From 1 April 2016 employees that are 25 years old and over are legally entitled to receive a'National Living wage' of £7.20 per hour, seeing a 50p increase. 

This new minimum pay rate is set to support the government’s vision of a 'higher wage, lower welfare, lower tax society.'

Those employers that don't comply will risk being named and shamed and tough penalties of up to 200% of arrears and a maximum of £20,000 per worker. 

We would recommend you take action before this date and review whether or not you should be making any changes to your payroll. Make sure you also inform your employees of any changes in pay. 

Other changes from April 2016

The personal allowance is set to increase to £11,000 from April removing more lower paid workers out of the tax bracket. 

For employees under 25, the 'National Minimum Wage' will still apply, the rates will be rising to; 

• £6.70 for 21s and over
• £5.30 for 18 to 20-year-olds
• £3.87 for under 18s
• £3.30 for apprentices (the rate applies to all apprentices in year 1 of an apprenticeship, and 16-18 year old apprentices in any year of an apprenticeship)

For further information on any topics covered in our blogs, or if you would like to speak to us about our pro-active Accountancy & Tax services, contact Brian or Caroline on 0845 303 1144 for a chat or email info@coopercurtis.co.uk. 

Cooper Curtis Accountants have offices in Warwickshire, Birmingham and Manchester. 

Knowledge - Support - Succeed

Please note, all our content is for general guideline only, every case is different and we would recommend speaking to us before taking any action as a result of the content. The content was correct at the time it was published.

If your spouse has some unused personal allowance, if you haven't done so already, you may be able to elect to transfer these and add them to your own personal allowance through an adjustment to your tax code. 

So long as;

- Both spouses are born after 6 April 1935

- One spouse has an annual income between £10,601 and £42,385

- The other spouse has income below £10,600 for the year to 5 April 2016. Or £11,000 from 6 April 2016.

If all the above apply, you should be eligible for this tax break. 

Speak to us for further information on applying for the marriage allowance. 

For further information on any topics covered in our blogs, or if you would like to speak to us about our pro-active Accountancy & Tax services, contact Brian or Caroline on 0845 303 1144 for a chat or email info@coopercurtis.co.uk. 

Cooper Curtis Accountants have offices in Warwickshire, Birmingham and Manchester. 

Knowledge - Support - Succeed

Please note, all our content is for general guideline only, every case is different and we would recommend speaking to us before taking any action as a result of the content. The content was correct at the time it was published.

From April 2016, the way dividends are taxed is changing. 

The 10% notional tax credit is being scrapped and there is now a £5,000 dividend tax free allowance per tax year.

After that, the tax rates are 7.5% up to the basic rate band (£5K tax free allowance forms part of this), then 32% for higher rate and 38.1% for additional higher rate.

Note, the new 'savings allowance' from April is in addition to the dividend allowance but is not available to use against dividend income, only interest.

Putting this into context, if you take an employment income of £8,000 and take out company dividends of £40,000, this will mean you will pay around £1,390 more in tax than before.

Should you be taking any action? 

If you have enough reserves held in the company, consider whether it would be beneficial paying a large dividend before April 2016.

Consider changing your year end to March if you haven't already, this way you can keep track of the dividends you are taking and this will make it easier to tie in to the year end. 

You should speak with your advisor on possible ways to mitigate this tax before April. 

To discuss how the new dividend regime will affect your business or to find out more about our pro-active services, contact Brian or Caroline on 0845 303 1144 for a chat or email info@coopercurtis.co.uk

Cooper Curtis Accountants have offices in Warwickshire, Birmingham and Manchester

Knowledge - Support - Succeed

Please note, all our content is for general guideline only, every case is different and we would recommend speaking to us before taking any action as a result of the content. The content was correct at the time it was published.

We would like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Our offices will be closed from 12pm Christmas Eve and we will re-open at 9am on Monday 4th January 2016.

Following November's Autumn Statement, the biggest shock was a U turn on Tax Credits as the Chancellor's previous decision to cut tax credits was thrown out by the House of Lords which is great news for lower paid families. 

We also received more details on the Apprenticeship levy at 0.5% from April 2017. We now know there is a credit of £15,000 available to all employers, meaning this charge will only affect employers with over 100 employees based on an average salary. 

National Insurance rates have been frozen at the current rate,  however the £3,000 employment allowance will no longer apply to companies with only one director and no further employees. 

We had no further news on the abolishment of travel and subsistence tax relief for temporary workers engaged through an intermediary, but the FCSA has said it 'seems those outside the IR35 rules will not be penalised.'

Read our Autumn Statement Guide here!

If you have any queries on anything we have raised or if we can help in any other way, please get in touch on 0845 303 1144 or email info@coopercurtis.co.uk. 

Please note, all our content is for general guideline only, every case is different and we would recommend speaking to us before taking any action as a result of the content. The content was correct at the time it was published.

As the tax return season is upon us, we have compiled a checklist for you to use when gathering information...

Please note, all our content is for general guideline only, every case is different and we would recommend speaking to us before taking any action as a result of the content. The content was correct at the time it was published.