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An individual may form a limited company to carry on their business – or indeed to hold assets (e.g., a property portfolio). The shares in the company may be held by the individual or individuals who are actively involved in running the business, whether trading or investing.  

Richard Curtis points out that family companies have many advantages but warns that unexpected liabilities can arise for the unwary. 

One of the main attractions of forming a limited company is that it has limited liability. Under limited liability, a director or investor in a company is only liable for the money that was invested in the event that the company goes bankrupt. 

Andrew Needham looks at the circumstances where a company director can be held personally responsible for the payment of a penalty imposed on the company by the issue of a personal liability notice.

HMRC’s real-time capital gains tax reporting service launched in April 2023 and is aimed at individuals not currently in the self-assessment system. 

Jenni Davie looks at the reporting of capital gains outside the self-assessment regime. 

On 1 October 2024, the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 came into force, aiming to ensure a fairer distribution of the payments customers leave as gratuities to staff. The tax treatment of tips and service charges depends on how staff are paid – does the new legislation change the tax position?

Jennifer Adams considers whether the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 will have any tax consequences.

For over a hundred years, the remittance basis has been in place for those not domiciled in the UK (non-doms). 
However, in April 2024, it was announced that the foundation for the remittance basis will change from domicile to physical residence in the UK from April 2025. Also, changes were announced with respect to exposure to inheritance tax (IHT) from the ‘deemed domicile’ rules. 

Chris Thorpe considers recent announcements concerning ‘non-dom’ status.

Joint bank and building society accounts (e.g., between spouses or civil partners, or family members) can be tricky for inheritance tax (IHT) purposes when one of the joint account holders dies. The main difficulty is in establishing how much of the balance in the account ‘belonged’ to the deceased immediately before death; was it 50%, 100%, or something else? 

Mark McLaughlin looks at the inheritance tax treatment of joint bank accounts.

When reporting information via the full payment submission (FPS), there is the ‘per pay-period’ obligation to submit this on or before the date of payment (SI 2003/2682, reg 67B). 

Ian Holloway discusses the ‘on or before’ real time information (RTI) implications to be aware of when bringing paydays forward at Christmas.

The employment-related securities legislation deals with arrangements involving shares and securities provided by reason of employment where the full value of the employment reward provided to the employee is not included in the salary package and is charged to tax.  

Jennifer Adams considers the tax implications of shares in a family company being awarded or gifted to family members of employees. 

A sole trader looking to expand their business might be weighing up the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of a partnership or a limited company. They are very different, with not only very different tax consequences, but functions as well. 

Chris Thorpe looks at partnerships and companies and considers which business model might be best.  

Under the loan relationships rules for companies, debits on loan arrangements are not deductible for corporation tax purposes in some circumstances.

Kevin Read highlights a recent case concerning the loan relationship rules for companies. 

When HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) opens a tax return enquiry, the natural reaction of most taxpayers is to speculate about the reason why their tax return has been selected. In fact, HMRC does not need an excuse to open a tax return enquiry; a small proportion of tax returns are simply selected at random. . 

Mark McLaughlin looks at whether a taxpayer can find out if an HMRC enquiry has been opened as the result of an accusation made by a third party. 

When considering the tricky matter of remuneration planning, there are two things to consider; the amount of remuneration, and what form it takes. 

Chris Thorpe looks at what to watch out for with regard to paying employees and directors.

Despite the reduction in National Insurance contributions (NICs) in Spring Budget 2024, more employees are paying tax at higher rates on their earnings due to the freezing of tax thresholds. Some may find that any pay rise or bonus attracts additional tax and NICs such that the net pay increase is minimal.  

Jennifer Adams looks at some alternatives to rewarding an employee with a pay rise or a bonus. 

Mark McLaughlin looks at company purchases of own shares and warns not to become too focused on the more difficult rules for capital treatment. 

A company purchase of its own shares from a shareholder is a popular ‘exit’ strategy when an individual shareholder is retiring, or a dissenting shareholder is departing.