions:
4. Note that payments for gym memberships are NOT allowable deductions.
6. Donations to charity
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Illustration:
He also paid £1,000 for travel to Scotland for business purposes entirely.
Solution:
Salary £30,000
Less:
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Syllabus B2e. Discuss the use of the statutory approved mileage allowances.
This arises when an employee uses their own car on employer’s business.
• The employee is entitled to receive this mileage allowance from their employer to
compensate for additional costs of running the vehicle due to business miles.
Anything in excess that is received from the employer will be taxable, and
anything below the allowance that is received from the employer will be
deductible.
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Illustration:
She uses her own car for employer’s business, the mileage allowance received from
her employer is 50p per mile.
Solution:
Conclusion:
Salary £20,000
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Illustration:
Solution:
Salary £20,000
Note Travelling between home and work does not count as business miles. This is
considered to be ordinary commuting.
Note Travelling between work and client's offices will count as business miles.
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Syllabus B2f. Explain the PAYE system, how benefits can be payrolled, and the purpose of
form P11D.
Most tax in respect of employment income is deducted under the PAYE system.
The objective of the PAYE system is to collect the correct amount of tax over the
year.
An employee’s PAYE code is assigned to ensure that their allowances etc. are given
evenly over the year.
The PAYE system applies to most cash payments, other than reimbursed expenses,
and to certain non-cash payments.
If he fails to do this, he must pay over the tax which he should have deducted
and the employer may be subject to penalties.
Living accommodation benefits and beneficial loans must still be reported on the
P11D.
Any “Payrolled” benefits do not now have to be reported on the P11D. The P11D
is a form submitted by the employer that lists the benefits provided to an
employee in a tax year.
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PAYE codes
An employee’s PAYE code indicates the amount of tax free pay he is entitled to.
The PAYE code will include the employee’s personal allowance and any allowable
deductions and be restricted be various taxable amounts.
The employer must act according to the code unless further notified by HMRC,
even if the employee appeals against the code.
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Syllabus B2g. Explain and compute the amount of benefits assessable
Use benefit
1. Computers
2. TV sets
3. Boats
4. Furniture
5. Motorcycles
1. We must find the market value of the asset when it was first given to the
employee.
3. Multiply this value by the number of weeks/months the employee had access to
the asset.
For example, multiplying by 9/12 means that the employee had access to the
asset for 9 out of 12 months in the tax year.
4. Deduct any rent that the employee pays to the employer to use the asset.
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Proforma:
Use benefit X
Illustration:
Use benefit 30
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Gift benefit
After an employer has given the employee an asset to use privately, the employer
may then decide to give this asset to the employee as a gift.
For example, an employer gave his employee a computer to use for private
purposes for 2 years. After 2 years, the employer then decided to give this
computer to the employee as a gift.
The employee will need to pay income tax on the money value of gift benefit.
Figure 1:
• Find the cost to the employer (the original market value of the asset).
• Deduct any use benefits that the employee has already paid income tax on.
For example, if the computer cost the employee £750 2 years ago when he
purchased it, and the use benefit that the employee paid income tax on for each
year was £150, then the gift benefit will be:
Year 1 (£150)
Year 2 (£150)
Figure 2:
• Find the market value of the asset at the date of the gift to the employee.
For example, after 2 years, if the computer had a market value of £500, the
benefit would be:
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Note that we must take the higher figure out of Figure 1 and Figure 2:
• Figure 1: £450
• Figure 2: £500
Illustration:
On 06/04/2018 Manish was given the dishwasher by his employer. It’s market
value then being £150.
Solution:
Figure 1: £
Figure 2: £
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Gift benefit 150
Higher of:
Figure 1 : £720
Figure 2 : £150
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Syllabus B2g. Explain and compute the amount of benefits assessable
If an employer provides an employee with a home to live in, without the home being
necessary for the employee to do his or her job, the employee will have to pay
income tax on a living accommodation benefit.
If the home is necessary for the employee to do his or her job, then this benefit will
not arise.
1. A nanny needs to live in the same home that their child lives in to do their job.
Otherwise, they will not be able to do their job. In this case, providing
accommodation will be considered to be work related and a benefit will not
arise.
2. Someone in an army needs to live at the army base, otherwise they will not be
able to do their job.
3. A hotel-worker being provided living accommodation at the hotel will help them
perform their duties better.
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How to calculate the living accommodation benefit?
• If the employer owns the home, then the home’s annual value will be used.
• If the employer is renting the home, then the amount of the benefit is the higher
of the rent paid by the employer and the annual value.
• The amount paid by the employee to the employer will be deducted to give the
living accommodation benefit.
Ashok, a sales manager, lives in a flat that his employer has given him to live in.
The employer pays rent of £5,000 per annum for the flat, and Ashok pays the
employer £1,000 per year to use the flat. The annual value of the flat is £4,900.
• What is the living accommodation benefit that Ashok will have to pay income tax
on?
Solution:
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Illustration - If the employer owns the home
The flat has an annual value of £4,000 and she pays the employer £500 per annum
to use the flat.
• What is the living accommodation benefit that she will have to pay income tax
on?
Solution:
£
Annual value 4,000
Less: Rent paid by employee to employer (500)
Living accommodation benefit 3,500
Additional benefit
There is an additional benefit that can arise if the employer owns the home and it
cost the employer more than £75,000 when he purchased it.
Did the employer buy the home more than 6 years before he gave it to the
employee to use?
1. No
(Cost - £75,000) * Official rate of interest (2.5% for 18/19) = Additional benefit
Note
The Cost will include the actual cost of the home plus any amount spent on
extending/enhancing the home before the start of the current tax year.
2. Yes
Note:
The market value of the home when it was first given to the employee to be used
(the purchase price is not used here).
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Illustration - LESS than 6 years
The employer bought this flat 5 years ago and paid £85,000.
What additional benefit that will she have to pay income tax on?
Solution:
£500 is the additional benefit that Vandana will have to pay income tax on.
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Illustration - MORE than 6 years
She has occupied this flat for the last 7 years, and moved in when the flat had a
market value of £100,000.
The employer bought this flat 15 years ago and paid £85,000.
What additional benefit that will she have to pay income tax on?
Solution:
£625 is the additional benefit that Vandana will have to pay income tax on.
Conclusion:
The normal benefit and the additional benefit are added together to give the total
living accommodation benefit that the employee will pay income tax on.
£3,500 + £500 = £4,000 (Flat was not purchased more than 6 years ago)
or
£3,500 + £625 = £4,125 (Flat was purchased more than 6 years ago)
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Syllabus B2g. Explain and compute the amount of benefits assessable
Motor cars
If an employer gives an employee a motor car to use for business and private
purposes, then a benefit will arise which income tax must be paid on by the
employee.
The list price of the car will be given to you in the exam.
The list price includes the list price of any accessories fitted to the motor car.
If an employee pays a capital amount towards receiving the car from the
employer, then this list price will be reduced by this capital contribution.
The list price can be reduced by a maximum of £5,000 - even if the employee
has contributed more than this, it will only be reduced by £5,000.
For example the list price of a car is £15,000 and an employee has made a
capital contribution towards it of £7,000 - the list price of the car will only reduce
to £10,000 (£15,000 - £5,000).
Then, this list price will be multiplied by a percentage to give the amount of
benefit to be taxed on.
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• How to determine the percentage?
Reductions
1. If the motor car is unavailable for periods of at least 30 days of the tax year for
example if the car was not available to the individual for one month in the tax
year, then the benefit will be multiplied by 11/12 - because the car was only
available for 11 months in the tax year, and
2. Where the employee makes a contribution to the employer for the use of the
motor car, this is also known as making a contribution towards the running costs
of the car.
Note contributing towards the running costs of a car are different to the capital
contribution to reduce the list price of a car.
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For example An employer gave an employee a motor car to use for private and
business purposes that had a list price of £17,000 - the employee made a
capital contribution of £8,000 towards the list price. The employee also
contributed £1,200 per annum towards the running costs of the car.
Pool cars
The use of a pool car does not result in a company car benefit.
A pool car is one provided for the use of any employee to use for business
purposes and is kept at the business place of work..
Illustration:
Arora plc provided the following employees with company motor cars:
The motor car has a list price of £13,500 and an official CO2 emission rate of
112 grams per kilometre.
Lina had an accident in October and was unable to use the car for 2 months,
however the car was always available to her to use.
• 2) Naina was provided with a new petrol powered company car throughout the
year.
The motor car has a list price of £16,400 and an official CO2 emission rate of
177 grams per kilometre.
• 3) Falak was provided with a new petrol powered company car throughout year.
The motor car has a list price of £22,600 and an official CO2 emission rate of
239 grams per kilometre.
Falak paid Arora plc £1,200 for the use of the motor car.
• 4) Jayna was provided with a new petrol powered company car throughout the
year.
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The motor car had a list price of £16,000 and an official CO2 emission rate of
90 grams per kilometre.
The motor car had a list price of £11,000 and an official CO2 emission rate of
60 grams per kilometre.
Required:
Calculate the taxable benefit for Lina, Naina, Falak, Jayna and Saaya.
Solution:
1) Lina
was provided with a diesel powered company car. The CO2 emissions are 112g/km.
The CO2 emissions are above 95g/km, so the relevant percentage is 27% (20% +
4%(diesel car) + 3% (1% for every complete 5g/km above 95g/km ie 110-95 = 15 /
5 = 3%).
The CO2 emissions figure of 112 is rounded down to 110 so that it is divisible by
five.
The motor car was only available for 8 months during the year, so the benefit is
£2,340 (13,500 × 27% × 8/12).
Note that even if Lina was unable to use the car herself for 2 months, the fact that
the car was available for her to use at all times means that the benefit will not be
reduced because of these 2 months.
2) Naina
The CO2 emissions are above the base level figure of 95 grams per kilometre.
The CO2 emissions figure of 177 is rounded down to 175 so that it is divisible by
five.
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The base level percentage of 20% is increased in 1% steps for each complete 5
grams per kilometre above the base level,
so the relevant percentage is 36% (20% + 16% (175 – 95 = 80/5)). The motor car
was available throughout the year so the benefit is £5,904 (16,400 × 36%).
3) Falak
The CO2 emissions are above the base level figure of 95 grams per kilometre.
The relevant percentage is 48% (20% + 28% (235 – 95 = 140/5)), but this is
restricted to the maximum of 37%.
The motor car was available throughout the year so the benefit is £7,162 (22,600 ×
37% = 8,362 - 1,200).
The contribution by Falak towards the use of the motor car reduces the benefit.
4) Jayna
The CO2 emissions are between 76 grams per kilometre and 94 grams per
kilometre so the relevant percentage is 19% as it is a petrol car.
5) Saaya
The CO2 emissions are between 51 grams to 75 grams per kilometre and the
relevant percentage is 20% (16% + 4% (diesel car)).
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Fuel provided for private use
1. The car benefit also covers the running costs of the car BUT does not take
account of fuel provided for private use.
The fuel benefit is reduced proportionately where private use fuel is withdrawn
(and not reintroduced during the year) or the car is only given part way through
the tax year.
3. No reduction is made if the employee contributes towards the cost of petrol for
private use.
If he pays for all fuel used for private motoring the charge is cancelled.
Illustration:
Calculate the fuel benefit for Lina, Naina, Falak, Jayna and Saaya assuming also
that Falak pays Arora plc £600 during the year towards the cost of private fuel,
although the actual cost of this fuel was £1,000.
Solution:
Lina
Naina
Falak
There is no reduction for the contribution made by Falak since the cost of private
fuel was not fully reimbursed.
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Jayna
Saaya
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Vans and heavier commercial vehicles
1. Where an employee uses an employer’s van for journeys between home and
work and other private use is insignificant there is no benefit.
2. Where private use is not insignificant the tax charge is £3,350 p.a.
3. An additional charge is made for fuel provided for unrestricted private use equal
to £633 p.a.
4. Both benefits are time apportioned if the van is unavailable to the employee for
30 days or more during any part of the tax year.
Van benefit
If an employer gives an employee a van to use for private journeys, if the amount of
usage is not significant, then no benefit will arise that an employee needs to pay
income tax on.
However, if the private usage of the van is significant, then a benefit will arise that
an employee will pay income tax on
Therefore, if the van was only provided for 9 months in the tax year, then the tax
charge would be £3,350 * 9/12 = £2,512
If the employer also provides the employee with fuel for their private journeys,
another benefit will arise that the employee must pay income tax on.
Therefore, if the fuel for private journeys were only provided for 9 months in the tax
year, then the benefit for the private fuel provided would be £633*9/12 = £475
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Illustration:
An employee uses his employer’s van significantly for private journeys throughout
the tax year.
The employer also pays for the fuel for the employee’s private journeys.
What taxable benefit would arise because of the employer paying for private fuel?
Solution:
£633
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Syllabus B2g. Explain and compute the amount of benefits assessable
This benefit arises when an employer gives an employee a loan at an interest rate
that is cheaper than the official interest rate (2.5%).
For example, a beneficial loan benefit would arise if an employer gave an employee
a £15,000 loan at 1% per annum.
Carefully note – if the loan is £10,000 or less, no beneficial loan benefit will arise at
all.
If the loan is above £10,000 – then the full benefit will arise
Proforma
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How to calculate the monetary value of the loan benefit?
There are 2 ways to calculate the monetary value of the loan benefit.
The average method applies automatically but the taxpayer or HMRC can elect for
the strict method if it is more beneficial for them
eg the taxpayer will elect when the strict method produces a smaller benefit figure
and HMRC can elect of the strict method gives a MUCH higher benefit figure.
1. Average method
2. Strict method
You must find the interest payable for the actual loan outstanding at all times. (Much
easier to understand with an example)
On 01/06/2018, Vijay repaid £5,000 of the loan and on 01/12/2018, Vijay repaid
another £15,000 of the loan.
• What is the taxable benefit of the beneficial loan using the average
method?
Solution:
Average method £
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(W1) - Interest paid by Vijay on loan
£367 – is the beneficial loan benefit that Vijay would have to pay income tax on IF
the average method was used.
On 01/06/2018, Vijay repaid £5,000 of the loan and on 01/12/2018, Vijay repaid
another £15,000 of the loan.
• What is the taxable benefit of the beneficial loan using the strict method?
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Solution:
Strict method £
Monetary value of the loan benefit Vijay should have paid (w1) 646
Vijay actually paid (figure from
Less: (258)
previous example)
Beneficial loan benefit 388
£35,000 *
From 06/04/2018 (2 months) Vijay should pay 2.5% interest on
2.5% * 2/12 =
– 01/06/2018 £35,000 loan outstanding =
£146
Conclusion
Vijay will pay tax on the loan benefit arising from the average method - £367 - as
this is the automatic method and the strict method is not so different that HMRC
would elect for it.
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Summary
2. The benefit is the interest on the loan at the official rate, less any interest
actually paid by the employee.
3. There is no benefit if the loans do not exceed £10,000 in total at any time
in the tax year
4. The benefit is calculated using the average method or the strict method
Average method
This uses the loan outstanding at the beginning and the end of the tax year.
If the loan is taken out or paid back during the tax year, that date is used instead
of the beginning or end the tax year.
Strict method
Either the taxpayer or HMRC can elect to use the strict method.
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Syllabus B2g. Explain and compute the amount of benefits assessable
Other benefits
Generally, the basis for calculating the taxable value of any other benefit is the cost
to the employer.
Although correctly identifying the tax treatment of such a benefit may result in only a
half mark or one mark, it is important that you correctly identify such benefits so
that time is not wasted with unnecessary calculations.
Finally, there is no exhaustive list of benefits, but you must keep in mind that if an
employee is using something for personal purposes and the employer is paying for
it, then the benefit that is likely to arise is the cost to the employer.
For example if an employer provides education for an employee's child that cost the
employer £600, then the benefit that will arise on the employee is the cost to the
employer of £600.
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Illustration:
The telephones had each cost £250 when purchased by Vary plc in January.
The company paid for all of Denzil’s business and private telephone calls.
2) Emily had her health club membership fee of £710 paid for by Vary plc
The company paid him a daily allowance of £10 to cover the cost of personal
expenses such as telephone calls to his family.
4) Grace was paid £11,000 towards the cost of her removal expenses when she
permanently moved to take up her new employment with Vary plc, as she did not
live within a reasonable commuting distance.
The £11,000 covered both her removal expenses and the legal costs of acquiring
a new main residence.
5) Hillary’s three year old daughter was provided with a place at Vary plc’s
workplace nursery.
The total cost to the company of providing this nursery place was £10,800 (240
days at £45 per day).
6) June had the use of Vary plc’s company gym which is only open to employees of
the company.
The cost to Vary plc of providing this benefit to June was £340.
7) Kristin was provided with free meals in Vary plc’s staff canteen.
8) Larry regularly works from home two days per week, and was paid an allowance
of £192 (48 weeks at £4 per week) to cover the extra light and heat costs that
were incurred due to this home working.
9) Marge was given a watch valued at £750 as an award for her 20 years of
employment at Vary plc.
10) Nile had £440 of her medical costs paid for by Vary plc.
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She had been away from work for two months due to an injury, and the
recommended medical treatment was to assist her return to work.
Solution:
1) Denzil
Providing one mobile phone to an employee does not result in a taxable benefit.
If additional mobile phones are provided to employees then 20% of the market
value of the phone will be the tax benefit assessed on the employee.
• The provision of one mobile telephone does not give rise to a taxable benefit.
• The taxable benefit for the use of the second telephone is £50 (250 x 20%).
2) Emily
• The benefit of the health club membership is the cost to Vary plc of £710.
3) Frederick
• Payments for private incidental expenses are exempt up to £10 per night when
spent outside the UK, so the allowance does not result in a taxable benefit.
4) Grace
• Only £8,000 of the relocation costs is exempt, and so the taxable benefit is
£3,000 (11,000 – 8,000).
5) Hillary
• The provision of a place in a workplace nursery does not give rise to a taxable
benefit.
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6) June
• The use of a company gym does not give rise to a taxable benefit.
7) Kristin
• The provision of meals in a staff canteen does not give rise to a taxable benefit.
8) Larry
• Payments for home working are exempt up to £4 per week, so the allowance
does not result in a taxable benefit.
9) Marge
10) Nile
• The payment of medical costs of up to £500 does not result in a taxable benefit.
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Syllabus B2h. Recognise the circumstances in which real time reporting late filing penalties will
be imposed on an employer and the amount of penalty which is charged.
RTI reporting
Employers must send income tax and NIC information to HMRC electronically every
time employees are paid, and make their PAYE payments electronically on the 22nd
of the month under the Real Time Information reporting system.
• There are penalties if submissions made during the tax year are made late,
though there is no penalty for the first month in a tax year that submissions are
paid late.
• Thereafter a monthly late filing penalty of between £100 and £400 is charged
depending on the number of employees.
An additional penalty of 5% of the tax and NIC due may be charged where the
submission is more than 3 months late.
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Syllabus: B3. Income from self-employment
Syllabus B3a. Basis of assessment for self employment income
The basis of assessment for a sole trader is the taxable trade profits (self-employed
income) for a 12 month period of account ending in a tax year.
Whichever tax year that ending date falls into, the profits of that entire year will be
assessed in that tax year.
For example If an individual has a year ending of 30 November, then for the year
ending 30 November 2017 - this ends in the tax year 18/19 (06/04/18 - 05/04/19),
therefore the profits for that year ending 30 November 2018 will be assessed to tax
in the tax year 18/19.
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Syllabus B3b. Badges of trade
Badges of trade
These are used to help differentiate whether a person is trading or whether they
are selling their capital assets.
Badges
1. Subject matter
– anything can be trading stock but some items are more likely to be so than
others.
For example an item that is held for less than 12 months will be considered
trading stock, but an item that is held for more than 12 months is likely to be
considered a capital asset.
– the more often a deal takes place, the greater the assumption that it is a
disposal of trading stock.
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For example if cars are bought and sold throughout the year, this will be
considered to be the trading of cars; however if there is a one time sale of one
car, then that is likely to be considered to be the sale of a capital asset.
4. Subsequent work
For example, buying bulk marble for flooring and breaking it down into smaller
saleable units to use for individual floors, will be considered trading. Also,
advertising and making the item more marketable may be indicative of trading.
5. Circumstances
– sudden emergency, for example the urgent need of cash can negate the
presumption of trading.
This is because the motive is not to trade cars, it is to obtain cash quickly.
6. Motive
For example, selling cars at a loss just to get immediate cash will not be
considered trading, but waiting to sell cars at a price that will earn a profit will
indicate trading.
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Illustration:
On 1 May, Tony was made redundant from his job as a marketing executive. Tony
decided to purchase a house for £180,000.
• Tony lived in the house as his main residence while living there he refurbished
it at a cost of £27,700, the renovations were completed on 10 August.
After completing the refurbishment, he was offered a new job and he immediately
put the house up for sale; and it was sold for £275,000 on 31 August.
Solution:
Trading income or
Badge Reason
Capital Gain?
Length of period of
Less than one year Trading
ownership
Frequency of similar
None before Capital
operations
As there are 4 badges pointing towards this being a capital gain and only 3 pointing
towards this being trading income, the profit made on sale will be considered to be
a capital gain.
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Syllabus B3c. Allowable expenditure
The main adjustments are to disallow for tax certain non-allowable expenses and to
exclude any non-trading income.
You must keep in mind that allowable expenses are usually expenses incurred
directly because of the business.
The general rule is that expenditure not wholly and exclusively for the purpose of the
trade is not allowable
Net profit X
Note:
When preparing this calculation, be careful to start with the NET profit per accounts.
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Disallowable expenses
Therefore, if they have been deducted to arrive at net profit, they must be added
back.
For example, if the net profit is £10,000 and a disallowed expenses (£1,000) has
been deducted, then tax adjusted profit will be £10,000 + £1,000 = £11,000
Note:
Repair to an asset is revenue expenditure and is allowable
• Reliefs
- such as qualifying loan interest payments are not allowable as they are dealt
with as a deduction from total income.
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• Subscriptions and donations
Charitable donations (made under Gift Aid) these are not allowable as tax relief is
given by extending the tax bands when calculating income tax.
Disallowed unless the fine is paid on behalf of an employee and incurred whilst
on business
For example, if the employee receives a parking ticket whilst delivering goods to
a customer, this is generally allowable by HMRC
For example, if the owner of the business pays himself 10% interest on the
capital that he has invested of £200,000 - this £20,000 interest is disallowed and
cannot be deducted.
For example, if interest is payable of £100 due to the late payment of tax - this
is not allowed and cannot be deducted to arrive at taxable income.
These are allowable; the tax treatment follows the accounting treatment
However non trade write offs are not allowable and so the expense is added
back.
For example if an item of trading inventory was sold on credit, but the actual
cash never came from the customer, then this is an irrecoverable debt which is
an allowable expense.
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For example a loan was made to an employee and then the employee left
without paying it back and it was written off, then this is an irrecoverable debt,
but it is disallowed because it is not a trading item.
Allowable expenses
If they have not been deducted to arrive at tax adjusted profit, they must be.
For example if net profit is £10,000 and there is an allowed expense of £1,000 that
has not been deducted, then the tax adjusted profit will be £10,000 - £1,000 =
£9,000
However, If they are correctly deducted, you will indicate these expenses with 0 in
the exam, because these items do not require adjustment.
For example if net profit is £10,000 and there is an allowed expense of £1,000 that
has been deducted, then the tax adjusted profit will be £10,000 and you will
indicate the allowed expense with 0.
• they cost less than £50 per person per year, and
• the gift is not food, drink, tobacco or vouchers exchangeable for goods and
services
For example as Christmas presents, a sole trader can give his customers pens
with the company logo printed on them as gifts, as long as they cost less than
£50 per customer.
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For example if a donation was made to a local charity and in return, at the
charity fundraiser, the business was shown as a sponsor/organiser, then this
would be an allowable expense.
Allowable if connected with the trade and are not related to capital items
specifically allowed by statute:
For example if a loan was taken out to purchase inventory for trading, the legal
costs associated with obtaining this loan and the interest cost of the loan are
considered to be allowable expenses.
4. Interest payable
For example if a loan was taken out to purchase inventory for trading, the
interest cost of the loan are considered to be allowable expenses.
If the owner uses a car in the business and 20% of his mileages private, then
only 80% of motor expenses are allowable.
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However if the owner provides an employee with a car, and 20% of the mileage
is for private use by the employee, then the full amount of motor expenses is
allowable. (The employee is taxed on the private use under Employment
Income).
7. Any salary paid to the family of the owner of the business must not be
excessive. Only salary at the commercial rate for the work done is allowable.
For example John ran his business as sole trader and employed his wife Mary
to work for him as a sales executive. Other sales executives are paid £750 per
week, but his wife was paid £1,000. Only £750 will be an allowable expense,
because the remaining £250 will be considered to be excessive.
8. If an owner removes goods from the business for his own use he must add back
the item as a sale at market value, unless the owner accounts for the cost of the
goods in the business accounts then they need only add back the lost profit on
the item.
For example if the owner of a business takes goods from his store that cost him
£750 and would normally be sold for £1,000. He must either record the sale of
£1,000 and deduct cost of £750 - therefore increasing the profit of his store by
£250.
Or, he can simply add £250 to the net profit in his accounts.This would only work
if the owner has not included the purchase figure in the accounts.
Read the question carefully, for example, if the owner had included the item in
purchases, then the sale of £1,000 would need to be added to profits in order for
there to be an overall profit of £250 left to tax.
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9. Pre-trading expenditure
Illustration:
£ £
Gross Profit 140,880
Expenses:
Depreciation 4,760
Light and heat (Note 1) 1,525
Motor expenses (Note 2) 4,720
Professional fees (Note 3) 2,300
Rent and rates (Note 1) 3,900
Repairs and renewals (Note 4) 5,660
Sundry expenses (Note 5) 2,990
Wages and salaries (Note 6) 84,825
110,680
Net profit 30,200
Notes
Sunny and his wife live in a flat that is situated above the clothing shop.
Of the expenditure included in the statement of profit or loss for light, heat, rent and
rates, 40% relates to the flat.
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Note 2: Motor expenses
During the year, Sunny drove a total of 12,000 miles, of which 9,000 were for private
journeys.
The figure of £5,660 for repairs and renewals includes £2,200 for decorating the
clothing shop, and £1,050 for decorating the private flat.
The figure of £2,990 for sundry expenses, includes £640 for gifts to customers of
food hampers costing £40 each, £320 for gifts to customers of pens carrying an
advertisement for the clothing shop costing £1.60 each, £100 for a donation to a
national charity, and £40 for a donation to a local charity’s fete.
The fete’s programme carried a free advertisement for the clothing shop.
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Note 6: Wages and salaries
The figure of £84,825 for wages and salaries includes the annual salary of £15,500
paid to Sunny’s wife.
The other sales assistants doing the same job are paid an annual salary of £11,000.
During the year, Sunny took clothes out of the shop for his personal use without
paying or accounting for them.
The cost of these clothes was £460, and they had a selling price of £650.
(In the actual examination you may be required to prepare a capital allowances
computation and work out this figure. - see Topic Capital allowances)
Solution:
£ £
Depreciation 4,760
Light and heat (40% × £1,525) 610
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Gift of food hampers 640
18,860
Note: Personal taxation expense has been added to the net profit because personal
expenses are not allowable.
Note: The purchase amount for the shop has been added back because this is not
a trading revenue expense, this is a capital expense.
Note: The donation to the local charity is allowable but the donation to the national
charity is not allowable.
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Syllabus B3d. Cash basis for small businesses
This basis may result in a lower profit to be taxable, and therefore will reduce the
income tax payable.
• The business may continue to use the cash basis until the turnover exceeds
£300,000.
Calculation of profit
1. Total cash receipts of the business plus the sale of capital items are included.
For example If the business sells trading stock worth £25,000 and sells a capital
asset worth £50,000, both of these will be included to give a sales figure of
£75,000.
2. Total cash expenses of the business including purchase of capital items used for
business are deducted.
For example If the business purchases trading stock worth £25,000 and
purchases a capital asset worth £50,000, both of these will be included to give a
purchase figure of £75,000.
3. There is an exception of the purchase of motor cars, these will not be included in
the calculation of profit under the cash basis. (Vans purchased will be allowable).
For example, a motor car was purchased for £40,000. Even though this is a
capital item, this will not be included in the purchases of the businesses under
the cash basis.
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Illustration:
Sales for the period were £61,000 of which £4,000 was still owed by business
customers at the end of the period.
Solution:
Normal Basis £
Revenues 61,000
33,800
Cash Basis £
30,000
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Understanding operation
The above calculation of profit only includes cash item, therefore things such as:
receivables, payables, opening and closing inventory will be ignored.
The business will only pay income tax on its cash profits.
Less:
Motor expenses
The purchase capital expense of motor cars and the running expenses will not be
allowed.
This is:
For example, the motor car that was purchased for £40,000, drove 15,000 business
miles.
The allowable deduction will be (10,000 miles * 0.45) + (5,000 miles *0.25) = £5,750
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Illustration:
6. Other expenses (allowable) cost £17,600 with a further £400 owed as a payable
at 05/04/2019.
Calculate the tax adjusted trading profit according to the accruals basis and the
cash basis.
Solution:
Accruals basis
Sales £81,750 W1
COS (£19,320) W2
W1
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W2
W3
• The motor running expense must be adjusted for business use only, as
private expenses are not allowable.
W4
W5
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The Cash Basis
AMAP (£5,000) W1
W1
AMAP
• Barry should choose to elect into the cash basis scheme as this results in a
lower taxable profit for him
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Syllabus B3e/E2b. Relief for pre-trading expenditure
However, the trader would have incurred expenditure before this date, for
example, advertising expenditure and/or rent paid in advance.
Pre-trading expenditure will get tax relief by being treated as though it was
incurred on the first day that a sale is made, if the following conditions are
satisfied.
• 2) It is an allowable expense.
• For example, if goods were purchased for sale for the business 4 years
before the business had its first sale; this purchase price will be deducted
from the first profits also.
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Illustration:
• Will this expenditure be deducted from the sales revenue to arrive at tax
adjusted trading profit?
Solution:
Yes, this expenditure will be deducted from his sales revenue to arrive at the tax
adjusted trading profit.
This is because money spent on materials used in the business are an allowable
expense and it was incurred within 5 months of the trade starting.
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Syllabus B3f. Assessable profits on commencement
The first tax year is the year during which the trade commences.
For example:
if a trade commences on 1 June 2018 the first tax year is 2018/19 (06/04/2018 –
05/04/2019)
The basis period for the first tax year runs from the date the trade starts to the
next 5 April.
• YES
o ≥ 12 months long
• NO
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For example if trade commenced on 01/01/2018 and accounts were
prepared to 31/07/2018, the first tax year is 17/18 and the second tax year is
18/19 - but there is no accounting date ending in the second tax year.
• Does the accounting date (31 May 2019) fall in Tax Y2 (2019/20)?
YES
≥ 12 months long
Therefore, calculate profits for the 12 months to the accounting date ending
in TY2:
So, let's go back to our example (assuming they continue to make accounts up
to 31 May each year):
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Step 4: Comment on Overlap profits
If the same profits have been taxed two times, at the end of the question,
mention how much profit has been taxed 2 times.
The second tax year would be 18/19 and as the accounting period is 12 months
long, the full £12,000 would be taxed.
Therefore, the £3,000 of 17/18 has been taxed 2 times, this is the overlap profit.
1/1/2018 - 5/4/2018
YES
Calculate profits for the 12 months to the accounting date ending in Y2
1/1/2018 - 31/12/2018
Profit = £10,000
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3. The third tax year (TY3 = 2019/20)
Profit = £15,000
• What trading profits will be assessed for 17/18, 18/19 and 19/20?
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Solution:
1/1/2018 - 5/4/2018
YES
Profits £33,600
4. Overlap profits
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Illustration 3 - when the accounting date doesn't fall in Tax Y2
Calculate the tax adjusted trading profit for the period ended 30/04/2018.
Solution
> 12 months long therefore tax the last 12 months of the long period
01/05/17 - 30/04/18 = £10,000 * 12/16 = £7,500
4 Overlap profits
Overlap profits created: £1,875 + £7,500 + £7,500 - £10,000 = £6,875
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Syllabus B3f. Assessable profits on cessation
Cessation of a business
1. Actual trading profits from the end of the previous accounting period to the
date of cessation.
2. Deduct any overlap profits to find the trading profit assessment of the final
year.
Illustration:
Barry has been trading for many years and making up his accounts to 31/01. He
ceases to trade on 31/05/2018, with trading profits as follows:
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Solution:
Profits £6,000
Illustration:
In the final period of trading, 01/02/2018 - 31/05/2018, Barry had a tax written
down value on his main pool of £1,000 and sold the main pool assets for £600.
Solution:
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Syllabus B3g. Choice of accounting date
3. Simplicity
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Conditions to change an accounting date
• The first accounts to the new accounting date must not exceed 18 months in
length.
• A change of accounting date must not have occurred within the previous 5
years.
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Syllabus B3h/E2c. Capital allowances
Capital allowances
• CA are given for a period of account eg for a year ended 31/12/18, and are
deducted in the adjustment of profits calculation to reach the Trading Profits
figure
Rates of allowance %
Capital allowances are now also available on integral features of a building including
lifts and escalators, electrical systems, heating and air cooling system.
Main pool
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3. Alterations to building incidental to the installation of plant and machinery
The following asset acquisitions should be allocated to the special rate pool:
These are assets, when new, with an expected economic working life of 25 years
or more when total expenditure based on a 12-month accounting period
exceeds £100,000
W.D.A.’s are given on main pool assets and special rate pool assets.
For main pool assets, the W.D.A. is 18% for a 12 month period
For example Assets in the main pool had a brought forward value of £100,000 at
01/01/2018.
The writing down allowance on these assets will be £18,000 (£100,000*18%) in the
year ending 31/12/18.
Note if the above period was for 6 months, then the WDA for the main pool would
be £9,000 (£100,000*18%*6/12) in the period ending 31/12/18.
For special rate pool assets, the W.D.A. is 8% for a 12 month period.
For example Assets in the special rate pool had a brought forward value of
£100,000 at 01/01/18.
The writing down allowance on these assets will be £8,000 (£100,000*8%) in the
year ending 31/12/18.
Note if the above period was for 6 months, then the WDA for the main pool would
be £4,000 (£100,000*8%*6/12) in the period ending 31/12/18.
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First year allowances
These are given for motor cars which have an emission of less than or equal to 50g
per km.
This is a 100% allowance on the cost of the car and it is given in the period of
acquisition.
The F.Y.A. is not time apportioned for a period of less than 12 months.
The first year allowance for this car will be £100,000 ( £100,000*100%).
Note if the above period was for 6 months, then the FYA would still be £100,000 - it
is not reduced for a period of less than 12 months.
The annual investment allowance for the tax year 18/19 is £200,000.
This is given to an individual for a 12 month period and is time apportioned if the
period is below 12 months.
Ideally, this A.I.A should be allocated to special rate pool assets purchased first
because the allowances on these assets are only 8% per year, therefore tax relief on
these assets is received over a longer period.
Once allocated to special rate pool assets purchased in the tax year, then if any of
the allowance is remaining, it can be allocated to main pool assets purchased in the
year.
The A.I.A cannot be given to motor cars purchased in the tax year.
For example a business purchased equipment worth £300,000 in their year ended
31/03/2019.
The annual investment allowance for the tax year ending 31/03/2019 is £200,000
(maximum available).
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For the remaining £100,000 (£300,000- £200,000), a writing down allowance will be
available.
As equipment is a main pool asset, the writing down allowance will be £18,000
(£100,000*18%).
The total capital allowances available will be AIA + WDA = £218,000 (£200,000
+ £18,000)
Note if the above period was for 6 months, then the AIA would be (£200,000*6/12) =
£100,000 + WDA (18%*£200,000*6/12) = £18,000. This would total to £118,000 of
capital allowances for the 6 month period.
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Illustration:
Buzzy Ltd. in the year ended 05/04/2019 made the following transactions..
01/05/2018 Ventilation system and lift for his freehold office building £278,000
The tax written down value on the main pool was £87,800 on 06/04/2018.
Solution:
Special Capital
Particular AIA Main pool
rate pool allowances
Notice how the AIA was first allocated to special rate pool assets.
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Also notice that the expenditure on the decorative wall is not eligible for capital
allowances as this does not qualify as plant and machinery.
The capital allowances for the year ended 05/04/2019 are £231,440.
Illustration:
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Solution:
Additions (AIA)
1 July 2018 Plant 70,000
20 October 2018 Computers 80,000
150,000
AIA (max 6/12 x 200,000) (100,000) 50,000 100,000
WDA (max 6/12 x 18% x 50,000) (4,500) 4,500
Total Allowances 104,500
Tax Written Down Value (TWDV) c/ 45,500
f
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Assets with private use
A company
This is because all of the people who work in the company are considered to be
employees of the company.
Therefore, the capital allowances given are not reduced by the % of private usage
by an employee of a company.
A Sole trader
If an asset is used privately by the owner of the business, the capital allowance
given must be reduced by the % of private usage.
On 1 November, she bought computer for £3,000 which she uses 70% in her
business and 30% privately.
Solution:
WDA = £3,000 x 18% = £540
Capital Allowances (business use only) £540 x 70% = £378
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Illustration (a company)
On 1 November, the company bought computer for £3,000 which is used by the
sales manager 30% privately.
Solution:
WDA £3,000 x 18% = £540
Note: The private use of the computer by the employee is not relevant for capital
allowance purposes.
No adjustment is ever made to a company's capital allowances to reflect the private
use of an asset.
The F.Y.A is given to motor cars purchased that have a CO2 emission of less than
50g/km.
For cars with a CO2 emission of between 50-110, an 18% W.D.A. is given, therefore
these are considered to be main pool assets.
For cars with a CO2 emission of more than 110g, an 8% W.D.A. is given, therefore
these are considered to be special rate pool assets.
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Illustration (a Company)
Cow Ltd.:
25/06/2018 Purchase of car for £10,600. The car had CO2 emissions of 96g/km.
16/02/2018 Purchase of car for £18,000. The car had CO2 emissions of 142g/km.
14/03/2018 Purchase of car for £22,000. The car had CO2 emissions of 40g/km.
Solution:
Additions:
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Illustration (ANNA - a Soletrader )
Solution:
Capital
Main Special
Particulars F.Y.A. allowan
Pool rate pool
ces
Additions:
(£1,440) *
70%
business £5,940
WDA (18%/8%) (£4,932)
use = (W1)
Capital
allowance
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W1:
W2:
The tax written down value carried forward is calculated using the entire W.D.A.
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Disposal of the assets
Use LOWER OF
1. Proceeds
2. Original cost
When an item of plant or machinery is sold - the lower of the sale proceeds received
or the original cost of the asset is deducted from the written down value of the
relevant pool.
For example, if the written down value is 100 and sale proceeds received are
120 but the original cost of the asset is 110, then 110 will be deducted from the
pool to give a balancing charge of 10.
The difference between proceeds and original cost will be treated as a capital
gain.
In the final year of trading, the A.I.A., W.D.A., F.Y.A. are not given.
Instead, balancing allowances and balancing charges are computed on each pool.
A balancing allowance will be deducted from trading profit to find tax adjusted
trading profit and a balancing charge will be added to trading profit to find tax
adjusted trading profit.
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Illustration:
The company ceased to trade on 05/04/2019 on which all of its plant and
machinery was sold for £8,000.
The written down value on its main pool at 06/04/2018 was £11,000.
Solution:
Short life assets are main pool assets that have an expected life of 8 years or less.
A de-pooling election can be made so that the asset gets its own W.D.A.’s and on
sale of the asset, a balancing allowance or balancing charge can arise.
The benefit of this election is that a balancing adjustment will arise within 8 years,
which would not have arisen, if this de-pooling did not take place.
If the asset is not sold within the 8 years of acquiring the asset, then the written
down value is added back to the main pool.
This happens on the 8th anniversary of the end of the accounting period in which
the asset was acquired.
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Illustration:
On 01/09/2018 Aadi purchased a printer for £8,000 and made a short life asset
election.
Calculate the capital allowances for the two years ending 05/04/2020
Solution:
Additions:
Machinery £220,000
Printer £8,000
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Tax written down value brought £27,880 £6,560
forward
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Syllabus B3i. Relief for trading losses
1) Trading losses carried forward against the Trading income of future years
Illustration:
Trading loss of (£50,000) will be relieved against the trading income generated next
year.
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Property income £10,000
Interest income (gross) £5,000
Loss memo:
Trading loss (£50,000)
c/f loss relief £20,000
2) Trading losses relieved against Current year total income plus capital gains
Trading losses can be relieved against the total income of the current year and the
total income of the previous 12 months.
If the total income of the year has been used, then the chargeable gains of that year
can also be used to relieve the loss remaining.
1. Trading income
2. Property income
3. Interest income
4. Employment income
Other Income
For example:
1. Property income
2. Interest income
3. Employment income
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Other Income - maximum limit
For using the loss against other income (not including trading income), there is a
maximum limit which applies, this is the greater of £50,000 or 25% of total other
income.
For example:
if you have a trading loss of £300,000 and employment income (other income) is
£250,000, the amount that can be relieved is the greater of £50,000 or (25% x
£250,000) = £62,500.
Therefore, the amount of loss that would be relieved against employment income
that year is £62,500.
Note, this applies to the carryback claim against total income also.
However, the previous year's trading profit can be entirely used, it only applies to
other income,
For example:
This year, you have a trading loss of £300,000 and no other income.
Last year, there was a trading profit of £10,000 and other income for the year was
£250,000, the amount that can be relieved is the greater of £50,000 or (25%*
£250,000) = £62,500 PLUS £10,000 from trading profit, therefore £72,500 of loss
can be relieved.
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Illustration
Last year, He had a trading income of £2,000 and other income of £300,000.
How much of his trading loss can he relieve using the carry back total income
claim?
Solution
Trading loss (£100,000)
Therefore, he can relieve £2,000 + £75,000 = £77,000 of his trading loss using the
carry back total income claim.
Once the total income of a year has been relieved against, and there is still
trading loss remaining, then the loss can be used against the chargeable gains
of the year.
The amount of trade loss available to offset against chargeable gains is the lower
of:
- current year capital gains less current year capital losses less the full
amount of capital losses brought forward.
Chargeable gains do not have to be utilised in the loss claim but if the taxpayer
chooses to use the trade loss against capital gains of the same year then the
loss is treated as a current year capital loss and so it cannot be restricted to
preserve the annual exemption.
The only times you can restrict a capital loss to preserve the annual exemption
are on capital losses b/f and capital losses in the year of death.
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For example Kathy had a capital gain of £44,000. She has a capital loss brought
forward of £4,000 and has trading losses available of £24,000 - after a claim
against the total income.
Gain 44,000
Illustration:
Jane had a trading loss of £100,000 and uses £45,000 against her current year total
income claim.
She had chargeable gains of £50,000 and a loss b/f of £1,000. She wants to use the
loss against chargeable gains.
How much of the trading loss will she relieve against the chargeable gains?
Solution:
Gain 50,000
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*the loss b.f of £1,000 does not need to be used this year as the gain that is left after
using the cy trade loss is covered by the annual exemption. The £1,000 capital loss and
the remaining trade loss of £6,000 (55,000-49,000) will be carried forward.
Illustration:
Peter made the following income for the year ended 05/04/2017:
Peter made the following income for the year ended 05/04/2018:
Peter made the following income for the year ended 05/04/2019:
How can the trading loss of the year ended 05/04/2018 be relieved against the
current year total income and carried back against total income for 12
months?
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Solution:
£65,000 of the trading loss of (£75,000) incurred in the year ended 05/04/2018
will be carried back against the total income generated in 05/04/2017 and Peter
will receive a refund of any tax paid. This wastes the personal allowance
unfortunately.
The remaining loss of £10,000 will be used against total income of the current
year. This leaves total income of £15,000 of which will be mostly covered by the
personal allowance.
It would not be advisable to use the £10,000 remaining loss against the gains of
£15,000 in either year as most of the gains would be covered by the annual
exemptions.
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Property income £20,000
Loss memo:
Note carefully that it is a carry back claim against total income for 12 months.
Therefore, if there is a shorter chargeable accounting period before the loss making
year, then the claim extends back for a full 12 months.
If a loss is made within the first 4 tax years of trading (after applying the opening
year rules) …
… then the loss can be relieved against total income of the individual for the
previous 3 tax years on a FIFO basis.
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Illustration:
Mary started trading in 2015/16. She had never worked before she opened her
business.
She made the following trading profits/losses in the following tax years.
How can Mary apply the opening years relief for trading losses?
Solution:
Note
That the opening years relief has to be applied on a FIFO basis, therefore the
personal allowances for 15/16 was wasted.
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Terminal loss relief
If a trading loss occurs in the final 12 months of trading, then this trading loss can
be offset against any trading profits of the final tax year of trade and then carried
back for 3 tax years against the trading profits of the company on a LIFO basis.
Once again, the loss cannot be restricted to save any personal allowances.
Additionally, for the years in which tax has already been paid, this will result in a
repayment of tax.
This is:
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Illustration:
• Mr. Unlucky, ceased trading on 30/09/2018 and incurred a loss for the 9 months
of (£13,500).
• The trading profits for the year ended 31/12/2017 were £22,500.
• What is the terminal loss that Mr. Unlucky can claim terminal loss relief on?
Solution:
05/04/18-30/09/18 =
= 6 months/9 months * (£13,500)
(£9,000)
01/10/17-05/04/18
= 3 months / 12 months * £22,500 = £5,625
=
= 3 months / 9 months * (£13,500)
(£4,500)
The net is a profit and so the figure is
Total in penultimate
ignored for the purposes of the terminal 1,125
tax year
loss calculation
=
Overlap profits
(£2,000)
Terminal loss (£9,000 + £2,000) (£11,000)
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Illustration:
How would Mr. Unlucky obtain terminal loss relief for this loss?
Solution:
• Terminal loss relief states that the terminal loss must be relieved against
trading profits from the same trade of the last 3 tax years on a LIFO basis.
Therefore,
The factors that will influence the choice of loss relief claims are:
Illustration:
If Mr Unlucky had trading profits of £4,000 in the year ended 31/12/17 instead of
£22,500, the terminal loss calculation would have been as follows:
The key difference to note between the two illustrations is the figure prior to 5/4.
In the first illustration it produced a profit and so it was ignored. In the second
illustration it produced a loss and as such it was included in the terminal loss
figure.
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Syllabus B3j. Partnerships and limited liability partnerships
What is a partnership?
A partnership is a single trading entity, but for taxation purposes each partner is
treated individually.
1. The trading income or trading loss is divided between the partners according to
their profit sharing arrangements.
The balance of any trading profit (or loss) will then be allocated in the profit sharing
ratio (PSR).
Illustration 1
• Required:
What will Peter's and Paul's share of tax adjusted trading profit be?
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Solution:
If the profit sharing agreement is changed during a period of account, the profit
must be time apportioned before allocation under the different agreements.
Illustration 2
The partnership's tax adjusted trading profit for the year ended 5 April 2019 is
£120,000.
The partners have always shared profits equally, and continued to do so after Paul
resigned.
All partners have overlap profits of £5,000, which they incurred on the start of
trading.
• Required:
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Solution:
6/4/2018 - 31/12/2018
• 1/1/2019 - 5/4/2019
Illustration 3
Profits are shared between Canda and Panda in this ratio 3:2, after paying salary of
£3,000 to Canda.
Solution:
If the question had asked for her total profit share then she would have been
entitled to her salary of £3,000 plus the residual profit share of £9,000, giving a total
income from the partnership of £12,000.
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Illustration 4
The trading income for the year ended 30 September 2018 was £18,000
• Up to 30 June 2018 profits were shared between Doug and Rob 3:2, after paying
salaries of £3,000 and £2,000 per annum.
• From 1 July 2018 profits were shared 2:1 after paying salaries of £6,000 and
£4,000 per annum.
• Required:
Show the allocation of trading profits for the Accounting Period ended 30
September 2018.
Solution:
1/7/2018 to 30/9/2018
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Partnership capital allowances
Illustration 5
The partnership's tax adjusted trading profit is £120,000. this figure is before taking
account of capital allowances.
• Required:
What will Peter's and Paul's share of tax adjusted trading profit be?
Solution:
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Commencement and cessation
1. The rules for commencement and cessation are the same as for a sole trader.
2. The profit is allocated between the partners for accounting periods and then
the assessment rules are applied.
7. Each partner has his own overlap profit available for relief.
As long as there is at least one partner common to the business before and
after the change, the partnership continues.
Illustration 6
Ann and Beryl have been in partnership since 1 July 2016 making up their accounts
to 30 June each year. On 1 July 2018 Clair joins the partnership.
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1) Show the amounts assessed on the individual partners for all relevant tax
years of assessment.
£ £ £
2) Compute each partner’s trading income as though they were a sole trader
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Clair will be treated as commencing on 1 July 2018,
and will be assessed on her share of the partnership
profits as follow:
1 July 2018 to 5
2018/19 (Actual) April 2019 £8,000 6,000
× 9/12
Year ended 30
2019/20 (CYB) 8,000
June 2019
Partnership losses
2. Loss relief claims available are the same as for sole traders.
3. A partner joining the partnership may claim under opening years loss relief, for
losses in the first four tax years of his membership of the partnership.
4. A partner leaving a partnership may claim under terminal loss relief. This relief is
not available to partners remaining in the partnership.
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Illustration 7
John, James and Paul are in partnership making up their accounts to 5 April.
During the year, Paul left the partnership and George joined in his place.
• Required:
State the loss relief claims that will be available to the partners.
Solution:
Paul will be entitled to terminal loss relief since he has actually ceased trading.
George will be entitled to claim opening years relief since he has actually
commenced trading.
John and James will not be entitled to either of the above reliefs.
All the partners will be entitled to relief against total income of the current or
previous tax year and against gains.
All the partners except Paul will be entitled to carry forward relief.
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Syllabus B4. Property and investment income
Income from land and buildings in the UK will be liable to assessment under
property income.
This includes: rent received/receivable under any lease or tenancy agreement and
the premium received on the grant of a short lease
Less: capital element of the premium received in the tax year (x)
From 2018/19 the default method for the calculation of property income is the cash
basis - rental income received less allowable expenses paid. This gives automatic
bad debt relief as rental income is not taxed unless it is received.
Rental income and allowable expenses will be assessed on an accruals basis when:
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An election is made for the accruals basis to apply (elect by 31 January 2021 for
2018/19 tax year
Under the accruals method, whatever income is allocated to the tax year and
whatever expenses are allocated to the tax year will be taxable in that tax year.
When this income is actually received in hand or when the expenditure is actually
paid out does not matter.
For premiums received due to grant of a short lease, the entire income element of
the premium will be assessed in the tax year that it is received.
This calculation will be illustrated in Topic Premiums granted for short leases.
NOTE: in your exam you should assume that the cash basis applies unless told
otherwise.
Illustration:
Penny owned two properties which were let out unfurnished until both properties
were sold on 31 December 2018.
Solution:
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Illustration:
Anne bought a property and rented it out for the first time on 01/07/2018.
The rent of £1,000 is paid in arrears on the last day of each month. The payment for
March 2019 was not received until 10 April 2019.
She paid allowable expenses of £300 in November 2018 and £500 in May 2019 for
repairs that were completed in March 2019.
• Required:
Calculate the property income, using (i) the cash basis and (ii) the accruals basis.
Solution:
£8,000
(rent is accrued for
Rent received / receivable (1 July -
(March rent was the whole period
5 April)
not received until from 1 July 2018 to
after 5 April 2019). 5 April 2019).
(£500)
Note
On the cash basis the March 2019 rent was not received before the tax year end
and so it is not taxed in 2018/19. The expense of £500 was not paid until after the
tax year end and so it is excluded from the calculation. Both of these items will be
dealt with in the tax year 2019/20.
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Allowable expenses:
These are expenses incurred by the landlord and reduce the taxable property
business profits.
• Insurance
• Agent’s fees
• Bah
• Repairs
Capital allowances may be claimed for expenditure on plant and machinery used
for the maintenance of the property.
• Decorating
• Impairment losses
e.g. A tenant left owing 1 month’s rent which you were unable to recover.
• Advertising costs
• Motor expenses
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If a landlord uses their own vehicle to travel to and from the property they can either
deduct the actual motoring costs or use the approved mileage allowance which we
saw in the Topic The authorised mileage allowances.
• Replacement furniture allowance (this replaces the old wear and tear
allowance and is available for all properties (except furnished holiday lets)
whether fully or part furnished)
Individuals and companies deduct the actual cost of replacing furniture and
furnishings when calculating the property income from renting out a residential
property.
There is no relief for the initial cost of furniture and furnishings, there is only relief
when assets are replaced.
The amount of relief is reduced by any proceeds from selling the old asset which
has been replaced (Replacement cost - sale proceeds = replacement
furniture relief).
Also, relief is not given for any cost which represents an improvement, for
example, if a washing machine is replaced with a washer-dryer, only the cost of
an equivalent washing machine qualifies for relief.
Example, during April 2018, Fred furnished a residential property with a cooker
costing £440, a washing machine costing £330, and floor coverings costing
£2,200.
The cooker was sold during December 2018 for £110, and replaced with a
similar model costing £460.
The washing machine was scrapped, with nil proceeds, during March 2019.
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Note:
No relief is available for the initial cost of the cooker, washing machine and floor
coverings.
Relief for the replacement cooker is reduced by the proceeds of £110 from the
sale of the original cooker.
No relief is given for that part of the cost of the washer-dryer which represents
an improvement over the original washing machine.
Howard had an unfurnished property and charged rent of £800 per month payable
at the end of each month.
The property was let from 06/04/2018 - 31/12/2018 when the tenant left owing 1
month’s rent which Howard was unable to recover. Allowable expenses paid in the
period amounted to £500.
What is Howard’s property income assessable for 2018/19 using the accruals
basis?
Solution:
Note: impairment losses do not exist under the cash basis as property income
is based on rental income actually received.
Pre-trading expenditure
Illustration:
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Hailey owned a furnished flat that she acquired on 01/06/2018.
She paid mortgage interest of £700 on the loan taken out to acquire the property.
The flat remained empty until 01/12/2018 when it was rented for £500 payable
monthly in advance.
Solution:
Allowable expenses:
Decorating (£900)
Advertising (£500)
Note: under the cash basis the whole of the insurance premium is accounted for in
the tax year because it was paid in the tax year.
Under the accruals basis, when calculating the insurance premium payable, the
premium has been paid for 12 months to 31/05/2019, but we only need the
premium applicable until 05/04/2019, this is why 10/12 months are taken.
Note if there was furniture that was replaced for this property, then this would also
be deducted when calculating the property loss.
Note from 2017/18 there is a restriction on the amount of mortgage interest that can
be deducted from property income. In 2018/19, only 50% of the interest can be
deducted from property income. The remaining 50% is taken off the income tax
liability at the basic rate of 20%. This means that any higher rate or additional rate
taxpayers will not get full relief for the interest expense.
So in this illustration, Hailey deducts £350 (50% x £700) from property income and
then would deduct £70 (50% x £700 x 20%) from her income tax liability.
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This is explored in more detail in Topic Property Income Finance Costs
3. Relevant earnings when calculating the maximum amount that can be invested
in a registered pension scheme includes income from a furnished holiday letting.
(Refer to Topic Pensions)
5. Gift relief is available on the gift of a furnished holiday letting. (Refer to Topic
Rollover relief, Holdover relief)
Note - the restriction to mortgage interest does not apply to furnished holiday
lets.
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In order to qualify to be a furnished holiday letting, the following conditions
need to be satisfied:
2. The accommodation must be available for letting for at least 210 days in the tax
year.
3. The accommodation must actually be let for 105 days in the tax year.
This means that no one person should occupy the letting for more than 31
consecutive days in the tax year.
For example if the letting is let for 105 days in the tax year, it cannot be let by
one person for more than 31 days at a stretch.
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Syllabus B4c. Rent a room relief
This relief is based upon letting a room out in your main residence where you live.
There are 2 methods under which the income from letting this room can be
assessed.
Method 1:
If an individual lets a room, furnished, in their main residence – the gross rent up to
£7,500 is exempt.
Gross rent x
Less: rent a room relief (£7,500)
Property income x
Method 2:
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Ordinary calculation:
Gross rent x
Property income x
The election for 2018/19 must be made by 31/01/2021 and stays in force until it is
revoked.
Illustration:
Sunder rents a room in his main residence. Gross rents are £145 per week and
expenses amount to £120 per year.
• What is his property income assessable and when does the relevant election
need to be made?
Solution:
Ordinary calculation:
Sunder will decide to elect the rent a room relief exemption as this produces the
lower property income assessable. He will have to make this election by 31/01/2021
for income receivable in 2018/19.
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Syllabus B4d. Premiums granted for short leases
When a tenant takes on a new lease, he may pay a one off premium to the landlord
in addition to the annual rent.
• This premium is paid to the landlord for the lease to secure the property space
for a number of years by the person renting the space.
• If this lease is for less than 50 years, then it is considered to be a short lease and
a part of it will be taxable in the year that it is received
• The part that is not taxable is known as the capital element of the premium
received.
• Capital element:
• Income element:
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Illustration:
Amanda was granted a 22 year lease of a property on 01/05/2018. She paid the
landlord a premium of £6,900 and also pays rent of £2,100 per month.
• What will the property income assessable be for the landlord is 2018/19?
Solution:
Therefore,
£6,900-£2,898 = £4,002 is the income element that will be taxed
If a trader paid a premium for a short lease he may deduct the following annual
amount against his trading profit in each of the year’s of the least in which the
property is used in the trade.
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Illustration:
• What will be the allowable deduction from property income in 2018/19 for
Amanda?
Solution:
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Syllabus B4e.
Understand and apply the restriction on property income finance costs
2) The remaining 50% will be use to create a tax credit (a deduction from the income
tax liability) at 20%.
2) FHLA
The restriction has no impact on basic rate taxpayers but it still applies to them.
Illustration:
Freddie purchased a freehold house.
The property was then let throughout the tax year at a monthly rent of £1,000 (all
rent was received in the year).
Freddie partly financed the purchase of the property with a repayment mortgage,
paying mortgage interest of £4,000.
The other expenditure on the property amounted to £1,300, and this is all allowable.
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Solution:
Freddie’s property income is:
Less:
Total £88,700
Income tax
£42,350*40% = £16,940
Total £23,840
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Syllabus B4f. Property business loss relief
If total expenses exceed total income, the property income assessable is NIL and
the excess property loss is carried forward and offset against future property
income profits ONLY.
Illustration:
In 2018/19 a trading income of £1000 was generated and property income of £800
was generated.
What property income will be assessable to income tax in the years 17/18 and
18/19?
Solution:
2017/18 – Nil (as if property loss is incurred, the income assessed is Nil and can
only be used against future property profits)
2018/19
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Note that for a furnished holiday letting loss, this can only be carried forward
against future furnished holiday letting profits, it cannot be relieved against other
property income.
For example, if there was a FHLA loss of £1,000 in 17/18 and property income of
£1,000 (from a different property) in 18/19 - the FHLA loss would not be relieved
against the other property income in 18/19.
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Syllabus B4g/B5a)/B5d. Compute the tax payable on savings and dividends income.
An Income Tax Computation is prepared for each taxpayer and records the income
to be taxed for that individual for a tax year.
The tax year 2018/19 runs from April 6, 2018 to April 5, 2019.
Therefore each source of income requires its own basis of assessment to determine
how much income is to be assessed to tax in each such tax year.
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Proforma income tax computation
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Non savings income
This includes income from employment, income from self employment and property
income.
Savings income
Savings income is all types of interest income, and for the exam, it is received gross
- therefor you just need to include the received amount in the income tax
computation.
Savings income now benefits from a 0% rate, because there is a savings income nil
rate band.
For basic rate taxpayers, the savings income nil rate band for the tax year 2018/19
is £1,000, and for higher rate taxpayers it is £500. Additional rate taxpayers do not
benefit from any savings income nil rate band.
Do not confuse this with the personal allowance, this savings nil rate band is
only for savings income, if there is no savings income then it cannot be used
against any other types of income.
Also do not confuse this with the savings income starting rate of £5,000 which
applies if there is taxable non savings income of less than £5,000.
Savings income in excess of the savings income nil rate band is taxed at the basic
rate of 20% if it falls below the higher rate threshold of £34,500, at the higher rate of
40% if it falls between the higher rate threshold of £34,500 and the additional rate
threshold of £150,000, and at the additional rate of 45% if it exceeds the additional
rate threshold of £150,000.
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• Example of a higher rate payer
Savings income
Savings income £1,800
£500 at 0% = £0
£250 at 20% (£34,500 - £33,750 - £500) = £50
Note if she was a basic rate taxpayer, then the savings nil rate band would have
been £1,000 and if she was a additional rate taxpayer, then there would be no nil
rate band available.
Also notice that the nil rate band uses up the basic rate band.
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Dividend income
The first £2,000 of dividend income for the tax year 2018/19 benefits from a 0%
rate.
This £2,000 nil rate band is available to all taxpayers, regardless of whether they
pay tax at the basic, higher or additional rate.
Dividend income
Dividend income £6,800
2,000 at 0% =£Nil
4,800 (6,800 – 2,000) at 32.5% = £1,560
Tax liability (6,900 + 3,860 + 1,560) = £12,320
Carefully note
These nil rate bands are not deductions, they just allow some savings and
dividend income to be taxed at 0%.
They also use up the bands so, if there is taxable non savings income of £20,000
and taxable savings income of £15,000, even though £500 of the savings
income is at 0% it still uses the band and so £35,000 is taxable in total meaning
that this taxpayer is higher rate.
Only the personal allowance is a deduction which must be first given to non
savings income, then savings income and then dividend income.
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Income that is exempt from income tax
The difference between an income tax liability and income tax payable
Income tax liability is a taxpayers total tax liability for the year.
Tax payable is the amount of tax that is still owing at the end of the year.
For example, if you are an employee with no other income, you are unlikely to have
any tax to pay at the end of the year as it has all been deducted at source by your
employer via PAYE.
You would still calculate your tax liability, then deduct any tax paid at source via
PAYE to leave you with a tax payable figure.
Therefore,
£1-£34,500 at 20% (basic rate band) (unless the starting rate is available and then it
is £0 - £5,000 at 0% and £5,001 to £34,500 at 20%)
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Dividend income is taxed at the following rates:
Illustration:
For the tax year 2018/19, Joe has a salary of £40,000, savings income of £2,000
and dividend income of £9,000.
During the year, he paid interest of £300 which was for a qualifying purpose.
Solution:
Type of income £
Income tax:
Income tax:
27,850 (40,000 – 300 – 11,850) x 20% = £5,570
500 at 0% = £0
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Note
Joe is a higher rate taxpayer, so his savings income nil rate band is £500.
The dividend 0% nil rate band used up some of the basic rate band leaving £2,650
of the basic rate band for some of the dividends with the remainder of the dividends
being taxed at the higher rate.
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Savings income starting rate band
There is a tax rate of 0% for savings income within the savings income starting rate
band (£5,000) (don't confuse this with the Savings income nil rate band, that you
have seen in the previous topic)
The savings income starting rate only applies where the savings income falls wholly
or partly below the starting rate limit.
The savings income starting rate band counts towards the basic rate limit of
£34,500.
• Solution
NSI
13,000 - PA 11,850 = £1,150 x 20% = £230
SI
Savings income starting rate band: £5,000 - £1,150 = £3,850 x 0% = £0
Savings nil rate band - basic rate taxpayer = £1,000 x 0% = £0
(£9,000 - £3,850 - £1,000) = £4,150 x 20% = £830
Note: We used the Savings starting rate band here because the Non-savings
taxable income was below £5,000. In fact, it was £1,150, therefore we could still use
£3,850 (5,000 - 1,150) savings starting rate band and use 0% rate.
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Example (where you can't use the Saving starting rate band)
• Solution
NSI
46,350 - PA 11,850 = £34,500 x 20% = £6,900
Peter is a higher rate taxpayer since his Total taxable income is more than £34,500
(£34,500 + £9,000 = £43,500).
SI
Savings nil rate band - higher rate taxpayer = £500 x 0% = £0
(£9,000 - £500) = £8,500 x 40% =£3,400
Note: We could NOT use the Savings starting rate band here because the Non-
savings taxable income was more than £5,000. In fact, it was £34,500
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Syllabus B4hi)
h) Recognise the treatment of individual savings accounts (ISAs) and other tax exempt
investments.
ii) Understand how the accrued income scheme applies to UK Government securities (gilts)
Individual Savings Accounts (ISA’s) have for many years been the most common
form of tax efficient investment.
The £20,000 limit is completely flexible, so a person can invest £20,000 in a cash
ISA, or they can invest £20,000 in a stocks and shares ISA, or in any combination of
the two – such as £10,000 in a cash ISA and £10,000 in a stocks and shares ISA.
2. Disposals of investments within an ISA are free from capital gains tax
3. Disposals of investments within an ISA are free from capital gains tax
Components of an ISA
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National savings
These offer a variety of products some of which are tax free, e.g. National Savings
Certificates
However, some National Savings & Investments (NS&I) products are taxable,
namely:
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Syllabus B5. The Comprehensive computation of taxable income
Personal allowance
Personal allowance
If an individual makes income above this allowance amount, then income tax will be
charged on that additional income and the relevant rates.
For the tax year 2018/19 the personal allowance is £11,850 but it is reduced if the
taxpayer has adjusted net income for the year in excess of £100,000.
If the adjusted net income exceeds £100,000 then the personal allowance is
reduced by ½ of the excess of £100,000.
Therefore, the personal allowance is reduced to Nil if the adjusted net income is
£123,700. (£123,700-£100,000)/2 = £11,850.
Net income = Total income – qualifying interest payments – trading loss reliefs.
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How does this all look?
Total income
Less: X
Taxable income X
Illustration:
Bubble has net income of £103,150 and has a gross personal pension contribution
of £2,000.
Solution:
• £11,850
• (£575)
Total income
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Syllabus B5c. Understand the impact of the transferable amount of personal allowance for
spouses and civil partners.
• The maximum amount that can be transferred from the non taxpaying spouse is:
£1,190
• This transfer will be given in the form of a 20% tax credit to the spouse who is
taking it: 20% * (£1,190) = £238 is the maximum tax credit that can be given to
the spouse who is paying tax.
• Thus, this amount will be deducted from their income tax liability to reduce their
income tax payable.
• The election to transfer must be made within 4 years of the end of the tax year to
which it should apply, and remains automatically effective until it is withdrawn.
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Illustration:
A husband has trading income of £30,000. His wife only has employment income of
£8,000.
• How much of her unused personal allowance can she transfer to her husband?
Solution:
Wife
Husband
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Syllabus B5e. Qualifying loans
Qualifying loans
Certain interest payments made on loans taken are deducted from trading income
and property business income.
These include taking out a loan for trading purposes and taking out a loan to
purchase an investment property.
The interest payments here will be deducted from their respective headings that
they relate to.
• Here, we will look at the interest payments which will reduce a taxpayer’s
total income.
• Interest paid on certain loans are deductible from a taxpayer’s total income is
known as interest paid on qualifying loans.
1. Loan to purchase plant and machinery which is necessarily acquired for the use
in the employment of the taxpayer
Illustration:
Purchasing a computer to use for employment, if a loan was taken out to make
this purchase, then the interest payable is deducted from total income.
2. Loan to purchase plant and machinery for the use in the business of a
partnership, in which the taxpayer is a partner.
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Illustration:
A partner would have taken out a personal loan to purchase a computer for use
in the partnership, here interest payable would be deducted from total income
Illustration:
Partner A puts in £20,000 into the partnership bank account to fund the
business.
If he has borrowed this £20,000 from a bank at 7% p.a., then he can deduct the
£1,400 payable from his total income.
This is allowable as long as the taxpayer owns at least 5% of the ordinary share
capital or works for the greater part of his time in the management of the
company.
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Syllabus B5f. Understand the treatment of gift aid donations and charitable giving.
There are 3 tax benefits available for making personal gift aid donations:
Therefore, he will pay £800 and HMRC will pay £200 to the fund.
2. Increase the basic and higher rate bands by the gross gift aid donation.
Therefore, this same individual will increase his basic rate band to 34,500 +
1,000 = £35,500 and his higher rate band to 150,000 + 1,000 = £151,000.
This will result in an additional £1,000 being taxed at the lower rate of 20%
instead of 40%, and an additional £1,000 being taxed at the higher rate of 40%
instead of 45%.
3. Gross gift aid donation are deducted from net income to arrive at adjusted net
income.
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Illustration:
Eli has a trading profit of £50,000 and he paid £2,400 to charity under the gift aid
system.
Solution:
Benefit 1:
Benefit 2:
Benefit 3:
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Syllabus B5g. Child benefit tax charge
• The child benefit charge is designed to claw back the benefit from individuals
with high income
• If an individual who claims child benefit has an adjusted net income in excess of
£50,000, an income tax charge arises.
The charge is levied at the rate of 1% of the amount of the child benefit received
for every £100 of income above £50,000.
• Therefore, if the adjusted net income exceeds £60,000, then the charge is equal
to the full amount of the child benefit received.
Thus, if an individual expects their adjusted net income to exceed £60,000, they
can choose instead not to claim child benefit.
• The tax charge will be collected through the self-assessment system along with
the income tax payable.
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Illustration:
Solution:
• = £60,000 - £50,000 = £10,000
Benefit returned:
The benefit that needs to be returned to the government is added to the income tax
liability of the taxpayer.
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Syllabus B5h/7b.
B5h) Understand the treatment of property owned jointly by a married couple, or by a couple
in a civil partnership.
B7b) Understand how a married couple or a couple in a civil partnership can minimise their tax
liabilities.
• If assets are owned jointly then the rule is that any income generated from the
asset must be split 50:50.
• If one spouse does not own any shares in the property, shares can be
transferred to that spouse to result in actual entitlement.
• Ideally, to be tax efficient, the declaration should assign more income to the
individual who is a lower rate tax payer and potentially has some unused
personal allowance.
Illustration:
The husband contributed nothing towards the purchase of the house and the wife
contributed 100% towards the purchase of the house.
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Solution:
If no declaration is made, then the income will be split in the following manner:
Husband £50,000
Wife £50,000
Illustration:
For the same couple above, the following information relates to their yearly income
aside from the property income.
Solution:
Current situation
Husband
Salary £100,000
Wife
Property income £50,000
Total income £50,000
P.A. (£11,850)
Taxable income £38,150
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Income tax liability
Husband
£34,500 * 20% = £6,900
(£150,000 - £34,500) * 40% = £46,200
Total £53,100
Wife
£34,500 * 20% = £6,900
(£38,150-£34,500) * 40% = £1,460
Total £8,360
• The husband is already paying tax at a higher rate and with the £50,000 property
income, he will not have any personal allowance remaining.
• Therefore, the husband and wife should make a declaration so that the husband
is able to use his personal allowance, as both individuals are already paying
income tax at the higher rate.
• This will save them tax at £11,850 x 40% = £4,740 (At ATX - UK this kind of
short cut calculation is expected. The long version is shown below for
completeness)
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After declaration:
Husband
Salary £100,000
P.A. (11,850)
Wife
Wife
Property income £100,000
Income tax liability (same calculation for both husband and wife as they both now
have income of £100,000 less the personal allowance)
£
£34,500 * 20% = 6,900
(£88,150 - £34,500) * 40% = 21,460
Total 28,360
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Note:
1. A joint bank account will always be taxed 50:50 regardless of who contributions
what amount
2. If shares are owned, dividends are always divided according to the exact
proportion to which each is actually entitled, it is never assumed that it is in
equal proportions.
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Syllabus B6. National insurance contributions for employed
and self-employed persons
2. Employer’s Class 1
Paid by employers
3. Class 1A
Paid by employers
4. Class 2
Paid by the self-employed
5. Class 4
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Syllabus B6a. Class 1 and 1A NIC
There are 3 types of contributions that are payable for those who are
employed:
1. Employee’s Class 1
2. Employer’s Class 1
3. Class 1A
For the tax year 18/19 the rates of employee class 1 NIC is 12% and 2%.
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Illustration - Employee’s Class 1
Cow plc has one employee who is paid £47,000 per year.
Solution:
8,424 * 0% = £0
£46,350-£8,424 = £37,926 * 12% = £4,551
£47,000 – £46,350 = £650 * 2% = £13
Note that when you are calculating the NIC payable, you need to start paying from
£8,424.Therefore, you will subtract £8,424 from £46,350 and so forth.
Note: this allowance is not available to companies where the only employee is the
Director.
The rate of employer class 1 NIC is 13.8% and is paid on all earnings over £8,424 in
the tax year.
£8,424
13.8%
onwards
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Illustration - Employer’s Class 1
Cow plc has three employees who are each paid £45,000 per year.
Solution:
£8,424 * 0% = £0
£45,000 – £8,424 = £36,576 * 13.8% = £5,047
Note that you may have to calculate the monetary value of the benefits, and then
calculate the Class 1 A NIC payable, based on the benefit's monetary value.
Benefits provided to
Class I A Employer No limits 13.8%
employee
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Illustration Class 1A NIC
Solution:
John has been given a petrol car to use for private purposes during the tax year
2017/18.
The car has a list price of £10,000 and it has a CO2 emission of 150g.
Solution
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Syllabus B6a. Class 2 and 4 NIC
The small earnings exemption is £6,205 which means that if the trading profits are
below this figure no Class 2 NIC is payable.
If trading profits are above this amount then £2.95 is paid per week
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Illustration:
Calculate the NIC payable by Shobha if she is self-employed in 18/19 has self-
employed income of £47,000.
Solution:
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Syllabus B6a. The annual employment allowance
Employment allowance
This will reduce the liability that results from the calculation of Employer’s Class 1
NIC by £3,000.
Illustration:
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Solution:
£8,424 * 0% = £0
There is no Class 1 A because the employee was not given any employment
benefits.
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Syllabus B7. Exemptions and reliefs in deferring and
minimising income tax liabilities
Syllabus B7a. Explain and compute the relief given for contributions to personal pension
schemes, and to occupational pension schemes.
Pensions
An employee can contribute into the scheme and an employer can contribute into
the scheme on behalf of the employee.
• The contribution made by the employee is deducted from their salary in arriving
at taxable income.
Illustration 1:
During the year he has contributed £1,000 into his occupational pension scheme.
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Solution:
Salary £20,000
Less:
Less:
There are 3 tax benefits available for making personal pension contributions into a
registered scheme.
They are exactly the same as the tax benefits available for making gift aid
donations.
These are:
Therefore, he will pay £800 and HMRC will pay £200 to the fund.
2. Increase the basic and higher rate bands by the gross personal pension
contribution.
Therefore, this same individual will increase his basic rate band to £35,500 and
his higher rate band to £151,000.
This will result in an additional £1,000 being taxed at the lower rate of 20%, and
an additional £1,000 being taxed at the higher rate of 40%.
3. Gross personal pension contributions are deducted from net income to arrive at
adjusted net income.
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Adjusted net income is used to determine the amount of personal allowance
available.
Illustration 2:
Eli has a trading profit of £50,000 and he paid £2,400 (net) to a registered personal
pension scheme in the tax year 18/19.
Solution:
Benefit 1:
Benefit 2:
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Benefit 3:
However, there are 2 limitations under which contributions must be to qualify for the
tax relief outlined.
These are:
1. They must be within the relevant earnings of the individual. If not, a certain
amount of the contribution will be taxable.
2. If they are within the relevant earnings, they must be also within the annual
allowances of the individual. If they are not, a certain amount of the contribution
will be taxable.
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What are relevant earnings?
• £3,600 and
100% of:
• Income from furnished holiday lettings (e.g.) rental income from a FHLA
For example
if an individual has trading profits of £50,000, then the greater of £3,600 and
£50,000 will be chosen as relevant earnings, £50,000 will be the relevant earnings.
if an individual has trading profits of £3,000, then the greater of £3,600 and £3,000
will be chosen as relevant earnings, £3,600 will be the relevant earnings.
The individual can use the allowance yearly, and the amount unused is carried
forward for 3 years but only if they are a member of a pension scheme in those
years.
• Therefore, at any particular time, an individual can use their current year
allowance plus 3 years’ b/f unused annual allowances on a FIFO basis.
The gross contributions are deducted from the annual allowances.
2015/16 £40,000
2016/17 £40,000
2017/18 £40,000
2018/19 £40,000
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Illustration 3:
Sally's trading income for the year ended 05/04/2019 were £60,000.
Sally made contributions of £56,000 (gross) into a personal pension scheme during
the tax year 18/19.
She has made gross pension contributions of £30,000 per annum for the last 10
years.
Solution:
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What happens if the gross contributions are above the relevant earnings or
annual allowance available?
The additional amount is added to the total income, on top of other income,
therefore it is chargeable to income tax at the highest rate that the individual pays.
Annual allowances only start to accumulate in the first year that an individual makes
a contribution.
Illustration 4:
Her trading income for the year ended 05/04/2019 were £60,000.
Sally made contributions of £56,000 (gross) into a personal pension scheme during
the tax year 18/19.
She has made gross pension contributions of £39,000 per annum for the last 10
years.
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Solution:
Total income
Trading income £60,000
Annual allowance charge £13,000
Total income £73,000
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Tapered annual allowance
• If ANI (Annual Net Income) is more than £150,000 then the CURRENT year
Allowance is a tapered allowance
• It means that the normal annual allowance of £40,000 is reduced by £1 for every
£2 by which a person’s adjusted income exceeds £150,000, down to a
minimum tapered annual allowance of £10,000.
Tapering applies on a tax year basis, so a taxpayer with variable income might
find themselves entitled to the full £40,000 annual allowance for some years, and
a tapered annual allowance in other years.
For example
A.N.I. = Total income - gross personal pension contributions - gross gift aid
donations
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Remember that it is only the 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 annual
allowances that you will apply this tapering to, the other allowances are
always given in full
• If the annual allowance is not fully used in any tax year, then it is possible to
carry forward any unused allowance for up to three years on a FIFO basis
For this exam, you will be carrying forward annual allowances from 2015/16
onwards based on the £40,000 that was applicable in that year.
If there is any annual allowance remaining from 2018/19, after the tapering has
been done to the allowance, this can also be carried forward in the normal way.
Therefore, for any year in which a person is not a member of a pension scheme
the annual allowance is lost.
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Illustration ANI < £150,000
2015/16 £32,000
2016/17 £31,000
2017/18 £19,000
2018/19 £48,000
Solution:
The pension contribution of £48,000 for 2018/19 has used all of Peter’s annual
allowance of £40,000 for 2018/19 and £8,000 (48,000 – 40,000) of the unused
allowance of £8,000 (40,000 – 32,000) from 2015/16.
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Illustration ANI>£150,000
2015/16 £32,000
2016/17 £31,000
2017/18 £19,000
2018/19 £8,000
His adjusted net income for the year is £250,000. This is the first time that his ANI
has been above £150,000.
Solution:
Yes.
Chirag’s tapered annual allowance for 2018/19 is the minimum of £10,000 because
his adjusted income exceeds £210,000.
His contribution this year is only £8,000 - therefore it is within the tapered annual
allowance of £10,000 and he will have £2,000 to carry forward to 2019/20.
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Syllabus B7c. Basic income tax planning
Tax planning
When we dealt with jointly owned assets, we illustrated the tax advantage to be
gained from transferring ownership of an income producing asset, such as a rental
property from a higher rate taxpayer to a spouse who was only a basic rate
taxpayer, or even greater tax savings to be had when the transferee spouse was not
even a basic rate taxpayer and was not therefore using some or all of their personal
allowance.
This would allow income that would have been taxed at 40% to now be taxed at
20% or indeed not taxed at all if the income fell within the available personal
allowance of the transferee spouse.
The introduction of nil rate bands for savings income and dividend income has
created opportunities for spouses to reduce their overall charge to income tax and
may even give an advantage to transferring such income from a basic rate taxpayer
spouse to a higher rate taxpayer spouse!
Example
Donald and Theresa are a married couple and have regular annual income as
follows:
Donald
Salary £60,000
Theresa
Salary £18,000
Interest £2,000
Dividends £9,000
It is clear from the above information that Donald is a higher rate taxpayer with
taxable income of £48,150 (60,000 – 11,850) and Theresa is a basic rate taxpayer
with taxable income of £17,150 ((18,000 + 2,000 + 9,000) – 11,850).
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In this situation it would normally be the case that for tax planning purposes it
would be advisable to see if any investment income could be moved from the
higher rate taxpayer to the basic rate taxpayer.
The introduction of the nil rate bands, however, means that in the above example
tax savings can be achieved if firstly, £500 of the interest income could be made by
Donald and therefore use his savings income nil rate band of £500 that is currently
being wasted.
This income is being taxed at 20% on Theresa as she has savings income in excess
of her nil rate band of £1,000.
If she transferred £500 to her husband, he would use his nil rate band and she
would save: £500 * 20% = £100
Currently Theresa is being taxed at 7.5% on £2,000 of her dividend income, so a tax
saving of £150 (£2,000 * 7.5%) would be possible here.
Clearly in practice choosing the right amount of interest bearing securities and
shares to transfer to Donald to allow usage of the available nil rate bands may be a
little difficult to precisely achieve.
Carefully keep in mind that it is now not necessary to transfer from a higher rate
payer to a basic rate payer to save tax, it can be the other way round.
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Income tax in the exam
For the objective questions on income tax, remember that it's an all or nothing
game, you either get the 2 marks or you get 0 marks.
All of options are not random numbers but answers that you can actually think are
correct if you have made a small mistake (that the examiner has already thought
you will make).
To avoid this, you must be very careful to read the exact requirement!
For example, does the question ask you to compute Income Tax Liability or Payable
or even Taxable Income?
Does it ask for Class 1 NIC payable by the employer or all Class 1 NIC payable
(employer and employee) or all NIC payable by the employer (Class 1 and Class 1A
NIC of the employer?
Does the examiner ask for the allowable expenses of the trader to be computed or
the disallowable?
Always pick out the easier MCQ first and if there are a few that you find very
difficult, do not waste your time on them until the end as there are marks that you
can score more easily in Section C - as the examiner gives you marks for your
workings, so even if your final answer is wrong there, you should be able to score
some marks.
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Section C Income tax question
You will see a 15 mark Income Tax question which is likely to require an Income tax
Computation to be prepared including a combination of employment income with
assessable benefits, property income, interest and dividend income. It may also
include the opening or closing years of an unincorporated trader as the individual
moves from employment to self employment during the tax year or vice versa.
£ £ £ £
Trading Profit x x
Employment income x x
Property income x x
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Dividends and interest must always be included gross in the computation.
Deductions are always made first from non savings income, savings income and
then dividend income.
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Syllabus C: Chargeable Gains For Individuals
Syllabus C1. The scope of the taxation of capital gains
Capital gains tax will be paid on the disposal of the 5 acre part.
The disposal proceeds will be Nil and therefore a capital loss of (£5,000) will be
realised on destruction.
The painting was insured and insurance proceeds of £10,000 were received
because of the loss of the painting.
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Chargeable assets
Chargeable person
1. Companies pay corporation tax on their capital gains whereas individuals pay
capital gains tax.
3. Companies can use rollover and holdover relief with respect to their chargeable
gains whereas individuals have a much wider array of reliefs available to them.
5. Loss relief is dealt with differently between both companies and individuals.
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Syllabus C1b. Assets which are exempt
• Debtors
• Cash
• Corporate bonds
• Government securities
• Trading stock
• Shares in a VCT
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Syllabus C2. The basic principles of computing gains and
losses
Disposal proceeds X
Illustration:
Solution:
Incidental cost to disposal can also include advertising cost and agency fees.
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• The original cost of the asset of £5,000 is classified as the acquisition cost.
Taxable Gains X
This is an amount of capital gain that will not be subject to capital gains tax.
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The rates of capital gains tax are:
• Rate 10%
After considering a person's taxable income, any remaining amount falling within
the basic rate band is charged at 10%
• Rate 20%
Once the entire basic rate band has been used, then a rate of 20% is applied.
The same treatment applies as explained above, except that the 10% rate is
replaced with 18% and the 20% rate is replaced with 28%.
• Rate 10%
This rate is used for capital gains that qualify for entrepreneur's relief.
There are conditions that need to be met in order to be able to use this rate.
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Illustration 1
Peter sold a capital asset and this resulted in a taxable gain of £40,000.
Required:
Calculate Peter's capital gain tax.
Solution:
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Illustration 2
Peter sold a residential property and this resulted in a chargeable gain of £40,000.
Required:
Calculate Peter's capital gain tax.
Solution:
Illustration 3
Katherine has a trading profit of £35,600 in 2018/19. (Basic rate band: £34,500)
Additionally, she sold a capital asset giving a rise to a taxable gain of £15,000.
Note A taxable gain is after the deduction of the annual exempt amount.
Solution:
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Illustration 4
Solution:
Less:
A/E (£11,700)
The rate used is 10% because the taxable gain of £3,300 fell entirely into the
remaining basic rate band of £10,400 that remained.
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Syllabus C2b. The treatment of capital losses
Capital losses
1. Current year capital losses are set against current year capital gains in the same
tax year.
2. The set off is made to the maximum possible extent and cannot be restricted to
avoid wasting the annual exemption.
3. If there are insufficient gains to set off the capital losses in the year they arise,
the unrelieved capital losses may be carried forward.
4. The capital losses brought forward only reduce the capital gains to the level of
annual exemption and therefore do not waste the annual exemption.
5. Any unrelieved capital losses brought forward are carried forward to the next
year to be set off against capital gains.
Illustration:
Fiona and Jane made capital gains and capital losses for the years 2017/18 and
2018/19 as set out below:
Fiona Jane
2017/18
Capital gains 15,000 7,000
Capital losses 10,000 10,000
2018/19
Capital gains 17,000 13,700
Capital losses 5,200 2,000
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Calculate the taxable gains for Fiona and Jane for both 2017/18 and 2018/19 and
the amount of any losses carried forward at the end of 2018/19.
Solution:
Net capital
£5,000 £11,800
gains/loss
Annual
(£5,000) (£11,700)
exemption
Capital losses
brought (£200)
forward
Annual
Wasted (£11,700)
exemption
Note that the current year losses must be set off to a maximum without any
restriction and thus wastage of the annual exemption.
However, capital losses brought forward will be set of partially to save the annual
exemption.
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Syllabus C2c. Transfers between husband and wife or civil partners
Illustration:
On 01/05/2018 he transfers it to his wife when the market value of the land is
£80,000.
Solution:
The wife would be treated as though she acquired the asset on 01/05/2006 for
£10,000.
Therefore, this transfer would have been made at no gain/no loss and no capital
gain would be assessable.
Illustration:
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Solution:
Cost (£10,000)
• Note: As the father made a gift to the daughter and no sale proceeds were
actually received, the market value of the land will be considered to be the
value that the asset is sold for.
This treatment is beneficial if one spouse does not have any capital gains and is a
basic rate taxpayer.
• It would be wise to transfer the chargeable asset to this spouse so that they can
fully utilise their annual exemption and pay capital gains tax at the lower rate of
10% since their basic band is not fully being used (unless it is a residential
property, then the lower rate is 18%).
• IF the asset stays with the spouse who is a higher rate payer and already has
capital gains, then an annual exemption allowance would be wasted and capital
gains tax would be paid at 20% (unless it is a residential property, then the
higher rate is 28%).
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Illustration:
For the tax year 18/19, he has taxable income of £50,000 and already has net
capital gains of £20,000.
• Greg’s wife is a housewife and does not have any income or capital gains of
her own.
He thinks that it is wise to transfer the asset to his wife and let her sell it.
Solution:
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W1:
• Cost (£40,000)
• This is because he has used his entire basic rate band up with his taxable
income. (Explained in Topic: The treatment of capital gains)
• Cost (£40,000)
• Capital gains tax is payable at 10% because this taxable gain falls entirely
into the basic rate band = £13,300 * 10% = £1,330
• Savings:
• Saving: £3,670
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Syllabus C2d. Allowable expenditure on a part disposal
A part disposal
If an individual owns a chargeable asset that he has only disposed a part of, a
capital gain will arise.
For example, if an individual owns a large piece of land and decides to only dispose
of a part of it, this is known as a part disposal.
Or, if an individual owns 5 antique vases, bought as a set, then disposing of only 2
from the set is considered to be a part disposal of the whole set.
A cost from the entire asset cost must be given to the part of the asset being disposed of.
This is known as the allowable cost. This allowable cost is then deducted from the
proceeds received for the part disposal, to arrive at a capital gain.
How much cost can you deduct from the disposal proceeds?
Where:
Illustration:
He sells the garden for £100,000 in August 2018, incurring selling costs of £1,000.
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The value of the remaining house in August 2018 is £160,000.
Solution:
This is because, this is the amount of cost that relates only to the part of the
asset being disposed of.
It relates to cost that will be used to calculate the capital gain when the
remainder of the asset is disposed of.
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Chargeable gain on sale:
Illustration:
The base cost of remaining house is: Original purchase cost – Allowable costs used.
If the remainder of the house was disposed of for £120,000 after one year, what
taxable gain would arise then?
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Syllabus C2e. Insurance proceeds received for a damaged/lost/destroyed asset.
The asset will be treated as though it has been disposed of at it’s current, negligible
value, therefore the person can realise a capital loss. The asset does not actually
have to be disposed of, it is just a way of realising a loss. When the asset is sold in
the future, the negligible value will be used as its cost.
Illustration:
Solution:
• This capital loss will be relieved against current year capital gains, and if it
cannot be relieved fully, it will be carried forward to be relieved against future
capital gains.
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• Note the painting could be valued at any amount and this same treatment
would apply.
For example, if the painting was valued at £100,000 at the time it was
damaged, then the capital loss realised would be:
The disposal proceeds are the amount of money received from the insurance
company.
The disposal is treated as though it occurred in the tax year that the insurance
proceeds are received.
Illustration:
Holly owned a vase which was destroyed on 06/04/2018, she had paid £28,000 for
it on 01/05/2008.
The market value when it was destroyed was £80,000 however she only received
£68,000 of insurance proceeds.
What will the capital gains treatment be if she does not decide to reinvest the
proceeds?
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Solution:
Note the insurance proceeds received are £68,000, this will be used in the
computation.
It does not matter that the market value at the time of disposal was £80,000 -
the actual insurance proceeds received will be used.
You get IRR if the insurance proceeds received are reinvested into another
replacement asset within 12 months of the proceeds being received.
• However, if only some of the proceeds are reinvested, then the proceeds
which are not reinvested will be taxable immediately.
For example:
Insurance proceeds received £1,000
Asset costing £900 was destroyed
Reinvestment in a new asset £950
The £50 of insurance proceeds not reinvested (£1,000 - £950) will be taxable
immediately.
The remaining £50 of capital gain will be deferred to be taxed at a later date.
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This £900 is known as the base cost of the replacement asset.
This base cost will be used as the cost of the replacement asset when it is
disposed.
Illustration:
What if Holly used the insurance proceeds to buy a replacement vase for £59,000
on 01/03/2019?
Solution:
Working 1:
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Base cost of replacement vase:
Cost to acquire the new vase – Capital gain rolled over = Base cost of replacement
vase
IRR (£31,000)
What if Holly disposes of the new vase after 10 years for £100,000?
Base cost (£28,000)
If an individual receives insurance due to the damage of an asset and spends the
insurance proceeds on restoring the asset plus an additional amount, the base cost
of the asset will be treated as:
Cost £X
(Insurance proceeds received) (£X)
+ Additional amount spent £X
Base Cost £X
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Illustration:
The timepiece had been purchased for £99,000. Kamal received insurance
proceeds of £54,000 and he additionally spent a total of £45,000 on restoring the
timepiece to working condition again.
Solution:
Cost £99,000
Proceeds (£54,000)
Additional spent £45,000
Base cost £90,000
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Syllabus C3. Gains and losses on the disposal of movable
and immovable property
Chattels
A chattel is a piece of tangible, movable property (something that you can touch
and move).
For example, items of household furniture, paintings, cars, items of plant and
machinery fixed to a building.
Plant and machinery (with a life of less than 50 years) on which capital allowances
have been claimed are treated as non wasting chattels.
A capital gain needs to be calculated on their disposal, but a capital loss will not be
allowable on their disposal.
• It is possible that they are exempt under the non-wasting chattel exemption
(being bought and sold for less than or equal to £6,000).
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Non wasting chattel capital gains calculation:
Illustration:
1. An antique table which had cost £3,000 and was sold for £5,000
2. A painting which had cost £2,000 and was sold for £10,000
3. An antique vase which had cost £8,000 and was sold for £3,000
4. A set of china which had cost £7,000 and was sold for £8,000.
Solution:
1. The table is exempt as it was bought and sold for less than £6,000
2. The painting:
Proceeds £10,000
Cost (£2,000)
3. The vase:
Cost (£8,000)
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Capital loss £(2,000)
The proceeds are deemed to be £6,000 as it was bought for more than £6,000
and sold for less than £6,000.
4. The china:
Proceeds £8,000
Cost (£7,000)
This is the normal calculation as the set of china had been bought and sold for
more than £6,000.
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Syllabus C3c. Principal private residence relief
What is it?
• But you will have to if you didn't live there all the time or used it for business
purposes.
• FULL exemption
• Partial exemption
There are however periods of absence which are deemed to be full occupation
1. Last 18 months - if the property was the individuals main residence at some
point in time.
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The last 18 months of ownership of the house, from 01/10/2017-31/03/2019
will be considered to be occupied by the individual, even though he did not
live there at the time.
2. Any periods during which the individual was required by his employment to
live abroad.
The person must come back to live in the house after this period in order for
this time to be considered to be deemed occupation.
For capital gains tax purposes the 4 years during which the individual lived
abroad will be considered to be deemed occupation by the individual.
This is because the reason for living abroad was employment purposes and
he moved back to the house when he returned.
3. Any period up to four years during which the individual is required to live
elsewhere in the UK due to employment.
The person must come back to live in the house after this period in order for
this time to be considered to be deemed occupation.
For capital gains tax purposes the 4 years during which the individual lived
elsewhere in the UK will be considered to be deemed occupation by the
individual.
This is because the reason for living elsewhere in the UK was employment
purposes and it was for 4 years only, and he moved back to the house when
he returned.
The person must come back to live in the house after this period in order for
this time to be considered to be deemed occupation.
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For example An individual purchased a house on 31/03/2002, he lived in it
for 2 months and then traveled the world until 31/03/2005, he then moved
back to the house and lived in it until he sold it on 31/03/2019.
For capital gains tax purposes the 3 years during which the individual was
travelling will be considered to be deemed occupation by the individual.
This is because the reason up to 3 years for any reason is allowable and he
lived in the house when he returned.
For points 2 and 3, where an individual is not living in their main residence
due to work, if they do not return to their house to live in it after because of
another work engagement immediately after the first one, this will still be
considered deemed occupation.
Illustration:
Jane occupied the house as her main residence from the date of purchase until 31
March 2002.
The house was then unoccupied between 1 April 2002 and 31 December 2005 due
to Jane moving to Chicago for work.
From 1 January 2006 until 31 December 2012, Jane again occupied the house as
her main residence.
The house was then unoccupied until it was sold on 30 September 2018.
Solution:
The total period of ownership of the house is 240 months (189 + 51), of which 189
months qualify for exemption as follows because the unoccupied period from 1
January 2013 to 31 March 2017 is not a period of deemed occupation because it
was not followed by a period of actual occupation.
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Disposal proceeds 400,000
189 51
Illustration:
She came back and lived in the house for another 174 months.
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Dolly never returned to the house and it was sold 108 months later in December
2018 for £150,000.
Solution:
The total period of ownership of the house is 357 months, out of which 219 months
qualify for the PPR exemption.
(actual) 174
219 138
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Business use
Where part of a residence is used exclusively for business purposes throughout the
period of ownership, the gain in relation to that part is not covered by relief.
Illustration:
Throughout the period of ownership, the house was occupied by Henry as his main
residence, but one of the house’s five rooms was always used as Henry's office
premises.
Solution:
This is because 1 out of 5 rooms of the house has always been used only for
business purposes.
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Letting relief
If an individual lives in a property as their main residence and lets all or part of the
residence for residential purposes;
on the disposal of this property, in addition to claiming PPR relief, the letting relief is
also available to reduce the capital gain.
• £40,000
Illustration:
Solution:
102,667
Less Letting relief (W2) (18,333)
Chargeable Gain 84,334
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Actual & Deemed Absent
Occupation (months) (months)
1/4/1989 –
(actual) 24
31/3/1991
1/4/1991 – (Any
36 30 (house let)
30/9/1996 reason)
1/10/1996
– (actual) 114
31/3/2006
(empty
1/4/2006 – and last
18 138
31/3/2019 18
months)
192 168 360
(W2)
(i) PPR relief figure £117,333
(ii) £40,000
(iii) Gain in the let period not covered by PPR relief 30/360× 220,000 = 18,333
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Syllabus C4. Gains and losses on the disposal of shares
and securities
1. Step 1
Value the shares using:
Lower quoted price + 1/2 (higher quoted price - lower quoted price)
Note: the share valuation rules are different for IHT so be careful not to confuse
them
2. Step 2
Calculated Disposal proceeds
= Number of shares given * value per share (step 1)
Illustration:
Megha gifted 1,000 shares in N plc when they were quoted at 400-408 pence
per share, with marked bargains on that day of 398p, 402p, and 407p.
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Solution:
Note: the marked bargains are not relevant for CGT life gifts but they would be
relevant for IHT
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Syllabus C4bc. Identification rules for individuals
The problem
When shares are disposed of, a problem arises in finding their allowable cost, if
the shares were acquired over a long period of time.
The solution
To make this simpler, HMRC uses a set of rules to determine the acquisition date
and cost of the shares being disposed of.
Illustration:
She acquired 1,500 shares in the company on 31/05/2016 for £20,000, and 500
shares on 30/06/2017 for £10,000.
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On 07/03/2019 Benazir bought a further 200 shares in L plc. for £4,000.
Calculate Benazir’s capital gain on the disposal of the shares in February 2019.
Solution:
Let us apply our matching rules to see which shares we are disposing of.
FIRST MATCH –
SECOND MATCH – 30 days THIRD MATCH –
same day
following disposal acquisition share pool
acquisition
800 shares
07/03/2019 – 200 shares for
None. needed from share
£4,000.
pool.
Share pool:
2,000
Total £30,000
shares
(800
Disposal from share pool (800/2000) * £30,000 = (£12,000)
shares)
1,200
Remaining in share pool £18,000
shares
Specially note how the cost of the shares from the share pool is calculated.
(No. of shares to be disposed from pool/Total shares in pool) * Total cost in pool =
Average cost that we apply to our disposal
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Calculating capital gain:
Acquisition cost:
07/03/19 (£4,000)
• You also might want to try to draw a timeline to ensure that you do not miss
any acquisition dates!
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Syllabus C4d. Bonus issues, rights issues, takeovers and reorganisations
Bonus Issues
• For example, if you owned 500 shares and a 1:5 bonus issue was declared,
you would receive (500/5) *1 = 100 bonus shares.
• These shares are deemed to be acquired at the same date and at the same
cost as the original shares to which they relate.
Therefore, in your share pool, a bonus issue will only result in an increase in
the number of shares, and no increase in the cost of shares
Illustration:
• How many shares will Mina receive under the bonus issue?
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Solution:
A rights issue
occurs where a company offers its existing shareholders the right to buy extra
shares.
Rights issues are similar to bonus issues in that the number of shares offered to
each shareholder is generally in proportion to his or her existing shareholder.
• The price for the shares is normally lower than current market value, in order
for the existing shareholders to be attracted to taking up the issue.
Illustration:
• Dec 2018 Took up 1:5 rights issue for £2.00 per share
• What will the rights issue cost Jack if he decides to subscribe to the issue
fully?
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Solution:
• The rights shares will have a cost of £2.00 * 1,380 shares = £2,760
• Note carefully that these bonus issues and rights issue will follow the same
matching rules for shares when they are disposed.
• The bonus issues will be included in the share pool at no cost and the rights
issue shares will be included in the share pool at their respective cost.
Takeovers/Reorganisations
Takeovers or company reorganisations normally occur when a company is facing
financial difficulty.
This will result in the identity and management changed of the individual
company, in the hope of better decisions being made for the company in the
future, resulting in a longer life for the company.
We will deal with both of these situations separately via the use of illustrations.
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Takeovers (share for share exchange)
• If a takeover is for a share for share exchange, then no capital gains tax
arises immediately.
• The market value of the new holding provided will be used to apportion our
initial holding cost.
• Then when we ultimately dispose of this new holding, we will use the original
holding cost, and this will result in a capital gain assessable.
Illustration:
Jayna owned 2000 shares in A plc. which cost her £2,000 in 2010, and A plc
was being taken over by B plc in 2019.
• Jayna was offered by B. plc 1,500 ordinary shares with a market value of
£3,000 and 500 preference shares with a market value of £1,000.
• If not, when Jayna sells these new ordinary shares and new preference
shares, what cost would be attributed to each?
Solution:
The original cost of the A Plc shares will just need to be apportioned between
the new ordinary and preference B Plc shares.
Market value of ordinary shares/Total market value of new holding * original cost
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Cost attributed to preference shares:
• Jayna needs to use these costs as the acquisition cost when she decides to
sell the shares in B. plc.
(She cannot use the market value of the shares when they were given to her).
• If a takeover is for a share for cash exchange, capital gains tax will arise
immediately for the proportion of cash given compared to the total market
value of the new holding.
• The market value of the new holding provided will be used to apportion our
initial holding cost to be used.
Illustration:
Jayna owned 2000 shares in A plc which cost her £2,000 in 2010, and A plc was
being taken over by B plc in 2019.
Jayna was offered by B. plc 1,500 ordinary shares with a market value of £3,000 and
cash of £1,000.
Solution:
Market value of ordinary shares/Total market value of new holding * original cost
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Cost attributed to cash given:
Market value of preference shares/Total market value of new holding * original cost
Jayna needs to use this £500 as the acquisition cost of the shares that she is
deemed to have disposed of for the cash received.
Capital gains:
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Syllabus C4e. Exemptions available for gilt-edged securities and qualifying corporate bonds
Exemptions
Disposals of gilt edged securities and qualifying corporate bonds are exempt from
capital gains tax.
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Syllabus C5. Entrepreneurs’ relief
Entrepreneurs’ relief
Entrepreneur’s relief
covers the first £10,000,000 of qualifying chargeable gains that a person makes in
their lifetime.
1. The asset must have been owned for at least one year prior to the disposal.
2. The election for the relief must be made by the anniversary of the 31/01
following the tax year of the disposal.
Therefore, if the tax year of disposal is 18/19, then the election must be made by
31/01/21.
(It is not the 31/01 immediately after the tax year, it is the one following the tax
year of the disposal.)
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Qualifying assets include:
The assets must have been used in the trade to qualify for the relief.
Also, the entire business must be disposed of, if a single trading asset is
disposed of it, it will not qualify for the relief.
Note the disposal of assets must take place within three years of cessation of
trade.
The difference here is that the entire business is not being sold, it is being
shut down.
Therefore, no trading activity will continue and this is why the assets can be
disposed of within 3 years of cessation
Illustration:
He had been the advertising director of Numbers Ltd since the company’s
incorporation on 1 December 2017.
Solution:
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Illustration:
Sunder disposed of his business to an unconnected person. The business had the
following asset values:
• Goodwill £150,000
• Debtors £30,000
• Cash £50,000
• Which of the assets will qualify for entrepreneurs’ relief on disposal of the
entire business?
Solution:
The investment property does not qualify for entrepreneurs’ relief as only assets that
are used in the trade can qualify.
An investment property is just held for investment, not used in the trade.
Market
Asset Capital gains tax treatment
Values
Investment
£100,000 Taxed normally at 10% or 20%.
property
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Illustration:
He had been an employee of Cow Ltd. since June 2017, when he acquired the
shares.
Solution:
This is because he has owned the shares and worked in the company for more than
one year.
Illustration:
On 30 October 2018, Bhumi sold a business that she had run as a sole trader since
1 February 2011 to an unconnected person.. The disposal resulted in the following
chargeable gains:
Goodwill 150,000
730,000
The warehouse had never been used by Bhumi for business purposes.
Bhumi has taxable income of £6,000 for the tax year 2018/19.
She has unused capital losses of £30,000 brought forward from the tax year
2017/18.
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Solution:
Other gains
Explanation:
• The capital losses and the annual exemption is set against the gains that do not
qualify for entrepreneur’s relief.
• This is because it saves more tax to set the losses and exemptions against gains
that are taxed at a higher rate of 20%.
• £28,500 (34,500 – 6,000) of Mika’s basic rate tax band is unused, but this
remaining band limit is first set against the gains qualifying for entrepreneurs’
relief of £550,000 even though this has no effect on the 10% tax rate.
• If there is any basic rate band remaining, then it will be used for gains that do not
qualify for entrepreneurs’ relief.
Things to note:
• a) Gains that qualify for entrepreneurs’ relief will take priority in using up the
basic rate band limit first.
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Therefore, it is likely that other capital gains will normally fall into the higher
band and pay CGT at 20%.
• b) The annual exemption and relief for losses is not automatically given to the
gains which qualify for entrepreneur’s relief.
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Syllabus C6. The use of exemptions and reliefs to minimise
capital gains tax
Rollover relief
If you sell your warehouse and buy a new one, you can decrease the Capital
gain by deducting the new warehouse's purchase costs.
Conditions:
1. The new and old assets must be used for business purpose.
2. You have to replace the asset 12 months prior to the sale or 36 months post
the sale.
Qualifying assets:
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Step by step approach
Disposal proceeds X
The Original Purchase costs (X)
Legal fees (X)
Chargeable gain X (proceeds not reinvested)
Disposal proceed X
The Original Purchase costs (X)
Chargeable gain X
Rollover relief (Balancing figure) (X)
The new Chargeable gain (Step 3) X (proceeds not reinvested)
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6. Step 6 - Calculate Base cost
Basically, the Purchase costs of the NEW asset less the Rollover relief
This base cost will be used as the cost of the new office when it is disposed of in
the future.
Illustration 1
Required:
Calculate the chargeable gain.
Disposal proceed 200,000
The Original Purchase costs (150,000)
Legal fees (10,000)
Chargeable gain 40,000
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4. Step 4 - Check whether the amount NOT reinvested (Step 3) exceeds
the Chargeable gain (Step 2)
Illustration 2
Required:
Calculate the chargeable gain.
Disposal proceed 300,000
The Original Purchase costs (150,000)
Chargeable gain 150,000
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3. Step 3 - Calculate how much is NOT reinvested
Disposal proceed 300,000
The Original Purchase costs (150,000)
Chargeable gain 150,000
Rollover relief (balancing figure) 150,000 - 100,000 = (50,000)
The new Chargeable gain (Step 3) 100,000
Illustration 3
Solution:
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W1 Proceeds not reinvested:
• This base cost will be used as the cost against the disposal of the new
office.
Assets that are not used in the business entirely will have restrictions for roll over
relief on sale.
The amount of gain that cannot be rolled over, and must be realised now is:
Illustration:
However, he did not require the entire property for his business and rented out
20% of the property.
The property cost him £400,000 on 06/06/2008 and he sold it for £800,000 on
06/06/2018.
He bought another property for use in his business on 12/12/2018 for £900,000.
He will use 100% of this property for his business.
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Solution:
W1:
All proceeds relating to the business element of the property were reinvested
(80%*£800,000) BUT 20% of the property was not used in business (£80,000 =
20% * £400,000)
Therefore, Rollover relief is restricted to £320,000 (£400,000 - £80,000)
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Syllabus C6aii. Holdover relief
Holdover relief
Holdover relief
If the new asset purchased is a depreciating asset (an asset with an expected
life of 60 years or less at the time of acquisition) for example, leasehold land and
buildings or fixed plant and machinery the gain arising on the disposal of the old
asset is not rolled over and cannot be deducted from the cost of the new asset.
Illustration:
In June 2016 he sold it for £300,000 and purchased a leasehold factory with a
55-year lease for £350,000 in December 2018.
Craig then sold the leasehold factory in October 2019 for £400,000.
• What capital gain will be chargeable in the tax year 17/18 and in 18/19?
Solution:
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• 18/19 Capital gain:
W1:
• Therefore, the entire gain (£200,000) will be held over as all of the disposal
proceeds are reinvested.
Note:
The £200,000 capital gain held over becomes chargeable in the tax year 2018/19
because the asset against which it was held over has been sold.
Also note that the gain held over was not deducted from the cost of the new
asset, it was held over in its own right.
Qualifying business assets are basically assets that are used in the business, not
assets held for investment (chargeable assets).
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Illustration:
On 5 October 2018, Tina made a gift of her entire holding of 20,000 £1 ordinary
shares in Banana Ltd, a personal company, to her daughter.
On 5 October 2018, the market value of Banana Ltd’s chargeable assets was
£150,000, of which £120,000 was in respect of chargeable business assets.
Tina and her daughter have elected to hold over the gain as a gift of a business
asset.
Solution:
WI
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Capital gains in the exam
Good luck!!
• Make sure you identify any exempt disposals so that you do not waste time
performing unnecessary calculations.
• When dealing with shares it is important to look carefully at the dates to see if
same day or 30-day matching is applicable.
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Syllabus C6b. Basic capital gains tax planning
Gifting or selling assets has 2 results for tax - inheritance tax and capital gains tax,
therefore the choice to gift must be made carefully, in order to avoid both taxes!
Example
A Ltd has 100,000 £1 ordinary shares in issue all of which were subscribed for at
par by A in 2004, from which date A has been the managing director of the
company.
What are the tax implications of gifting 20,000 of his shares to his daughter?
For IHT purposes the gift would be a potentially exempt transfer (PET) and have no
immediate tax implications.
If A died within 7 years of the transfer the PET would become chargeable at either
nil rate and / or 40% rate depending upon what other transfers had been made by A
prior to this gift.
If A survived for at least 3 years then any IHT computed would be reduced by taper
relief.
Any such IHT payable would be payable by the donee, V and should be paid within
6 months of the end of the month in which the death occurred.
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The value of the PET would be the fall in value of the estate of A.
The shares are £1 ordinary shares which were subscribed for at par, so the cost is
£1 per share.
The gain that arises would be included in the net gains of the tax year from which
the annual exempt amount would be deducted to derive the taxable gain.
Shares in unquoted trading companies are a qualifying business asset for purposes
of entrepreneurs’ relief and as A owns the minimum required 5% shareholding and
is an employee of the company, a claim for entrepreneurs’ relief is available and will
result in a 10% tax rate being applied to the taxable amount of the gain.
There is however another RELIEF that is available where such an asset is gifted!
This would allow the entire gain to be deferred, such that the donor, A, would not
now be chargeable and the daughter, V would be deemed to acquire the shares at
the original cost to the father of £20,000 instead of a cost of £200,000.
Without gift relief the shares would be deemed acquired by V at their open market
value of £200,000. With gift relief, that cost is reduced by the amount of the
deferred gain (£180,000) and thus a cost to V of £20,000 would then apply.
NOTICE how the value for IHT and CGT are different. For CGT you value the asset
that is given away, eg a 20% shareholding. For IHT you look at how much the gift
reduces the donor’s estate by. In this case it reduced it from a 100% holding of
shares to an 80% holding of shares.
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Conclusion:
For those taxpayers with both a capacity and a willingness to make gifts in lifetime
and not just on death, the further guidance that they may request from you is
whether to make such gifts in lifetime or wait and gift the assets upon their death.
If assets are gifted on death there will be no CGT and the beneficiaries will acquire
those assets at their then value, thus wiping out any accrued gains on those assets.
The assets, however at their then open market value (probate value) will then be
included within the chargeable estate at death, which being in excess of the
available nil rate band will be charged to IHT at a rate of 40%.
Therefore to avoid IHT it would be better to gift in lifetime as when a PET is made
there is no immediate charge to IHT and the PET will only become chargeable if the
donor dies within 7 years.
The further advantages for IHT of gifting in lifetime are that if the taxpayer at least
survives for 3 years then taper relief will reduce any IHT payable, plus the value of
the PET is “frozen” at the date of the transfer meaning that an appreciating asset
will have a lower value charged to IHT than if it had been kept until death.
The problem of course with gifting in lifetime as we have already seen is CGT, as a
gift in lifetime is a chargeable disposal and a gain must be computed using the
open market value of the asset.
This, however will only happen if the asset is a chargeable asset so that exempt
assets such as cash, chattels and cars could be gifted without any CGT arising.
If assets are chargeable assets then they may still be gifted if the gains arising each
tax year do not exceed the AEA, for example if the taxpayer gifts an asset valued at
£50,000 and it cost £40,000, there will be a chargeable gain of £10,000 which will
be covered by the AEA of the taxpayer.
This will have removed £50,000 of value from the taxpayer’s estate which at death
may have been charged to 40% IHT.
If chargeable assets will give rise to more substantial gains then as we have seen
above, if the asset is a qualifying asset for gift relief then the gain may be deferred
by a claim for gift relief.
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If the asset was the principal private residence of the taxpayer then PPR relief would
be available to exempt any gain arising.
You should keep all of these things in mind for written sections in the exam!
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Syllabus D: Inheritance Tax
Syllabus D1. Basic principles of computing transfers of
value
Chargeable persons
Chargeable persons
A person who is domiciled in the UK is liable to IHT in respect of their worldwide assets.
Married couples (and registered civil partnerships) are not chargeable persons because
each spouse (or civil partner) is taxed separately.
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Syllabus D1b. Transfer of value, Chargeable Transfer, Potentially Exempt Transfer
Any transfer that is made to another individual is a potentially exempt transfer (PET).
If the donor survives for seven years then the PET becomes exempt and can be
completely ignored.
A PET only becomes chargeable if the donor dies within seven years of making
the gift.
So, remember:
• If the donor dies within seven years of making a PET then it becomes
chargeable.
• Tax will be charged according to the rates and allowances applicable to the
tax year in which the donor dies.
• However, the value of a PET is fixed at the time that the gift is made.
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Illustration:
By 23 January 2019, the value of the house had increased to £655,000. Sophie did
not live in the house after the gift.
Solution:
Because the PET was made more than seven years before the date of Sophie’s
death it is exempt from IHT.
The gift to Sophie’s daughter on 12 August 2016 is a PET for £610,000 and is
initially ignored.
It becomes chargeable as a result of Sophie dying within 7 years of making the gift,
and the transfer of £610,000 less annual exemptions of £3,000 pa for 2016/17 and
2015/16 will be charged to IHT based on the rates and allowances for 2018/19. No
taper relief will apply because Sophie dies within 3 years of making the gift.
• There is no legal definition of what a trust is, but essentially a trust arises
where a person transfers assets to people (the trustees) to hold for the
benefit of other people (the beneficiaries).
For example, parents may not want to make an outright gift of assets to their
young children.
Instead, assets can be put into a trust with the trust being controlled by
trustees until the children are older.
• Unlike a PET, a CLT is immediately charged to IHT based on the rates and
allowances applicable to the tax year in which the CLT is made.
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An additional tax liability may then arise if the donor dies within seven years
of making the gift.
Just as for a PET, the value of a CLT is fixed at the time that the gift is made,
but the additional tax liability is calculated using the rates and allowances
applicable to the tax year in which the donor dies.
Illustration:
Solution:
The gift to the trust on 2 November 2011 is a CLT for £420,000, and will be
immediately charged to IHT based on the rates and allowances for 2011/12.
There will be no additional tax liability as the gift was made more than seven years
before the date of Lim’s death.
The gift to the trust on 21 August 2016 is a CLT for £615,000, and will be
immediately charged to IHT based on the rates and allowances for 2016/17.
Lim has died within seven years of making the gift so an additional tax liability may
arise based on the rates and allowances for 2018/19.
Saving IHT
This is because if the grandparent gave it to their child and then their child gave it to
their child - IHT would be paid 3 times as all 3 individuals would die, whereas if the
grandparent gave the gift directly to their grandchild, IHT would only be paid twice
as there would only be 2 death's involved for IHT - the gift never went to the third
person.
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Syllabus D1c. Diminution in value principle
e.g. gifting a property worth £250,000 or cash of £100,000, but for some assets,
notably shares in unquoted companies the transfer of value may be considerably
higher than the market value of the asset being gifted.
The transfer of value will be calculated as the difference in estate value before and
after the gift of the asset.
Illustration:
A owns 60% of the shares in A Ltd. A Ltd has 100,000 £1 ordinary shares in issue.
Required:
Compute the transfer of value if A were to die leaving his shares to his daughter, or
alternatively if he were to make a lifetime gift of 20,000 shares to his daughter.
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Solution:
• If, however, he were to give 20,000 shares in lifetime the transfer of value
would not be based on the value of a 20% interest i.e. £10 per share, but
would be computed as the difference between the value of his estate before
and after the transfer:
A transfer of value will arise by the gift of an asset either in lifetime and / or on
death.
For most taxpayers, as stated above, their only transfers of value will arise as a
result of their death.
Illustration:
B owns 80% of the shares in B Ltd. A Ltd has 100,000 £1 ordinary shares in issue.
20% @ £10/share
40% @ £15/share
60% @ £25/share
80% @ £40/share
Compute the transfer of value and IHT payable if B were to die 2 years after leaving
20,000 shares to his daughter.
All exemptions and Nil Rate Band have been used up.
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Solution:
If A died owning his 80,000 shares, a 80% shareholding, they would be valued at
£40 per share i.e. 80,000 @ £40 = £3,200,000.
If, however, he were to give 20,000 shares in lifetime the transfer of value would not
be based on the value of a 20% interest i.e. £10 per share, but would be computed
as the difference between the value of his estate before and after the transfer:
Value of PET
£3,200,000 - £1,500,000 = £1,700,000
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Syllabus D1d. Demonstrate the seven year accumulation principle taking into account
changes in the level of the nil rate band.
2 things to remember
1. Firstly, every individual receives a nil rate band. If their total chargeable transfers
exceed this nil rate band, only then is inheritance tax payable.
2. Secondly, if a transfer is made MORE than 7 years before an individual dies, then
inheritance tax on death will not be paid on that transfer.
The nil rate band is £325,000, and for previous years it has been:
2006–07 285,000
2007–08 300,000
2008–09 312,000
2009–10 325,000
2010–11 325,000
2011–12 325,000
2012–13 325,000
2013–14 325,000
2014–15 325,000
2015–16 325,000
2016–17 325,000
2017-18 325,000
2018-19 325,000
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The rate of IHT payable as a result of a person’s death is 40%
• any additional tax payable on CLTs made within seven years of death
The rate of IHT payable on CLTs at the time they are made is 20% (half the death
rate). This is the lifetime rate.
The tax rates information that will be given in the tax rates and allowances
section of the exam in this period is:
£1 – £325,000 Nil
Where nil rate bands are required for previous years then these will be given to you
within the question.
Illustration 1:
Death estate
£
Chargeable estate 600,000
IHT liability
325,000 at nil% 0
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Illustration 2:
Solution:
The IHT must be calculated for the gift £240,000, because Ming gave it to her son
£
Potentially exempt transfer 240,000
The PET utilises £240,000 of the nil rate band of £325,000. No IHT is payable.
Death estate £
Chargeable estate 300,000
IHT liability
Only £85,000 (325,000 – 240,000) of the nil rate band is available against the death
estate.
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Illustration 3:
The nil rate band for the tax year 2015/16 is £325,000.
Lifetime transfer £
Chargeable transfer 400,000
IHT liability
325,000 at nil% 0
(400,000 - 325,000) = 75,000 at 20% 15,000
15,000
The lifetime IHT liability is calculated using the nil rate band for 2015/16.
The additional liability arising on death is calculated using the nil rate band for
2018/19.
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2) Death estate (13 October 2018)
The CLT made on 12 November 2015 has fully utilised the nil rate band of £325,000.
A NRB is given every year, therefore the CLT used the NRB of 15/16 when
lifetime tax was calculated
The NRB of 18/19 is used to calculate tax paid on death, it is first given to the
CLT and then the death estate because it is allocated in chronological order
Illustration 4:
01/11/2017 £333,000 into a trust for his son (the trustees paid any life tax)
14/11/2018 £50,000 cash to his daughter
What is his IHT payable during his lifetime and on his death?
Ignore annual exemptions.
The NRB of 17/18 and 18/19 are £325,000.
Solution:
On death:
NRB is £325,000 (New NRB for 18/19)
This is allocated on chronological order - first to the CLT, then PET, then death
estate.
CLT £333,000
NRB (£325,000)
£8,000 *40% = £3,200
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IHT paid (£1,600)
IHT due £1,600
In most of the illustrations so far, all the lifetime transfers, both PET’s and CLT’s
have taken place within the 7 years prior to death and have all therefore been
chargeable to IHT on the death of the taxpayer.
Very important note The earliest / oldest transfers within this period are first to use
the nil rate band with the later transfers and / or the chargeable estate at death then
being taxed at 40%.
Basically, the nil rate band must be applied in chronological order - it is given to the
gift made earliest.
If PET’s have been made more than 7 years before the date of death
• they were neither chargeable when made nor chargeable on death, they are
exempt IHT and are ignored.
• These transfers were chargeable when made using the nil rate band in force at
that date but are not chargeable on death as the taxpayer has survived for the
required 7 years.
The 7 year cumulation period, however means that when computing the IHT on
either a PET or CLT made within the 7 years of death it is necessary to take account
of any CLT made within the 7 years prior to it, so as to determine how much nil rate
band, if any, remains to use against that transfer.
For example
if an individual dies in January 2019 having made a CLT in June 2008 of £255,000,
this CLT will not be taxable on the death as he survived for more than 7 years.
If he had also made a PET in August 2015 of £200,000 this will be taxable.
In computing the nil rate band available to go against the PET, however, the
£325,000 will be reduced by the amount of the June 2008 CLT.
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Therefore, the NRB available to the PET would be (£325,000-£255,000) = £70,000
Illustration:
Solution:
He will have to pay death tax when he dies, his NRB of 2018 will first go to the
PET BUT, the PET must share it with the CLT because it was within 7 years of the
PET.
Then, for his death estate - the NRB will only be shared with the PET as that is
within 7 years of the date of death.
Note on death, NRB is shared 7 years back for PETs but ALL CLT's share the NRB.
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Illustration:
NRB is £325,000.
Solution:
He will have to pay death tax when he dies, his NRB of 2018 will first go to the 2011
PET of £255,000 BUT, the PET will not share it with the 2008 PET of £200,000
because that was given more than 7 years ago.
The NRB for the death estate will only be shared with the 2011 PET of £255,000 as
that is within 7 years.
Note on death, NRB is shared with PET's that occur within 7 year's of death.
Note
When a gift is made during lifetime, the value of the gift is frozen and will only
become chargeable to IHT when the person who made the gift dies.
Therefore, if a grandmother makes a gift to her grandchild - IHT will only be paid
once by the grandmother and the second time when the grandchild dies, this
avoid's the additional IHT payable if the grandmother made a gift directly to her
child.
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Syllabus D1e. Taper Relief
Taper Relief
This is:
It would be somewhat unfair if a donor did not quite live for seven years after
making a gift with the result that the gift was fully chargeable to IHT.
Therefore, taper relief reduces the amount of tax payable where a donor lives for
more than three years, but less than seven years, after making a gift. The reduction
is as follows:
Although taper relief reduces the amount of tax payable, it does not reduce the
value of a gift for cumulation purposes.
The taper relief table will be given in the tax rates and allowances section of the
exam.
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Illustration:
Winnie died on 9 January 2019. She had made the following lifetime gifts:
• 2 February 2012 – A gift of £473,000 to a trust. The trust paid the IHT arising
from this gift.
The nil rate band for the tax year 2011/12 is £325,000, and for the tax year 2015/16
it is £325,000
Lifetime transfers £
2 February 2011
Chargeable transfer 473,000
IHT liability
325,000 at nil% 0
148,000 at 20% 29,600
29,600
16 August 2014
Potentially exempt transfer 320,000
2 February 2011
Chargeable transfer 473,000
IHT liability
325,000 at nil% 0
148,000 at 40% 59,200
Taper relief reduction – 80% (47,360)
11,840
IHT already paid (29,600)
Additional liability 0
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The taper relief reduction is 80% because the gift to the trust was made between
six and seven years of the date of Winnie’s death.
Although the final IHT liability of £11,840 is lower than the amount of IHT already
paid of £29,600, a refund is never made for life tax paid, it can only reduce the IHT
liability to zero.
16 August 2015
102,400
The taper relief reduction is 20% because the gift to the son was made between
three and four years of the date of Winnie’s death.
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Syllabus D2. IHT arising on lifetime transfers and on death
When calculating the tax liability on lifetime transfers, there are three aspects that
are a bit more difficult to understand and can therefore cause problems.
The situation where a chargeable lifetime transfer (CLT) is made before a potentially
exempt transfer (PET) is fairly straightforward, and was covered previously.
However, where the sequence of gifts is reversed, the IHT calculations are more
complicated because the PET will use some or all of the nil rate band previously
given to the CLT.
Illustration:
Ali died on 3 March 2019. He had made the following lifetime gifts:
The nil rate band for all the tax years is £325,000.
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IHT liabilities are as follows:
Lifetime transfers £
1 August 2015
21 November 2016
No lifetime IHT is payable because the CLT is less than the nil rate band for
2017/18.
1 August 2015
Potentially exempt transfer 360,000
The nil rate band for 2018/19 of £325,000 has been fully utilised by the PET made
on 1 August 2016.
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Grossing up
So far, in all of the examples concerning a CLT, the trust (the donee) has paid any
lifetime IHT at the rate of 20%.
However, when the donor of the gift is paying IHT on the gift into the trust the rate
of 20/80 (25%) is used as the gift is deemed to be the net amount of money that is
leaving the donors estate. The estate value falls by the gift plus the tax in this case.
For the death tax calculations, the amount of the gift will need to be grossed up by
the amount of the tax. Any available annual exemptions are deducted prior to
grossing up.
For example if a cash gift was made into a trust in February 2019 of £100,000 and
no other gifts had been made previously, then the annual exemptions of £3,000
(18/19) and then £3,000 (17/18) would be deducted first.
£100,000 - £3,000-£3,000 = £94,000 would be the value of the transfer and IHT
would be calculated on the 94,000.
Illustration:
On 17 June 2015, Annie made a gift of £406,000 to a trust. She paid the IHT arising
from the gift.
Annie has not made any other gifts since 6 April 2015.
The nil rate band for the tax year 2015/16 is £325,000.
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The lifetime IHT liability is calculated as follows:
£ £
Annual exemptions
2015/16 3,000
2014/15 3,000
(6,000)
IHT liability
325,000 at nil% 0
The amount of lifetime IHT payable by Annie is £18,750. This figure can be
checked by calculating the IHT on the gross chargeable transfer of £418,750:
IHT liability
325,000 at nil% 0
18,750
Once the gross chargeable transfer has been calculated, then this figure is used in
all subsequent calculations.
CLTs are never re-grossed up on death, even if the nil rate band is reallocated as a
result of a PET becoming chargeable.
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Illustration:
12 March 2019 £
IHT liability
325,000 at nil% 0
30,000
When an IHT question involves a CLT, then make sure you know who is paying the
IHT. Grossing up is not necessary if the trust (the donee) pays.
Jayne died on 18 March 2019 leaving an estate valued at £450,000. She had made
the following lifetime gifts:
These figures are after deducting available exemptions. In each case, the trust paid
any IHT arising from the gift.
Note: if the question in the exam does not say who pays the tax then you will
always assume that the donor pays the tax and use 20/80 (25%).
The nil rate band for the tax year 2010/11 is £325,000, and for the tax year 2016/17
it is £325,000.
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IHT liabilities are as follows:
No lifetime IHT is payable because the CLT is less than the nil rate band for
2010/11.
The CLT made on 1 August 2010 is within seven years of 1 November 2016, so it
utilises £200,000 of the nil rate band for 2016/17.
1 August 2009 £
Chargeable transfer 200,000
There is no additional liability because this CLT was made more than seven years
before the date of Jayne’s death on 18 March 2019.
1 November 2016 £
Chargeable transfer 280,000
IHT liability
125,000 at nil% 0
155,000 at 40% 62,000
IHT already paid (31,000)
Additional liability 31,000
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The CLT made on 1 August 2010 utilises £200,000 of the nil rate band for 2018/19
of £325,000 because it was made 7 years before this CLT.
Death estate
IHT liability
45,000 at nil% (325,000 - 280,000) 0
The CLT made on 1 August 2010 is not relevant when calculating the IHT on the
death estate because it was made more than seven years before the date of Jayne’s
death on 18 March 2019.
Therefore, only the CLT made on 1 November 2016 is taken into account, and this
utilises £280,000 of the nil rate band of £325,000.
Total IHT: life tax £31,000 + death tax £31,000 + 162,000 = £224,000
Illustration:
The same situation as in example 4, except that on 1 November 2016 Jayne made a
gift of £280,000 to her daughter rather than to a trust.
Lifetime transfers £
1 August 2010
1 November 2016
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Additional liabilities arising on death
£
1 August 2010
Chargeable transfer 200,000
1 November 2016
Potentially exempt transfer 280,000
IHT liability
The CLT is entirely covered by the NRB, therefore there is no lifetime tax
payable, and it was made 7 years before death, therefore there will be no
additional death tax payable.
Notice that the PET does not pay lifetime tax, and on death it used NRB first,
therefore paying no death tax either.
Death estate
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Syllabus D2b. IHT liability on the death estate
Until now, the examples have simply given a figure for the value of a person’s
estate.
A person’s estate includes the value of everything that they own at the date of death
such as property, shares, motor vehicles, cash and other investments.
A person’s estate also includes the proceeds from life assurance policies even
though the proceeds will not be received until after the date of death.
The actual market value of a life assurance policy at the date of death is irrelevant.
• Funeral expenses
• Debts due by the deceased provided they can be legally enforced. Therefore,
gambling debts cannot be deducted, nor can debts that are unenforceable
because there is no written evidence.
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Illustration:
• A main residence valued at £425,000 - this was not left in his will to a direct
descendent.
• A life assurance policy on his own life. On 31 December 2017, the policy had
an open market value of £85,000 and proceeds of £100,000 were received
following Andy’s death.
On 31 December 2017, Andy owed £700 in respect of credit card debts and he had
also verbally promised to pay the £800 legal fee of a friend.
£ £
Property 425,000
Mortgage (180,000)
245,000
562,000
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Credit card debts 700
(5,000)
IHT liability
325,000 at nil% 0
92,800
The promise to pay the friend’s legal fee is not deductible because it is not legally
enforceable.
Unlike capital gains tax, there is no exemption for motor cars, individual savings
accounts, saving certificates from NS&I or for government securities.
The IHT liability on the life assurance policy could have easily been avoided if the
policy had been written into trust for the beneficiaries of Andy’s estate.
The proceeds would have then been paid directly to the beneficiaries, and not form
part of Andy’s estate.
Illustration:
Joe Kerr died on April 6 2018, leaving £25,000 to his friend and the remainder to his
nephew.
His principal private residence valued at £300,000 upon which the outstanding
repayment mortgage at the date of death was £80,000. The house was not left to a
direct descendent.
A life assurance policy with an open market value on April 6 2018, of £125,000 from
which proceeds of £140,000 were received into trust following Joe’s death.
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Joe had no outstanding expenses at the date of his death.
Joe's wife only used 50% of her NRB at the date of her death and Joe never made
any gifts previous to his death, so his NRB is fully available.
Solution:
Death estate
House £300,000
Less:
Repayment mortgage (£80,000)
Holiday home £140,000
Bank deposits £230,000
Shares (12,000*£20) = £240,000
£830,000 - £25,000 (gift to friend) - £137,000 (IHT paid from estate) = £668,000
Note: the life assurance policy was written into trust for the beneficiaries and so it
does not become chargeable to IHT in the death estate.
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Syllabus D2c. Transfer of unused NRB between spouses
What if a spouse does not use their entire nil rate band?
Any unused nil rate band on a person’s death can be transferred to their surviving
spouse (or registered civil partner).
The nil rate band will often not be fully used on the death of the first spouse
because any assets left to the surviving spouse are exempt from IHT (see the
following section on transfers to spouses).
A claim for the transfer of any unused nil rate band is made by the personal
representatives who are looking after the estate of the second spouse to die.
The amount that can be claimed is based on the proportion of the nil rate band not
used when the first spouse died.
Even though the first spouse may have died several years ago when the nil rate
band was much lower, the amount that can be claimed on the death of the second
spouse is calculated using the current limit of £325,000.
Illustration:
None of her husband’s nil rate band was used when he died on 5 May 2006.
When calculating the IHT on Nun’s estate a nil rate band of £650,000 (325,000 +
325,000) can be used because a claim can be made to transfer 100% of her
husband’s nil rate band.
Note: the nil rate band in 2006/07 was not £325,000 but it is the unused percentage
that is carried forward and not the amount of unused nil band. Therefore, Nun can
use 100% of the current value of the nil band as well as her own nil band.
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Illustration:
Only 60% of his wife’s nil rate band was used when she died on 12 May 2007.
The nil rate band for the tax year 2014/15 is £325,000
Death estate
218,000
Win’s personal representatives can claim the wife’s unused nil rate band of
£130,000 (325,000 x 40%). We use the NRB for 2018/19 (the second person who
dies)
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The amount of nil rate band is therefore £455,000 (325,000 + 130,000), of which
£200,000 is utilised by the PET made on 10 May 2014.
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Syllabus D2d
d) Understand and apply the residence nil rate band available when a residential property is
inherited by direct descendants.
Residence NRB
An additional nil rate band has been introduced where a main residence is inherited
on death by direct descendants (children and grandchildren).
For the tax year 2018/19, the residence nil rate band is £125,000.
Illustration:
Sophie died on 26 May 2018 leaving an estate valued at £800,000. Under the terms
of her will, Sophie’s estate was left to her children. The estate included a main
residence valued at £250,000.
Solution:
The inheritance tax (IHT) liability is:
IHT liability:
£325,000 at 0% (NRB)
The residence nil rate band of £125,000 is available because Sophie’s estate
included a main residence and this was left to her direct descendants.
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Transferring Residence NRB
In the same way in which any unused normal nil rate band can be transferred to a
surviving spouse (or registered civil partner), the residence nil rate band is also
transferable. It does not matter when the first spouse died.
Illustration:
Trevor died on 19 June 2018 leaving an estate valued at £700,000. Under the terms
of his will, Trevor’s estate was left to his children. The estate included a main
residence valued at £300,000.
Trevor’s wife died on 5 May 2007. She used all of her nil rate band of £325,000.
Solution:
Trevor’s IHT liability is:
IHT liability:
Trevor’s personal representatives can claim the wife’s unused residence nil rate
band of £125,000.
The amount of residence nil rate band is therefore £250,000 (125,000 + 125,000).
Note:
1) The value of the main residence is after deducting any repayment mortgage
or interest-only mortgage secured on that property (as normal).
2) If a main residence is valued at less than the available residence nil rate
band, then the residence nil rate band is reduced to the value of the
residence.
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Syllabus D3. Exemptions to defer / minimise IHT
Exemptions
Transfers to spouses
Gifts to spouses (and registered civil partners) are exempt from IHT.
Illustration:
Under the terms of her will, Sophie divided her estate equally between her husband
and her daughter.
The nil rate band for the tax year 2014/15 is £325,000.
Lifetime transfers
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Death estate
£
Value of estate 900,000
Spouse exemption (900,000/2) (450,000)
Chargeable estate 450,000
IHT liability
325,000 at nil% 0
125,000 at 40% 50,000
50,000
There are a number of other exemptions that only apply to lifetime gifts.
Gifts up to £250 per person in any one tax year are exempt.
This exemption can not be used to reduce the value of a greater gift.
For example, a gift of £249 to one person will be wholly exempt, but if the gift is
£251 it will be wholly taxable. It is possible to use the exemption any number of
times by making gifts to different donees.
Illustration:
During the tax year 2018/19, Peter made the following gifts:
The gifts on 18 May 2018 and 20 March 2019 are both exempt because they do not
exceed £250.
The gift on 5 October 2018 for £400 does not qualify for the small gifts exemption
because it is more than £250.
The whole amount of £400 will be chargeable unless it can be covered by Peter’s
annual exemption for 2018/19 (see the next section).
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Annual exemption
If the whole of the annual exemption is not used in any tax year, then the balance is
carried forward to the following tax year.
However, the exemption for the current tax year must be used first, and any unused
brought forward exemption cannot be carried forward a second time.
Therefore, the maximum amount of annual exemptions available in any tax year is
£6,000 (£3,000 x 2).
Illustration:
The gift on 10 May 2017 utilises £1,400 of Simone’s annual exemption for 2017/18.
The gift on 25 October 2018 utilises all of the £3,000 annual exemption for 2018/19
and £1,000 (4,000 – 3,000) of the balance brought forward of £1,600.
Because the annual exemption for 2018/19 must be used first, the unused balance
brought forward of £600 (1,600 – 1,000) is lost.
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Illustration:
The gift on 17 May 2017 utilises Nigel’s annual exemptions for 2017/18 and
2016/17.
The gift on 25 June 2018 utilises Nigel’s annual exemption for 2018/19. The 2017/18
annual exemption is not available as it has been used by the PET.
The value of the CLT is £97,000 (100,000 – 3,000). No lifetime IHT liability is payable
because this is within the nil rate band for 2018/19.
Ideally the gift to the trust should have been made before the gift to the son.
Therefore, regular annual gifts of £2,500 made by a person with an annual income
of £100,000 would probably be exempt.
A one-off gift of £70,000 made by the same person would probably not be, and
would instead be a PET or a CLT.
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Gifts in consideration of marriage
The amount of exemption depends on the relationship of the donor to the donee
(who must be one of the two persons getting married):
Illustration:
On 19 September 2018, William made a gift of £20,000 to his daughter when she
got married.
The gift is a PET, but £5,000 will be exempt as a gift in consideration of marriage
and William’s annual exemptions for 2018/19 and 2017/18 are also available.
The value of the PET is therefore £9,000 (20,000 – 5,000 – 3,000 – 3,000).
This remaining £9,000 will only be chargeable to IHT if William dies before
19/09/2025 (within 7 years of making the gift)
Note: the marriage exemption is deducted from the value of the gift BEFORE the
annual exemptions.
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Syllabus D3b. Basic inheritance tax planning
IHT planning
The overall objective is to ensure that the HMRC get as little as possible and the
next generations get as much as possible.
The total inheritance payable can be reduced if a person makes lifetime gifts rather
than death gifts.
Lifetime exemptions can apply to reduce the total inheritance tax payable.
• Make lifetime gifts each year sufficient to use the Annual Exemption – £3,000.
• Make as many small gifts of £250 per donee per tax year.
• On the marriage of a son, daughter, grandchild, nephew and niece make gifts
covered by the marriage exemption.
• Make lifetime gifts of appreciating assets and those which do not generate a
significant CGT liability.
• Lifetime gifts to other individuals can reduce IHT as they will not give rise to any
IHT when the gift is made and will be totally exempt from IHT if the donor lives
for > 7 years.
• If the donor dies within 7 years then IHT may become payable on death but
provided the donor lives for > 3 years the IHT payable will be reduced by taper
relief.
• There is no IHT saving by lifetime giving of assets that qualify for BPR or APR at
100%.
• Ensure that estates of husband and wife are shared so that each spouse will fully
use their nil bands in the event that they should die at the same time.
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Syllabus D4. Payment of inheritance tax
The donor is primarily responsible for any IHT that has to be paid in respect of a
CLT.
However, a question may state that the donee is to instead pay the IHT.
Remember that grossing up is only necessary where the donor pays the tax.
• 30 April following the end of the tax year in which the gift is made.
• Six months from the end of the month in which the gift is made.
Therefore, if a CLT is made between 6 April and 30 September in a tax year, then
any IHT will be due on the following 30 April.
If a CLT is made between 1 October and 5 April in a tax year, then any IHT will be
due six months from the end of the month in which the gift is made.
The donee is always responsible for any additional IHT that becomes payable as a
result of the death of the donor within seven years of making a CLT.
The due date is six months after the end of the month in which the donor died.
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For potentially exempt transfers
The donee is always responsible for any additional IHT that becomes payable as a
result of the death of the donor within seven years of making a PET.
The due date is six months after the end of the month in which the donor died.
The personal representatives of the deceased’s estate are responsible for any IHT
that is payable.
The due date is six months after the end of the month in which death occurred.
However, the personal representatives are required to pay the IHT when they deliver
their account of the estate assets to HM Revenue and Customs, and this may be
earlier than the due date.
Where part of the estate is left to a spouse, then this part will be exempt and will not
bear any of the IHT liability.
Where a specific gift is left to a beneficiary, then this gift will not normally bear any
IHT. The IHT is therefore usually paid out of the non-exempt residue of the estate.
Illustration:
Alfred died on 15 December 2018. He had made the following lifetime gifts:
20 November 2016 – A gift of £420,000 to a trust. Alfred paid the IHT arising from
this gift.
Alfred’s estate at 15 December 2018 was valued at £850,000. Under the terms of
his will, he left £250,000 to his wife, a specific legacy of £50,000 to his brother, and
the residue of the estate to his children. The residue of the estate did not include a
residential property.
The nil rate band for the tax years 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 is £325,000.
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IHT liabilities are as follows:
Lifetime transfers
20 November 2016
£
Net chargeable transfer 420,000
IHT liability
325,000 at nil% 0
95,000 x 20/80 23,750
Gross chargeable transfer 443,750
The due date for the IHT liability of £23,750 payable by Alfred was 31 May 2017.
8 August 2017
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Additional liabilities arising on death
20 November 2016
£
Gross chargeable transfer 443,750
IHT liability
325,000 at nil% 0
The due date for the additional IHT liability of £23,750 payable by the trust is 30
June 2019.
8 August 2017
The CLT made on 20 November 2016 has fully utilised the nil rate band.
The due date for the IHT liability of £144,000 payable by Alfred’s son is 30 June
2019.
Death estate
£
Value of estate 850,000
Spouse exemption (250,000)
Chargeable estate 600,000
IHT liability 600,000 at 40% 240,000
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The due date for the IHT liability of £240,000 payable by the personal
representatives of Alfred’s estate is 30 June 2019.
Alfred’s wife will inherit £250,000, his brother will inherit £50,000, and the children
will inherit the residue of the estate of £310,000 (850,000 – 250,000 – 50,000 –
240,000).
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Inheritance tax in the exam
Below are a few points that might help jog your memory and ensure that you score
well in the IHT section of the exam!
Gifts made just before death will be of little or no IHT benefit, and may result in a
capital gains tax liability (whereas transfers on death are exempt disposals for
capital gains tax purposes).
Gifts to trusts within seven years of each other will be subject to the seven year
cumulation period, whilst an immediate charge to IHT will arise if a gift exceeds the
nil rate band.
Skip a generation
When making gifts either during lifetime or on death, it can be beneficial to skip a
generation so that gifts are made to grandchildren rather than children. This avoids
a further charge to IHT when the children die. Gifts will then only be taxed once
before being inherited by the grandchildren, rather than twice.
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Syllabus E: Corporation Tax Liabilities
Syllabus E1. The scope of corporation tax
Period of account
A period of account is the period for which a company prepares its accounts.
This will normally occur when the company starts to trade, ceases to trade or
changes its accounting date.
The difference between both is that a chargeable accounting period must be equal
to or less than 12 months.
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However, a period of account can exceed 12 months.
The first one for the first 12 months and the second one for the remaining
months in the period of account.
A CAP will normally start immediately after the end of a previous CAP.
• A CAP will also start when a company commences to trade, or when its
profits become liable to corporation tax.
• A CAP will normally finish 12 months after the beginning of the period or at
the end of a company’s period of account.
• A CAP will also finish when a company ceases to trade, or when its profits
otherwise cease being liable to corporation tax.
• FY 18 = 01/04/2018 - 31/03/2019
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Illustration:
Solution:
Period of account:
01/01/2017 – 31/03/2018
Note: in the case of the first chargeable accounting period, 3 months fall in FY16
and 9 months fall in FY17 and so a hybrid rate of corporation tax will need to be
calculated.
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Illustration:
Solution:
Note normally the accounting period starts after the previous one has finished,
however as Smarty Ltd. does not have a previous accounting period, their
accounting period starts when they commenced to trade.
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Syllabus E1c. Residency of a company
Residency of a company
Illustration:
Solution:
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Syllabus E2. Taxable total profits
* At the exam you will start the adjustment with the profit before taxation of £X and
deal with all the items listed and you will indicate with a zero (0) any items which do
not require adjustment.
Allowable expenses
You will indicate these expenses with 0 in the exam, because these items do not
require adjustment.
• Staff costs
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• Impairment losses
• Legal fees:
• Income element of premium paid for grant of short lease for trading
premises
• Repairs
For example:
- Repairs to warehouse following a flood
- Repainting the exterior of the company's office building
• Accountancy
• Entertaining employees
Illustration 1:
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Required:
Solution:
Note: All expenses were indicated with 0, because these items do not require
adjustment, they were all allowable.
Disallowable expenses
Meaning these items were included in PBT, but should not have been there,
therefore we have to take them away by ADDING them to PBT.
An Example:
The expense of £10 is included in PBT (e.g. £100) but should not have been there,
so you need to take the expense away from PBT and therefore you add the expense
to PBT (100 + 10 = £110) and therefore you will increase Profit.
Note:
The only exception to the non-deductibility of entertaining expenditure is
when it is in respect of employees.
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• Depreciation / Amortisation (usually given in the question)
• Legal costs:
• Dividends
• Capital expenditure
e.g.
- costs of new computers
- Extending the office building in order to create a new reception area
- Improvement of the building rather than repair
• Donations:
- to political parties
- paid under the gift aid scheme
- they cost MORE than £50 per recipient per year (e.g. pens costing £60)
- are of food, drink, tobacco (e.g. food hampers)
- are vouchers for exchangeable goods
- don't carry an advertisement for the company making the gift (e.g pens not
displaying company's name)
Illustration 2:
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Legal fees for issue of preference shares £20
Gifts to customers - pens costing £30 each displaying company's name = £60
Gifts to customers - watches costing £60 each = £120
Required:
Solution:
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Illustration:
Solution:
Note:
This means that a company can spend up to £200,000 on capital items, for
example computers and be allowed the full expenditure to be an allowable
expense in the tax year.
As companies will have shareholders (people who own the company) and
directors/employees (people who work for the company) separated, there are
some differences between the rules for unincorporated traders and
companies:
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These include:
Basically, there will not be any personal use of expenses because everyone who
uses the company’s money or facilities will be an employee, not an owner.
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Syllabus B3e/E2b. Relief for pre-trading expenditure
However, the trader would have incurred expenditure before this date, for example,
advertising expenditure and/or rent paid in advance.
• Pre-trading expenditure will get tax relief by being treated as though it was
incurred on the first day that a sale is made, if the following conditions are
satisfied.
• 2) It is an allowable expense.
• For example, if goods were purchased for sale for the business 4 years
before the business had its first sale; this purchase price will be deducted
from the first profits also.
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Illustration:
• Will this expenditure be deducted from the sales revenue to arrive at tax
adjusted trading profit?
Solution:
Yes, this expenditure will be deducted from his sales revenue to arrive at the tax
adjusted trading profit.
This is because money spent on materials used in the business are an allowable
expense and it was incurred within 5 months of the trade starting.
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Syllabus B3h/E2c. Capital allowances
Capital allowances
• CA are given for a period of account eg for a year ended 31/12/18, and
are deducted in the adjustment of profits calculation to reach the Trading
Profits figure
Rates of allowance %
Capital allowances are now also available on integral features of a building including
lifts and escalators, electrical systems, heating and air cooling system.
Main pool
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4. Tables and chairs
The following asset acquisitions should be allocated to the special rate pool:
These are assets, when new, with an expected economic working life of 25
years or more when total expenditure based on a 12-month accounting
period exceeds £100,000
W.D.A.’s are given on main pool assets and special rate pool assets.
For main pool assets, the W.D.A. is 18% for a 12 month period
For example Assets in the main pool had a brought forward value of £100,000 at
01/01/2018
For special rate pool assets, the W.D.A. is 8% for a 12 month period.
For example Assets in the special rate pool had a brought forward value of
£100,000 at 01/01/2018
The writing down allowance on these assets will be £8,000 (£100,000*8%) in the
tax year ending 31/12/2018.
Note if the above period was for 6 months, then the WDA for the main pool
would be £4,000 (£100,000*8%*6/12) in the period ending 31/12/2018.
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First year allowances
These are given for motor cars which have an emission of less than or equal to
50g per km.
This is a 100% allowance on the cost of the car and it is given in the period of
acquisition.
The F.Y.A. is not time apportioned for a period of less than 12 months.
The first year allowance for this car will be £100,000 ( £100,000*100%).
Note if the above period was for 6 months, then the FYA would still be £100,000
- it is not reduced for a period of less than 12 months.
The annual investment allowance for the tax year 18/19 is £200,000.
This is given to an individual for a 12 month period and is time apportioned if the
period is below 12 months.
Ideally, this A.I.A should be allocated to special rate pool assets purchased first
because the allowances on these assets are only 8% per year, therefore tax
relief on these assets is received over a longer period.
Once allocated to special rate pool assets purchased in the tax year, then if any
of the allowance is remaining, it can be allocated to main pool assets purchased
in the year.
The A.I.A cannot be given to motor cars purchased in the tax year.
For the remaining £100,000 (£300,000- £200,000), a writing down allowance will be
available.
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As equipment is a main pool asset, the writing down allowance will be £18,000
(£100,000*18%).
The total capital allowances available will be AIA + WDA = £218,000 (£200,000
+ £18,000)
Note if the above period was for 6 months, then the AIA would be (£200,000*6/12) =
£100,000 + WDA (18%*£200,000*6/12) = £18,000. This would total to £118,000 of
capital allowances for the 6 month period.
Illustration:
Buzzy Ltd. in the year ended 31/03/2019 made the following transactions.
01/05/2018 Ventilation system and lift for his freehold office building £278,000
The tax written down value on the main pool was £87,800 on 31/03/2018.
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Solution:
Additions:
Notice how the AIA was first allocated to special rate pool assets.
Also notice that the expenditure on the decorative wall is not eligible for capital
allowances as this does not qualify as plant and machinery.
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Illustration:
Solution:
150,000
Additions (AIA)
19 October 2019 30,000
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Compute capital allowances for motor cars
The F.Y.A is given to motor cars purchased that have a CO2 emission of less than
50g/km.
For cars with a CO2 emission of between 50-110, an 18% W.D.A. is given, therefore
these are considered to be main pool assets.
For cars with a CO2 emission of more than 110g, an 8% W.D.A. is given, therefore
these are considered to be special rate pool assets.
Illustration:
Anna Ltd.:
Purchase of car for £10,600. The car had CO2 emissions of 96g/
25/06/2018
km.
Purchase of car for £18,000. The car had CO2 emissions of
16/02/2019
142g/km.
Purchase of car for £22,000. The car had CO2 emissions of 40g/
14/03/2019
km.
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Solution:
Special
Main Capital
Particulars F.Y.A. rate
Pool allowances
pool
Additions:
A company
This is because all of the people who work in the company are considered to be
employees of the company.
Therefore, the capital allowances given are not reduced by the % of private usage
by an employee of a company.
A Sole trader
If an asset is used privately by the owner of the business, the capital allowance
given must be reduced by the % of private usage.
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Illustration (a sole trader)
On 1 November 2017 she bought computer for £3,000 which she uses 70% in
her business and 30% privately.
She has already used the AIA in the year to 31 March 2018.
Solution:
WDA as at y/e 31 March 2018
£3,000 x 18% = £540
Capital Allowances (business use only) £540 x 70% = £378
Illustration (a company)
On 1 November 2017 the company bought computer for £3,000 which is used by
the sales manager 30% privately.
Anna Ltd. has already used the AIA in the year to 31 March 2018.
Solution:
WDA as at y/e 31 March 2018
£3,000 x 18% = £540
Note: The private use of the computer by the employee is not relevant for capital
allowance purposes.
No adjustment is ever made to a company's capital allowances to reflect the private
use of an asset.
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Compute balancing allowances and balancing charges
In the final year of trading, the A.I.A., W.D.A., F.Y.A. are not given.
Instead, balancing allowances and balancing charges are computed on each pool.
A balancing allowance will be deducted from trading profit to find tax adjusted
trading profit and a balancing charge will be added to trading profit to find tax
adjusted trading profit.
Illustration:
The company ceased to trade on 05/04/2019 on which all of its plant and
machinery was sold for £8,000.
The written down value on its main pool at 06/04/2018 was £11,000.
Solution:
Total £15,000
Disposals (£8,000)
Balancing allowance £7,000 £7,000
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Recognise the treatment of short life assets
Short life assets are main pool assets that have an expected life of 8 years or less.
A de-pooling election can be made so that the asset gets its own W.D.A.’s and on
sale of the asset, a balancing allowance or balancing charge can arise.
The benefit of this election is that a balancing adjustment will arise within 8 years,
which would not have arisen, if this de-pooling did not take place.
If the asset is not sold within the 8 years of acquiring the asset, then the written
down value is added back to the main pool.
This happens on the 8th anniversary of the end of the accounting period in which
the asset was acquired.
Illustration
On 01/09/2018 Aadi purchased a printer for £8,000 and made a short life asset
election.
Calculate the capital allowances for the two years ending 05/04/2020
Solution
Additions:
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Machinery £220,000
Printer £8,000
Use LOWER OF
1. Proceeds
2. Original cost
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When an item of plant or machinery is sold - the lower of the sale proceeds received
or the original cost of the asset is deducted from the written down value of the
relevant pool.
For example, if the written down value is 100 and sale proceeds received are 120
but the original cost of the asset is 110, then 110 will be deducted from the pool to
give a balancing charge of 10. The difference between proceeds and original cost
will be treated as a capital gain.
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Syllabus E2d. Property business profits and relief for property losses
The calculation of property business profits is exactly the same as that for
individuals with 3 exceptions:
2. There is no rent a room relief for companies as a company will not have a
main residence.
3. Property losses for a company are entirely relieved against total taxable
profits of the current year or carried forward to future years before any
qualifying charitable donations can be deducted.
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Illustration:
Solution:
Note that the property loss is relieved before the qualifying charitable donation
against total income.
Additionally, this has resulted in £5,000 of the qualifying charitable donation being
wasted.
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Syllabus E2e. Carry forward relief of trading losses
If a company makes a trading loss, then it can relieve the loss by carrying it forward
and deducting it from it's future total profits.
This rule is new and applies to losses made from 1 April 2017.
In your TX - UK exam you will not be tested on losses that arose before 1 April
2017.
Claims for carried forward loss relief must be made within 2 years of the end of the
accounting period in which the loss is relieved.
For example Cow plc made a trading loss of (£30,000) in the tax year ending
31/03/2018.
Cow plc made a trading profit of £50,000 in the tax year ending 31/03/2019 and has
investment income of £20,000.
Less:
Trading loss carried forward (£30,000)
Trading profit £40,000 - this is the amount that will be taxed, after the carried
forward loss has been deducted.
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Unlike current year and carry back loss relief, under carry forward loss relief a
company can choose the amount of trading loss to use in order to save its
charitable donations.
For example Cow plc made a trading loss of (£30,000) in the tax year ending
31/03/2018.
Cow plc made a trading profit of £50,000 in the tax year ending 31/03/2019.
Cow plc also made a qualifying charitable donation of £35,000 in the tax year
ending 31/03/2019.
Trading profit £Nil - no trading profit will be taxed in the tax year ending
31/03/2019.
The remaining trading loss of £15,000 (£30,000 - £15,000) will be carried forward to
future years
Trading losses can be carried forward for any amount of time, until the full amount
of the loss has been relieved.
This is the current year total income relief and carry back total income relief,
these are explained in Section E.2.f.
Note This other relief is normally used before the carry forward relief.
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Illustration:
Pulkit Ltd. made the following income for the year ended 31/03/2018:
Trading income (£30,000)
Pulkit Ltd. made the following income for the year ended 31/03/2019:
Trading income £20,000
How can the trading loss of the year ended 31/03/2018 be relieved?
Solution:
Trading loss of (£50,000) incurred in the year ended 31/03/2018 will be relieved
against the total profits generated in 31/03/2019.
BUT only £40,000 of the loss needs to be used, the remaining £5,000 of total profits
is covered by the qualifying charitable donations.
The remaining £10,000 of the loss will be carried forward to offset against future
total profits.
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Qualifying charitable donations (£5,000)
Taxable total profits £NIL
Loss memo:
Note: an alternative would be to use the loss in the current year and offset £25,000
against other income. The downside of this is that £5,000 of donations would be
wasted.
Carried forward losses can be relieved in full up to the amount of the deductions
allowance plus 50% of the company’s profits after deduction of current period loss
reliefs (including group relief) and the deductions allowance.
You only need to have an awareness of this restriction for the TX - UK paper.
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Syllabus E2f. Total income relief for trading losses
For example in the tax year ending 31/03/2019, Cow plc. made a trading loss of
(£100,000), it also had property income of £75,000 and chargeable gains of
£35,000.
Cow plc can relieve the trading loss by deducting it from it's total income:
The carry back total income claim means that if a company makes a trading loss in
a tax year, it can deduct the loss from the previous 12 month's total income.
For example in the tax year ending 31/03/2019, Cow plc. made a trading loss of
(£100,000), it had no other income in that year.
Cow plc. had property income of £75,000 and chargeable gains of £35,000 in the
tax year ending 31/03/2019.
Cow plc can relieve the trading loss by deducting it from it's total income in the tax
year ended 31/03/2019.
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Unlike for individuals, the current year total income claim must be made before the
claim against total income for the previous 12 months.
For example Milk plc. made a trading loss of (£100,000) in the tax year ending
31/03/2019.
It also had property income of £25,000 in the tax year ending 31/03/2019.
Milk plc. had total income of £200,000 in the tax year ended 31/03/2018.
The trading loss of 31/03/2019 must first be deducted from total income of
31/03/2019, and can then be carried back to the total income of 31/03/2018.
Note you must always use the trading loss in the current year before you
carry it back.
Therefore, qualifying charitable donations are deducted after the trading loss
and may be wasted.
For example Antler plc. made a trading loss of (£100,000) in the tax year
ending 31/03/2019.
It also had property income of £125,000 and made qualifying charitable donations
of £35,000 in the year.
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Year ending 31/03/2019:
There is another way to claim loss relief, this is the carry forward claim, explained in
Topic Carry forward relief of trading losses.
After the current year total income claim and carry back total income claim, if
there is still a trading loss remaining - the carry forward claim is then used.
Illustration:
Pulkit Ltd. made the following income for the year ended 31/03/2019:
Pulkit Ltd. made the following income for the year ended 31/03/2018:
How can the trading loss of the year ended 31/03/2019 be relieved?
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Solution:
Here we will illustrate only the current year total income claim and the carry back
claim against total income for 12 months.
Trading loss of (£30,000) incurred in the year ended 31/03/2019 will be relieved
against the total income generated in 31/03/2019.
The qualifying charitable donations for the year ended 31/03/2019 have been
wasted.
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Notice here that the qualifying charitable donation has not been wasted, as there
was enough income remaining for it to be deducted.
Loss memo:
Little tricks!
There are 2 areas in claiming loss relief that you should be aware of:
1. If the period before your loss making period is less than 12 months, your
carry back relief claim is for 12 months, therefore you will have to go one
further period back for the remaining months.
For example If a loss making period was 1 year long, the period before that was 6
months long and the period before that one was 1 year long; then you will take the
full 6 months of the previous period and 6 of the 12 months total income for the
period before that also - to make sure that you have gone back a full 12 months.
For example Above, for the period that was 12 months long, but for which I could
only offset against 6 months - I must compare 6 month's of profit with 6 months of
loss, and take the lower of them as the amount of loss I can deduct.
Illustration
Trading profits/
£60,000 £2,000 £(66,000)
loss
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Chargeable gains £2,000 £10,000 £10,000
What amount of loss relief will the company get if they use the current year and
carry back total income claims for loss relief?
Solution
Therefore the carry back 12 month claim will use these 6 months and go further
back 6 months to make up an entire 12 month claim.
Trading profits/
£60,000 £2,000 Nil
loss
Total income
Current year/12 (£10,000)
months claim
Total income
Carry Back 12
months claim (set £(12,000)
off in full in this
period)
Total income
Carry back 12 Lower of: 6/12*£66,000 =
months claim £33,000 (Loss for the 6 months)
(restrict set off to or
(£31,000)
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Total taxable
£31,000 £Nil £Nil
profts
Once again, the loss cannot be restricted to save qualifying charitable donations.
For example Creamy plc. made a trading loss of (£100,000) in its final year of trading.
The trading loss of (£100,000) will first be relieved against the total income of 31/03/2019:
Then,
The trading loss of (£60,000) (£100,000-£40,000)will second be relieved against the total
income of 31/03/2018:
Then,
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Total income £15,000- whatever corporation tax has been paid, part of it will be repaid to
the company by HMRC
Note for the years in which tax has already been paid, this will result in a repayment of tax.
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Syllabus E2g. Factors that influence choice of loss relief claim
There are 2 factors that will be relevant in the TX exam that will influence the
choice of the loss relief claim:
Therefore, the current year total income and and carry back 12 months’ total
income claim are much more likely to be used before the carry forward claim
against trading profits
The rate of corporation tax fell from 20% in FY16 to 19% in FY17 and has
remained at 19% for FY18. However, the rate is expected to fall in the future
and so it is best to try and utilise losses as soon as possible to obtain relief at
the highest rate
If a loss relief claim can reduce the size of the company, then this will avoid
the company having to make quarterly instalments of corporation tax.
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Syllabus E2h. Loan relationship rules
All interest is received gross for companies and the basis of assessment for interest
income is the accruals basis.
• For example, if a loan was taken out to purchase an investment property, the
interest payable would be deducted from this area, not property income.
• However, there is one exception to this rule, that is that any loan taken or
received for trading purposes will have its interest payable or receivable
adjusted within “Trading profits”.
• Otherwise, any non trading loans will be adjusted within “Interest income”.
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Simple proforma:
Less:
Illustration:
Seeta Ltd. took out a £190,000 loan on 01/07/18 in her year ended 31 March 2019.
The interest on this loan is £7.25% per annum. She used this loan for various
activities:
How much of the interest payable will be taken under the Interest income?
Solution:
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Interest Income:
Trading income:
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Syllabus E2i. Qualifying charitable donations
You can deduct charitable donations from the taxable total profits.
Also note the difference between how qualifying charitable donations are
treated between individuals and companies:
Illustration:
Satya Ltd. has the following income and expenses for the year ending
31/03/2018:
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Solution:
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Syllabus E2j. Computation of taxable total profits
Trading income x
Property income x
Interest income x
Capital gains x
Less:
Remember that dividends received are not subject to corporation tax and are
therefore not included in taxable total profits.
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Illustration:
What are Lachmi Ltd. taxable total profits for the year?
Solution:
Less:
They are exempt and only used for the calculation of Augmented profits for
payment of corporation tax.
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Little trick!
This means that the interest which is taxed is the interest which is receivable during
the year, not the interest which is actually received during the year.
For example, bank interest receivable of £2,000 was accrued at 31 March 2018
and and £1,000 was accrued at 31 March 2019 respectively.
This means that £2,000 should have been paid in the year ended 31 March 2018
but was not, and £1,000 should have been paid at 31 March 2019, but has not been
paid yet.
The interest actually received during the year ended 31 March 2019 was £6,000.
Therefore, how do we figure out what the amount is that should have actually been
received for the year ended 31 March 2019?
Amount paid - Amount due for previous year + Amount still due at this year end =
Amount that should have been paid for this year.
Therefore, £4,000 paid was actually due for the year ended 31 March 2019
+
£1,000 is still to be paid for the year ended 31 March 2019
Illustration:
Kamal Ltd. has the following results for the year ended 31/03/2019
£
Trading profits/loss before capital allowance 30,000
Chargeable gains 2,000
Interest income 62,000
Property income 50,000
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Qualifying charitable donations 15,000
Kamal Ltd. had £2,000 interest accrued at 31/03/2018 and £3,000 of interest
accrued at 31/03/2019.
What will Kamal Ltd.'s taxable total profits be for the year ended 31/03/2019?
Less:
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Syllabus E3. Chargeable gains for companies
Capital gains and losses are netted off for each tax year
Disposal proceeds X
Net proceeds X
Taxable gain X
After all individual indexed gains and losses have been computed, then they must be
aggregated and the following computation can be used.
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Net Capital Gains in tax year X
Taxable Gains X
This final figure is then taken to the TTP computation if it is a gain and carried
forward if it is a loss.
Prices increase due to inflation, therefore to avoid a company paying tax due to the
increases in inflation, an indexation allowance is calculated based on retail price
indexes to remove the effects of inflationary increases in the capital gain.
1. The indexation allowance can only reduce a capital gain to Nil, it cannot
create a capital loss or increase a capital loss.
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enhancement date)/R.P.I. enhancement date = Indexation allowance for
enhancement expenditure
4. If the R.P.I factor has fallen from the month of acquisition to the month of
disposal, the indexation allowance is Nil.
Illustration:
He received disposal proceeds of £115,000 for the property and incurred legal fees
on disposal of £5,000.
He has initially purchased the property for £15,000 and incurred incidental costs on
acquisition of £1,500 on 31/12/2008.
On cost 0.306
On enhancement 0.218
Solution:
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Extension cost (£25,000)
The unindexed gain is a capital gain from which indexation allowance has not been
deducted from yet.
W1:
Note that the incidental costs to acquire are included (15,000 + 1,500) = 16,500.
W2:
Note: even though the asset was not sold until December 2018, indexation is only
calculated to December 2017.
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Syllabus E3c. Capital losses
Capital losses
1. It is first set off against any Capital gains arising in the same accounting
period.
2. Any remaining capital loss is then carried forward and set off against future
Capital gains.
Illustration:
Kruti Ltd. sold a office building on 06/06/2018 for £400,000, the unindexed cost of
the asset was £420,000.
There were no other chargeable asset sales in the tax year 18/19.
In the tax year 19/20, Kruti Ltd. realised a capital gain of £25,000 on the sale of a
small piece of land that the company owned.
Solution:
• 2017/18
The loss of (£20,000) will be carried forward and set off against future capital
gains.
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• 2019/20:
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Syllabus E3de. Disposals of shares by companies, with share identification rules
Matching rules
Disposals of shares for individuals and for companies are extremely similar.
There are 2 differences, these are that we index the cost of the shares and when
looking at shares to be sold, and we do not look 30 days after the sale, we look 9
days previous to the sale.
• For this reason, the same illustrations and quizzes have been used to explain
this are so that you can compare for yourself both applications.
• When shares are disposed of, a problem arises in finding their allowable cost,
if the shares were acquired over a long period of time.
• To make this simpler, HMRC uses a set of rules to determine the acquisition
date and cost of the shares being disposed of.
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Illustration:
She acquired 1,500 shares in the company on 31/05/2015 for £20,000, and 500
shares on 30/06/2016 for £10,000.
Calculate Benazir’s capital gain on the disposal of the shares in February 2019.
Solution:
Let us apply our matching rules to see which shares we are disposing of.
Indexation factors:
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Share pool:
Total £30,356
Specially note how each purchase will be indexed to the next EVENT date (an
event being either a purchase, sale or rights issue).
Calculating capital gain:
Acquisition cost:
07/03/19 (£4,000)
Note: The share pool figure in the above calculation is the indexed cost figure. This
could be shown separately as cost £12,000 and indexation (12,835 - 12,000) £835.
This is useful to be aware of because indexation cannot create or increase a loss so
if the proceeds had been £11,000 and the cost £12,000 there would have been an
allowable loss of £1,000. But if you had not separated out the cost and indexation
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you would have calculated a loss of (11,000 - 12,835) £1,835 which would have
been incorrect.
• You also might want to try to draw a timeline to ensure that you do not miss
any acquisition dates!
• Shares issued through a bonus issue will not be indexed as no money has
been paid for them.
• It will be assumed as though they have been acquired on the last purchase
date.
• Shares that have been issued via a rights issue will be indexed as normal, as
money has been paid for them.
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Syllabus E3f. Bonus issues, rights issues, takeovers and reorganisations
Share issues
Once again, the treatment of bonus issues, rights issues, takeovers and
reorganisations are exactly the same for companies and individuals.
The only difference is that a company will index its cost, whereas an individual will
get an annual exemption.
For this reason, very similar illustrations and quizzes have been used so that the
difference can be highlighted to you.
Bonus Issues
• For example, if you owned 500 shares in a company and a 1:5 bonus issue
was declared, you would receive (500/5) *1 = 100 bonus shares.
• These shares are deemed to be acquired at the same date and at the same
cost as the original shares to which they relate.
• Therefore, in your share pool, a bonus issue will only result in an increase in
the number of shares, and no increase in the indexed cost of shares.
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Illustration:
• How many shares will Mina receive under the bonus issue?
Solution:
• When they are included in the share pool, the shares purchased previously
will not be indexed to the bonus issue date.
• The indexation of all of the shares will only happen once the next monetary
purchase happens.
Rights Issues
A rights issue occurs where a company offers its existing shareholders the right to
buy extra shares.
Rights issues are similar to bonus issues in that the number of shares offered to
each shareholder is generally in proportion to his or her existing shareholder.
• The price for the shares is normally lower than current market value, in order
for the the existing shareholders to be attracted to taking up the issue.
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Illustration:
• Dec 2018 Took up 1:5 rights issue for £2.00 per share
• What will the rights issue cost Jack if he decides to subscribe to the issue
fully?
Solution:
• Note carefully that these bonus issues and rights issue will follow the same
matching rules for shares when they are disposed.
• The bonus issues will be included in the share pool at no cost and the rights
issue shares will be included in the share pool at their respective cost.
• The rights issue share purchase will cause indexation of the previous
purchases until this date as this is a monetary purchase.
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Takeovers
Takeovers can either be for a share for share exchange, or a takeover can be for a
cash exchange.
We will deal with both of these situations separately via the use of illustrations.
• If a takeover is for a share for share exchange, then no capital gains tax
arises immediately.
• The market value of the new holding provided will be used to apportion our
initial holding cost.
• Then when we ultimately dispose of this new holding, we will use the original
holding cost, and this will result in a capital gain assessable.
Illustration:
Jayna owned 2000 shares in A plc which cost her £2,000 in 2009, and A plc was
being taken over by B plc in 2019
• Jayna was offered by B. plc 1,500 ordinary shares with a market value of
£3,000 and 500 preference shares with a market value of £1,000.
• If not, when Jayna sells these new ordinary shares and new preference
shares, what cost would be attributed to each?
Solution:
Market value of ordinary shares/Total market value of new holding * original cost
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Cost attributed to preference shares:
Market value of preference shares/Total market value of new holding * original cost
• Jayna needs to use these costs as the acquisition cost when she decides to
sell the shares in B. plc.
• (She cannot use the market value of the shares when they were given to her).
• If a takeover is for a share for cash exchange, capital gains tax will arise
immediately for the proportion of cash given compared to the total market
value of the new holding.
• The market value of the new holding provided will be used to apportion our
initial holding cost to be used.
Illustration:
Jayna owned 2000 shares in A plc. which cost her £2,000 in 2009, and A plc was
being taken over by B plc in 2019.
• Jayna was offered by B. plc 1,500 ordinary shares with a market value of
£3,000 and cash of £1,000.
Solution:
Market value of ordinary shares/Total market value of new holding * original cost
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Cost attributed to cash given:
Market value of preference shares/Total market value of new holding * original cost
Jayna needs to use this £500 as the acquisition cost of the shares that she is
deemed to have disposed of for the cash received.
Capital gains:
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Syllabus E2g. Rollover relief
Rollover relief
Rollover relief for companies is the same as rollover relief for individuals.
The only difference between the two is that the indexed gain is rolled over for
companies, whereas individuals do not index the gain.
Explanation
Subject to certain conditions a company may claim that the gain arising on the
disposal of a business asset may be rolled over against the cost of acquiring a
replacement business asset.
Main effects:
1. Disposal of the old asset will arise in neither a gain nor a loss.
2. Cost of the new asset is reduced by the indexed gain that would have been
chargeable on the disposal of the old asset if the claim for roll over relief had
not been made.
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Conditions:
1. The disposal must have been of a qualifying business asset and the
reinvestment must be in a qualifying business asset.
3. All of the sale proceeds received on the sale must be reinvested for
qualification of full roll over relief. If only some of the sale proceeds are
reinvested, then:
Total indexed capital gain-indexed capital gain realised now = indexed capital
gain to be rolled over.
Qualifying assets:
Illustration:
This office cost the company £100,000 on 29/09/2002. Jeremy Ltd. bought another
business office for £250,000 on 31/12/2018. Indexation factor 0.915
Solution:
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Indexed capital gain £158,500
This base cost will be used as the cost against the disposal of the new office.
W1:
W2:
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Syllabus E4. The comprehensive computation of
corporation tax liability
A company will pay corporation tax at the rate of 19% for FY18 and FY17.
If a company’s CAP falls into a financial year prior to FY17 a hybrid rate will need to
be calculated.
How?
You will need to add the dividends figure it to the taxable total profits.
If the total of this exceeds the upper limit, then the company will be deemed to be
large.
Do not forget that dividends are just used to determine whether a company is small
or large, they are never subject to corporation tax!
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Illustration:
Illustration:
T.T.P £1,450,000
Dividend : £250,000 £250,000
Augmented profits £1,700,000
Yes, the total has crossed £1,500,000 and therefore the company will be considered
to be a large company.
They will pay corporation tax at 19% like small companies but the difference is that
they will have to pay their corporation tax in quarterly instalments.
2. Both companies are owned more than 51% by the same company
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What is control?
The parent company needs to own more than 50% of the share capital of the
subsidiary at the end of the previous chargeable accounting period. The 50% needs
to be both direct and effective interest. For example if A Ltd owns 51% of B Ltd
and B Ltd owns 51% of C Ltd, the situation would be as follows:
1. One annual investment allowance is given to the entire group. The group can
decide which companies get the allowance. Therefore, it is tax efficient to
allocate the allowance to large companies and companies which have
purchased special rate pool assets.
2. The upper limit of £1,500,000 is divided by the number of related 51% group
companies to determine an upper limit for each company in the group. If the
individual company’s profits exceed the upper limit, then they are deemed to
be a large company and must pay quarterly instalments of their corporation
tax.
Illustration 1:
Solution:
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Illustration 2:
Solution:
Q Ltd is only related to Z Ltd and A Ltd so the limit would be divided by 3
B Ltd is excluded because the effective interest is less than 51% (65% x 60% =
39%)
Z Inc is excluded because the effective interest is less than 51% (51% x 50% =
25.5%)
Note:
A Ltd would include Q Ltd and B Ltd as related 51% companies (limit/3)
Hopefully you can see from these illustrations that there is not just one answer for a
group. It depends from which company you are looking from. The limit could be
different for each company.
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Syllabus E5. Group corporate structure for C.T.
A group of companies is like a family, they can share their losses and
gains
B – VAT groups
We have already dealt with related 51% group companies and VAT groups.
There are 2 conditions that need to be satisfied for a company to be a part of a 75%
loss group.
These are:
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Illustration:
Solution:
This is because A Ltd. owns a direct interest of 90% in B Ltd. and an indirect
interest of 81% (90% * 90%) in C Ltd.
Illustration:
Solution:
This is because A Ltd. owns a direct interest of 100% in B Ltd., an indirect interest
of 75% (100% * 75%) in C Ltd, and an indirect interest of 75%(100% * 75% *
100%) in D Ltd.
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What losses can they surrender?
This means that the property losses of the company who has generated the
loss must relieve the loss against its own total income before surrendering it
to a group member.
Thus, the loss making company’s total income should be NIL before it
surrenders its property loss.
This means that the qualifying donations of the company who has generated
the loss must relieve the loss against its own total income before
surrendering it to a group member.
Thus, the loss making company’s total income should be NIL before it
surrenders its qualifying donation.
3. Trading losses.
This means that the trading losses of the company who generated them
must NOT relieve the loss against its total income or previous year’s income
before surrendering it to a group member.
Thus, the loss making company’s total income does not need to be NIL
before it surrenders its trading loss.
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Conditions for loss relief
1. The loss of the surrendering company for the exact same period against
which it is being surrendered.
2. The profit of the claimant company for the exact same period against which it
is being claimed.
Illustration:
• Ilea Ltd. made a loss for the year ending 31/03/19 of (£180,000).
• William Ltd. joined the group on 01/01/2019 and made a profit of £100,000
for the period ending 31/03/2019.
• Jane Ltd. had been a part of the group for many years and made a profit of
£55,000 for the year ending 30/06/2019.
Solution:
• Only 3 months are co-terminus since William Ltd. joined the group
(01/01/19-31/03/19)
• Only 9 months are co-terminus as both companies have a different year end
(01/07/18-31/03/19)
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Therefore the lower of:
Loss memo:
Illustration:
A Ltd. and B Ltd. are part of a 75% loss group. They both have 31/03 year endings.
Solution:
The lower of £190,000 and £180,000, therefore only £180,000 loss can be relieved
and the remaining will be carried forward against A Ltd.’s future trading profits
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Carried forward group relief
A company which has a post 1 April 2017 loss carried forward may transfer all or part of
that loss to a member of the 75% group.
Unlike current period group relief, the surrendering company can only surrender a
carried forward loss if it cannot use it itself.
When calculating available taxable profits against which to use the carried forward
loss relief, the claimant company must deduct its own losses first.
Note: if a company joins the group and already has carried forward losses, it cannot
surrender these losses to other group companies.
Illustration
Apple Plc has one 75% subsidiary, Banana Ltd. Their results for the year ended 31
March 2019 are as follows:
Apple Plc
Banana Ltd
£ £
Trading profit 70,000 40,000
Trading loss carried (5,000) (110,000)
forward from 31 March
2018
Non-trade loan 10,000 10,000
relationship income
Chargeable gain 12,000 6,000
Calculate the maximum carry forward group relief that Apple Plc can claim from
Banana Ltd.
Solution
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Banana Ltd can only surrender the amount of carried forward loss that it cannot use
itself, even if it would not choose to use the loss itself:
Apple Plc can only claim a loss against profits after deducting it’s own losses first:
Maximum carry forward group relief that Apple Plc can claim from Banana Ltd is
therefore £54,000 (the lower of £54,000 and £87,000)
Note: you will not be tested on group relief involving carried forward losses made
prior to 1 April 2017.
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Syllabus E5b. 75% gains group
The asset will be transferred between group members at its indexed cost
(cost + indexation until date of transfer).
Therefore one member of a group can sell a qualifying asset, and if another
member purchases a qualifying asset within the time limit, the chargeable
gain on the first asset can be rolled over against the purchase of the second
asset of the other group member.
An asset does not have to be physically moved and sold by another group
member for a chargeable gain or capital loss to arise on them, the gain or
loss can simply be transferred.
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How does a company obtain membership into a 75% gains group?
• The parent company must hold a direct or indirect effective interest of more
than 50% in each subsidiary.
Illustration:
Solution:
This is because A Ltd. owns a direct interest of 90% in B Ltd. and an indirect
interest of 67.5% (90% * 75%) in C Ltd.
Therefore, the parent effective interest is satisfied and the sub-subsidiary condition
is satisfied.
Illustration:
Solution:
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• Finally, C Ltd. owns 75% in the sub-subsidiary D Ltd.
Illustration:
Zooby Ltd. and Scrappy Ltd. are members of a 75% group. Zooby Ltd. sold a
qualifying asset for £500,000 and this resulted in a capital gain of £100,000.
• Scrappy Ltd. spent £650,000 on a qualifying asset 6 months after the sale of
of Zooby Ltd.’s asset.
Solution:
As group rollover relief is available due to both assets being qualifying and
purchased within the necessary time limit, the base cost of Zooby Ltd.’s asset will
be:
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Illustration:
If two companies are members of a capital gains group and one company transfers
an asset to another.
Solution:
Indexed cost
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Syllabus F: Value Added Tax
Syllabus F1. The VAT registration requirements
Syllabus F1a. Recognise the circumstances in which a person must register or deregister for
VAT (compulsory) and when a person may register or deregister for VAT (voluntary).
When your sales (excluding VAT) go over the registration limit (£85,000).
1. Historic Turnover
2. Future Prospects
When you satisfy both tests HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) will use the test
that gives the earlier registration date.
At the end of every month check to see if the last 12 month sales were over
£85,000.
If so, you have 30 days to tell HMRC (30 days of the end of the month in which the
limit is exceeded)
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You are then registered for VAT from the end of the next month (or earlier if agreed)
• You must notify HMRC by 30th May (within 30 days of the end of the month -
April)
Illustration 1:
Answer
• So tell HMRC by 30th November and will be registered for VAT from 1st
December
If you think the limit (£85,000) will be reached in the next 30 days alone
• registration starts at the beginning of the 30 days you expect to reach the
limit
• For example:
The company will register for VAT from 1 July and have to notify HMRC by 30
July.
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Illustration 2:
Guy starts to trade and in the year ended 31st December sales are expected to be
£240,000 (accrued evenly).
• Answer - using the historic test because the threshold is not £85,000 in
one 30 day period alone.
Note: although the historic test tells us to look back 12 months, when someone
starts to trade you look back after every month as they may need to be registered
before 12 months have gone by.
Illustration 3:
The budgeted turnover of Shobha Ltd. in the first 9 months is £810 000.
Solution: using the future test as the threshold is exceeded in one 30 day
period alone
Therefore, the limit would be crossed in the first month of operation (July).
Registration will be effective from 01/07 (the beginning of the 30 day period).
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De-registration
• A trader stops being liable to VAT registration when it ceases to make taxable
supplies.
The trader must notify HMRC within 30 days and will be deregistered from
the date of cessation or from an earlier agreed date.
• A trader may also deregister for VAT when its expected taxable turnover in
the next 12 months is expected to fall below £83,000.
The trader may deregister for VAT if they consider this beneficial.
Illustration:
A company has been VAT registered for many years, however it has recently faced
financial difficulties and sales for the year ended 31/12/2018 are forecast to be
£60,000.
Solution:
The company can request HMRC to cancel its registration because its taxable
supplies for the next 12 months are below £83,000.
The de-registration will be effective from the date on which the request is made or
from an earlier agreed date.
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VAT implications on selling a business (deregistering permanently)
General Rule
The sale of the business is assumed to be a taxable supply for VAT purposes.
Therefore, all of the assets, such as plant, equipment and trading inventory
owned by the business, will need to have output tax payable on them when
the business is sold.
An exception is made if the VAT due is less than or equal to £1,000. In this
situation, VAT will not be payable.
• Illustration:
It owned plant and equipment costing £1,200,000 (VAT inclusive) and had
inventory remaining that cost £120,000 (VAT inclusive).
All of the input VAT on the inventory had been claimed in previous VAT
returns.
How much output VAT will be payable on the sale of this business assuming
the plant and inventory are sold for cost?
• Solution:
VAT payable
Plant and machinery £1,200,000 * 1/6 = £200,000
Inventory £120,000 * 1/6 = £20,000
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The conditions for this treatment are:
Even if someone is not required to register for VAT, once they are making taxable
supplies, they are allowed to.
For example, if a company makes zero rated supplies, they are not required to
register for VAT, but they are allowed to do so.
4. If a company makes zero rated supplies and standard rated purchases, then
the company will be eligible for repayments from HMRC.
1. VAT added to the selling price will make an item more expensive for a final
consumer who is not VAT registered, and therefore reduce competitive
advantage of the business.
2. If the trader wants to remain competitive and still be VAT registered, then the
profits of the trader will suffer as they will have to suffer the output VAT
payments on their own, they cannot pass them on to the final consumer.
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Illustration:
Villa sells furniture, a taxable supply. Her taxable turnover for the previous 12
months is £68,000 and standard rated purchases are £45,000 (vat inclusive).
• Competition is high and most traders in this field are not VAT registered,
therefore, Villa cannot increase her prices. If she does, customers will go
elsewhere.
Solution:
• W1:
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Syllabus F1b. Circumstances for pre-registration VAT can be recovered
Input VAT incurred prior to VAT registration can be recovered on goods and services
purchased in certain circumstances. These include:
Purchased
Goods Services
item
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How do we claim the pre-registration input VAT?
Illustration:
He has to file his VAT returns quarterly, and his first return will be filed on
01/04/2019.
Solution:
Sunil Ltd. will claim the £20 (input vat paid) on his first VAT return in 01/04/2019.
This is because these goods qualify to have pre-registration VAT claimed on them.
They are used for business purposes, still in stock and purchased within 4 years of
VAT registration.
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Syllabus F1c. Conditions for companies to be treated as VAT group
Conditions:
That is one company must own 51% or more of the share capital in another
company, or 2 companies must be under common control.
1. The VAT Group is treated for VAT purposes as a single company registered
for VAT on its own.
3. One VAT return will need to be filed on behalf of the whole group.
4. The group must have a representative who fills in the VAT return.
This member will have to gather all of the output and input VAT of the
individual members and fill it in on one return.
This representative is also responsible for paying VAT on behalf of the group.
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Advantages of a VAT Group:
2. Only one return must be filed, therefore administration costs will be saved.
3. There are special VAT schemes for businesses such as the cash, annual and
flat rate schemes.
To enter into these schemes, a business must have a turnover under a certain limit.
Since a VAT group is treated as a single company, the whole VAT group’s turnover
will be considered in comparison to the limit, when one company in the group is
trying to enter into the scheme.
Thus, it is unlikely that a company in VAT group will be eligible to enter into such
schemes, whereas if they were not in the VAT group, they would be more likely to
qualify.
For example, there is a VAT group with 4 companies (A Ltd., B Ltd., C Ltd., and D
Ltd.).
The annual turnover of the entire group is £5,400,000, and each individual
company’s annual turnover is £1,350,000.
B. Ltd. wants to enter into the cash accounting scheme, the company’s individual
turnover is within the limit of £1,350,000, however it cannot enter the scheme
because the VAT group’s annual turnover of £5,400,000 will be considered instead
of individual company turnover and B Ltd. will not qualify.
Illustration
B Ltd owns 80% in C Ltd and 51% in G Inc. (An overseas company)
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Solution:
This is because Jay effectively owns more that 50% of the shares in each of them
and they are trading from a permanent establishment in the UK.
However, G Inc. is not trading from a permanent establishment in the UK and can
therefore not be included in the group.
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Syllabus F2. Computation of VAT liabilities
VAT payable/recoverable
Therefore, if an item is standard rated and VAT inclusive, then its total amount will be 100%
+ 20% = 120%.
Or
• VAT paid on standard rated purchases is called “input VAT” and can be claimed from
the government.
VAT charged on standard rated sales is called “output VAT” and must be paid to the
government.
The net of these 2 amounts will actually be payable/receivable from the government.
Illustration:
Mr. Mohan is self employed and has made standard rated sales of £120 (VAT inclusive) in
February 2018 and has standard rated purchases of £60 (Vat inclusive) from a VAT
registered supplier.
Solution:
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Syllabus F2b. Understand how VAT is accounted for and administered
1. On registration, the trader must charge VAT on all taxable supplies (output
VAT).
2. The trader can also reclaim VAT on all taxable supplies purchased (input VAT).
3. At the end of a 3-month period, the trader accounts to HMRC for all the
output tax less the input tax on their VAT return.
5. VAT registered businesses must file their returns and make payments online.
6. The deadline for submitting the VAT return and making payments
electronically is 1 month and 7 days after the period has ended.
Therefore, for the period ending 31/03/2019, the return with payment can be
submitted electronically on 07/05/2019.
Illustration 1
Cow Ltd's sales (standard rated) for the first 3 months were:
How, and when, will Cow Ltd have to submit its quarterly VAT return and pay any
related VAT liability?
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• Solution
Cow Ltd will have to file its VAT returns online and pay the VAT which is due
electronically.
The deadline for filling the VAT return and paying any VAT is one months and seven
days after the end of each quarter.
So, in our case, Cow Ltd will pay (30,000 + 30,000 + 40,000) x 20% = £20,000 VAT
on 7 May 2019 for the quarter ended 31 March 2019.
Illustration 2
For the quarter ended 30/06/2018, Pooja Ltd. had output vat of £10,000 and input
VAT of £7,000.
When will the company be required to file and pay the VAT liability and how much is
it?
Solution:
• Pooja Ltd. must file the return and make the payment online on 07/08/2018.
Other points
This would arise where the business had standard rated purchases and
expenses but made zero rated sales and hence always had more input tax
than output tax and would claim a repayment.
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Syllabus F2c. Recognise the tax point when goods or services are supplied
The tax point is the date used to identify the VAT period which should be used to
include the output or input VAT.
This is:
or
The actual tax point is used more frequently than the basic tax point.
and
The basic tax point date is replaced by the invoice date if an invoice is issued within
14 days of the basic tax point.
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Here is a simple way to work your tax point out:
1. Step 1:
The basic tax point is the date that the goods are delivered or services are
performed.
Use the basic tax point if the answers to the below two steps are NO.
2. Step 2:
Is cash paid or received before the basic tax point date? (Actual tax point)
3. Step 3:
Is an invoice issued within 14 days after the goods are delivered or services
are performed (basic tax point date)? (Actual tax point)
Illustration:
Joe is a sole trader in business selling furniture (a standard rated supply). His year
end is 31 December.
Solution:
1. Step 1:
The basic tax point is 30/09/2018. Let us move on to the other 2 steps.
2. Step 2:
Is cash paid or received before the basic tax point date? (Actual tax point)
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Yes – £2,000 deposit but the remaining has not been paid.
Therefore, for this £2,000 sale the output VAT related to it of:
£2,000 * 1/6 = £333 must be included in the VAT return filed on 30/06/2018.
Now, for the remaining £48,000 – we must go through the steps again.
1. Step 1:
The basic tax point is 30/09/2018. Let us move on to the other 2 steps.
2. Step 2:
Is cash paid or received before the basic tax point date? (Actual tax point)
No – Go to step 3
3. Step 3:
Is an invoice issued within 14 days after the goods are delivered or services
are performed (basic tax point date)? (Actual tax point)
Yes – Invoice was issued on 12/10/2018 and the goods were delivered on
30/09/2018.
Therefore, for this £48,000 sale the output VAT related to it of:
£48,000 * 1/6 = £8,000 must be included in the VAT return filed on 31/12/2018.
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Syllabus F2d. Information that must be given on a VAT invoice
A VAT registered trader making a supply to another taxable person must issue a VAT
invoice within 30 days of the relevant tax point.
If a sales invoice is meant to be valid for VAT purposes i.e. a separate VAT invoice
does not need to be issued, then all of the above needs to be included in the sales
invoice.
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Simplified VAT invoice
A less detailed VAT invoice may be issued by a taxable person where the invoice is
for a total including VAT of up to £250.
Zero-rated and exempt supplies must not be included in less detailed invoices.
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Syllabus F2e. Principles regarding the valuation of supplies
Value of supply
Discounts offered
VAT is chargeable on the actual amount received where a discount is offered for
prompt payment.
1. If the discount is not taken the VAT is charged on the full sale price
2. if the discount is taken, then the VAT is based on the discounted price.
Therefore, the supplier can charge the full amount of the VAT and then issue a credit
note for the discount if it is taken or the supplier can issue an invoice stating the
terms of the discount and that the customer can only reclaim the VAT on the
amount actually paid.
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Illustration:
1) What is the output VAT charged if the customer pays within 14 days?
2) What is the output VAT charged if the customer doesn't pay within 14 days?
Sale £100
Discount (5%) (£5)
Net Sale £95
Output VAT charged (20% * £95) = £19
Selling price (95 + 19) = £114
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Syllabus F2f. Principal zero rates and exempt supplies
Types of supplies
If a trader is VAT registered and makes standard rated purchases, they can reclaim
input VAT at 20%, and they must pay output VAT of 20% on their standard rated
sales.
For example, an accountancy firm sold their services for £240 and made purchases
of stationery of £12.
Both of these are standard rated items and VAT inclusive.
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Examples:
• Stationery
• Furniture
• Computers
• Cars
• Accountancy fees
• Legal fees
• Advertising costs
• Confectionery
If a trader is VAT registered and makes zero rated purchases, no input VAT can be
claimed, and if they make zero rated sales, no output VAT is payable.
For example, a VAT registered trader sells baby clothes for £240.
This item is zero rated, and therefore no output VAT will be payable on the sale.
On the other hand, if a trader makes zero rated supplies and has standard rated
purchases, the trader will qualify for VAT repayments.
For example, a VAT registered trader sells baby clothes for £240. He pays for his
advertising expenses, which cost him £120.
The trader makes zero rated supplies but standard rated purchases, and can
therefore claim the input VAT paid on his advertising expense of £20. (£120 * 1/6)
1. Basic food (not pet food or luxury items like alcohol and confectionary)
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3. New construction work or the sale of buildings by builders where the building
is going to be used for residential/charitable purposes
6. Transport (but pleasure transport and transport in vehicles sitting less than 12
people is standard rated)
Exempt supplies
A person making exempt supplies cannot recover VAT on inputs, this is because
someone making solely exempt supplies will not have any taxable turnover
and cannot become VAT registered.
1. Land
2. Insurance
3. Postal services
5. Education
6. Health services
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Syllabus F2g. Circumstances in which input VAT is non-deductible
2. Input VAT cannot be recovered in relation to any items that are privately used
by an owner of a business.
For example, if an owner purchases stationery for private use, input VAT
cannot be recovered on this purchase.
3. Input VAT cannot be recovered on motor cars (unless they are used 100% for
business purposes).
A car must be used 100% for business purposes in order for input VAT to be
recovered on it's purchase.
The employee uses this car for both business and private purposes.
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Input VAT can be recovered in the following circumstances:
1. Input VAT can be recovered where fuel is used for private mileage (either by a
sole trader or an employee), but output VAT must be accounted for.
Output VAT is calculated according to a scale charge based on the car’s CO2
emissions.
The scale charge is VAT inclusive and will be provided to you in the exam.
2. Input VAT can fully be recovered in respect of repairs to a motor car, provided
that there is some business use.
The employee uses this car for both business and private purposes.
Input VAT can be recovered on the repairs incurred in respect of this car.
Illustration:
In the quarter to 31 March 2019, Shiva claimed all of the input VAT on her fuel cost
(20%), which he uses for private purposes.
How much VAT will be paid/reclaimed for the quarter ended 31 March 2019?
Solution
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Illustration:
Lina Ltd. is registered for VAT. All of the sales are standard rated and all figures are
inclusive of VAT.
The following information relates to the company’s VAT return for the quarter ended
31/03/2019:
• Lina Ltd. paid for the petrol and repairs of the car.
• The relevant quarterly scale charge is £300 for the quarter to 31/03/2019.
• The petrol and running cost of the car was £2,000 VAT inclusive.
Solution:
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Syllabus F2h. Relief available for impairment losses on trade debts
If the sale becomes an impairment loss, the seller has paid VAT to HMRC and has
not been able to recover this from the customer.
It is possible for the supplier to reclaim this VAT on the impairment loss from HMRC
provided the following conditions are met:
1. The loss has been written off in the accounting records (the income
statement)
If these conditions are met, then the seller can include the amount of VAT as input
VAT on the next VAT return filed and therefore get relief for it.
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Illustration:
Sahil Ltd. made a sale on 31/08/2018 for £120 (VAT inclusive).
The buyer was given a 30-day credit period.
On 31/03/19, the debt was not paid and written off in Sahil Ltd.’s accounting records.
Solution:
• Sale £100
Output VAT £20
Selling price £120
• This £20 output was paid and included in the VAT returned filed on 30/09/2018 (VAT
returns are filed quarterly).
• The £120 was due on 30/09/2018, however it has not been paid by 31/03/19.
Therefore 6 months have passed since the debt was due to be paid and it has been
written off in Sahil Ltd.’s accounting records.
• Therefore, Sahil Ltd. will get relief for this output VAT of £20 by including it in the VAT
return filed on 31/03/19 as input VAT
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Syllabus F2i. Default surcharge and penalty for incorrect VAT return
If a taxable person:
- submits a VAT return late, or
- submits a return on time but makes late payment of the VAT due then:
• HMRC will issue a surcharge liability notice which will specify the surcharge
period (normally 12 months).
1) You will have to pay a surcharge which is calculated as a % of the tax paid late
and
1st default 2%
2nd default 5%
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For the first and second default, if the surcharge due is less than £400, then
nothing is payable.
For the third and fourth default, there is a minimum of £30 payable, even if the
surcharge does not amount to this month.
Illustration:
What are the consequences of Tommy submitting his VAT returns late?
Solution:
• 31/03/2018
Submitted late.
• 30/06/2018
Submitted and paid on time.
• 30/09/2018
Submitted late.
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This is the first default within the surcharge period, therefore a default
surcharge of £3,100 * 2% = £62 is levied.
• 31/12/2018
Submitted late.
The surcharge of £1,300 * 5% = £65 is again less than £400, therefore this
will not be payable by Tommy.
If a VAT return is submitted incorrectly, the following penalties and surcharges will
apply.
If an error occurs, then default interest and a standard penalty may be payable.
Default interest is interest based on the delayed payment of the VAT liability.
A standard penalty may be payable depending upon the reason for the late
submission.
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The difference between a small and a large error are:
£10,000 and
1% of turnover (subject to an upper limit of £50,000)
Illustration:
Bebe Ltd. has made an error relating to understated output VAT of £7,000 for the
quarter to 31/12/2018.
• Solution:
De-minimus limit:
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Disclosed by HMRC
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Syllabus F2j. Treatment of imports, exports and trade within the EU
Illustration
The supply will be treated as zero rated and therefore no output VAT will be
charged.
Illustration
The supply will be treated as standard rated and therefore 20% output tax
of £2,000 (10,000 * 20%) will be charged.
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Exporting outside of the E.U.
Illustration
The supply will be treated as zero rated and therefore no output VAT will be
charged.
Whether the company outside of the E.U. is VAT registered or not does not matter,
the supply will be treated as though it is zero rated.
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Coming into the UK:
• The VAT charge is declared on the return as output VAT but can be reclaimed
as input VAT on the same VAT return.
The UK trader accounts for output VAT as the goods would be standard
rated if supplied in the UK.
The UK trader can claim back input VAT of the same amount on the same
return as the goods are used by a trader that only makes taxable supplied.
• The entries contra each other, therefore there is no actual VAT cost.
Illustration
On receipt, the UK company will account for the £2,000 on it’s VAT return and can
claim the £2,000 input VAT on the same VAT return.
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Importing from outside of the E.U.
• This VAT can be reclaimed as input VAT on the VAT return during the period in
which goods are imported.
• Therefore, the VAT is paid at the time of importation and then reclaimed as
input VAT, so there is no overall cost.
Illustration
The VAT of £2,000 will be paid at the time of importation and then claimed as input
VAT on the VAT return during the period in which the goods are imported.
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Syllabus F3. The effect of special schemes
Special schemes
These schemes are available to small businesses to reduce the work and amount of
VAT payable.
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1) Cash accounting scheme
Operation:
1. The tax point is the date on which the output tax is received and the input tax
is paid.
2. For sales, it is the date that cash is received from customers and for
purchases, it is the date that cash is paid to suppliers.
Conditions:
Advantages:
1. A business will not pay output tax until received from customers. This is a
cash flow advantage for the business.
2. The scheme provides automatic bad debt relief as output VAT will not have
been paid on a sale until the cash is received from the customer.
Illustration
All sales are standard rated and are made on credit for 60 days.
All purchases are standard rated are made on credit for 30 days.
If Shivani opts into the cash accounting scheme, when will she need to account for
VAT for her sales and purchases?
• Solution
Shivani will need to account for her standard rated sales 60 days after the
sale is made, as this is when the cash is received.
This will ensure that Shivani does not pay any output VAT for bad debts.
She will need to account for her standard rated purchases 30 days after the
purchase is made, as this is when the cash is paid.
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2) Annual accounting scheme
Operation:
2. The VAT return is due 2 months after the annual accounting VAT period, along
with the balancing payment of VAT.
3. 9 payments of VAT are made from months 4-12 during the annual accounting
period. These are (10% * VAT paid last period).
4. The final payment (2 months after the annual accounting period) is calculated
as follows:
(VAT payable for the year – 9 payments made during months 4-12 during the
period) = balancing payment.
Conditions:
Advantages:
1. Administration costs are saved, only one VAT return is prepared per year.
2. Regular monthly payments help the cash flow of the business, small regular
payments are made as opposed to less frequent large outflows.
Illustration:
• She was eligible to enter the annual accounting scheme and for the year
ended 31/12/2018 she had VAT payable of £12,000.
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Solution:
Payments on account:
• Payments on account were made from months 4-12 during the year ended
31/12/2018. Therefore, they were made from April to December. This total 9
payments on account.
• Balancing payment:
• This payment is made 2 months after the year has ended. Therefore, it is
made on 28/02/2019.
Operation:
1. VAT payable is computed by using a flat rate %. The flat rate % differs from
industry to industry (you will be told the % in the exam)
3. The sales revenue used includes VAT, exempt supplies and zero rated
supplies.
Note: from 6/4/17 there is a standard % of 16.5% for limited cost traders. This
means that, regardless of their industry, if they are deemed to be limited cost
traders, then they must use the rate of 16.5% (you will be told if this rate applies in
the exam).
Conditions:
457 aCOWtancy.com
Advantages:
1. Simplicity of scheme
Illustration:
The company also has standard rated expenses of £4,800 (VAT inclusive).
• Is it beneficial for the company to use the flat rate scheme or account for VAT
normally?
Solution:
• Normal accounting:
• It is not beneficial for Addi Ltd. to opt into the flat rate scheme.
458 aCOWtancy.com