National Saving Certificate Maturities Issue 48
The 5 Year Index Linked Certificates taken out in August 2011 (Issue 48) start to mature with National Savings and Investments offering a fairly mediocre 0.01% above inflation. I suspect that a significant number of people will see this as a reason to cash in their investments but this would often be a bad idea as […]
Individual Protection 2016 and Fixed Protection 2016
As of last week the HMRC have made available application forms to apply for Individual Protection 2016 and Fixed Protection 2016. The forms can only be completed with a Government Gateway username and password unlike in previous years they cannot be submitted on paper, nor can they be submitted by an agent on behalf of […]
Peer to peer lending: caveat emptor!
There has been a lot written about Peer to Peer (P2P) lending, and it’s fair to say it is becoming more mainstream; the Government is considering allowing investments in ISAs to be made into P2P lending. I have significant concern although the sector has been regulated since 2014, P2P offers very little in the way of consumer control, […]
Will a Brexit really be bad for my pension?
In the last four big decisions in the UK the polls have been wrong; in the case of the last election, pretty disastrously so! Nevertheless the evidence is that a Brexit is less likely than the remain vote. For the record I think it will be closer than the polls think, but if you look […]
Individual Protection 2014 – deadline approaching
The change to the pension Lifetime Allowance (LTA) from £1.25m to £1m has been widely reported, as has the ability to be able to preserve a higher allowance either through Fixed or Individual Protection 2016. These 2016 versions of protection, sit alongside six other types of protection that have been accumulated since April 2006; […]
An increase to self-employed national insurance? Be careful what you wish for!
The Chancellor’s budget makes provision for a £360m cost for the abolition of Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) from 2018; with the self-employed moving to the same single tier state pension as employed individuals. Although the phasing out of Basic and Second State Pensions is a total con for most people in the UK, the […]
Deferred payment agreements introduced by The Care Act 2014
Since April 2015, deferred payment agreements have been available from all councils across England that enables people to use the value of their homes to help pay care home costs. Subject to eligibility, the local council will help to pay your care home bills on your behalf. This option allows the delay of repaying the […]
What’s better, a workplace pension or a Lifetime ISA?
For most people, a workplace pension where an employer offers a matching contribution is likely to be better. There are some ‘soft’ benefits of a Lifetime ISA (LISA), for example the availability of early access with penalties, but looking at the tax position, the options speak for themselves. LISA Pension (BRT) Pension (HRT) Pension + Matching […]
2016-17 Allowances at a glance
Partly to save me rummaging, but also as a useful service, here are the key allowances for 2016/17: Income Tax Allowances Personal allowance £11,000 Dividend allowance £5,000 Savings rate band £5,000 Personal savings allowance £1,000 (£500 for higher rate tax payers, £0 for additional) Income tax bands and rates Effective rate Dividend rate Basic rate […]
Entrepreneurs’ Relief just got a whole lot better
I am all for simplification but whilst the 2010 changes to Capital Gains Tax simplified the rules, they have made them unfair and incentivised the wrong behaviour. Historically, we had Indexation and Taper Relief which gave individuals the ability to reduce the level of tax they paid on capital gains the longer then held an investment […]
