News

From new year to year end – keeping a tax-planning resolution?

As 2025 gets under way, it is once again the time of year to start considering your tax year-end planning The early months of the year are the time to undertake year-end tax planning. Unsurprisingly, the traditional drivers have been … Continue reading

Pensions and IHT: beware April 2027

The latest Budget move to count pensions as part of your estate for inheritance tax (IHT) is a major change, with potentially significant consequences. At present, most pension benefits payable on death, whether lump sums or other income, are outside … Continue reading

Student fees to rise in England in 2025

The long freeze on student tuition fees in England has come to an end. Do you know what the RPIX is? You might guess it’s related to inflation given that RPI is the Retail Prices Index. But what does the … Continue reading

The consequences of higher employer’s national insurance contributions

The impact of the Budget’s increases in national insurance contributions (NICs) are not limited to employers. There were three main changes to employer’s NICs announced in the Budget, all of which will take effect from April 2025: The secondary threshold … Continue reading

Why mortgage rates are going up when the Bank of England is cutting rates

Not every interest rate moves in the same direction. Source: Bank of England, Investing.com If you are approaching the end of your five-year fixed rate mortgage and currently enjoying an interest rate of around 2%, you have probably been watching … Continue reading

Have you seen my pension? The lost £31.1 billion…

There are now over three million ‘lost’ pensions worth over £31 billion. We all lose things, be it the proverbial change down the back of the sofa or TV remote. But how do you lose a pension? The answer is … Continue reading

The NICs top-up countdown is underway again…

A third deadline for topping up State Pension entitlement is now coming into view. “Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone?” The words of Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi, recorded over … Continue reading

Where are your ISAs?

New statistics show that cash ISAs remain a popular investment. Every autumn HMRC publishes a set of annual savings statistics, setting out detailed information about individual savings accounts (ISAs), lifetime individual savings accounts (LISAs), child trust funds (CTFs) and Help … Continue reading

HMRC still trying to give away money in unclaimed CTFs

HMRC is uncharacteristically keen to give money away, reminding young adults again that they may be due unclaimed child trust funds (CTFs). The amount still to be paid out comes to just under £1.4 billion. As the UK settles under … Continue reading

Tax Tables 2025/26

2025/26 Tax Tables Click the image to download PDF.

Please click the image to the left to download the PDF

Retirement saving targets – still too low

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has been crunching the numbers on the adequacy of pension contributions. One of the unremarked government successes of the 2010s was the introduction of automatic enrolment of employees into pension schemes. The first automatic … Continue reading

The Autumn Budget – a brave new tax world

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first Budget was a significant one in all senses. “…this Budget delivers a large, sustained increase in spending, taxation, and borrowing.” So said the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in the first paragraph of its overview of … Continue reading

Pension crisis reaches China

The pension challenges facing western governments are also confronting the world’s second most populous country. At what age should the state start to pay a pension? The question is a challenge to all governments, whether democratic or otherwise. There are … Continue reading

Budget – 30 October 2024

BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS The main rate of class 1 employer national insurance contributions (NICs) will be increased from 13.8% to 15.0% with effect from 6 April 2025 and the secondary threshold at which employer NICs are payable will be reduced from … Continue reading