A snappy start to summer

It’s been a rollercoaster year so far both politically and for tax planning, with the snap election for June and a subsequent snap Finance Act. The Treasury’s original 762-page Finance Bill – a record breaker – ended up as a slim line 148-page Act to speed its progress through Parliament prior to dissolution.

So while some of the changes announced by the Chancellor in the March Budget have been put on ice, there are plenty of developments that you can act on in the coming weeks which we cover in the latest Summer edition of our newsletter.

Our feature this edition is Unpacking the new Lifetime ISA The latest addition to the ISA family was launched in April to help with purchase of a home or as a retirement savings vehicle. Providing you meet the criteria, it may be a useful addition to your savings portfolio.

Our other stories include:

• New cash basis for property income Many more small businesses can use the simplified cash basis of calculating profits following a big increase to the entry limit.
• IR35 in the public sector Changes to the tax rules for personal service companies in the public sector have been controversial.
• Warning – two pensions-related changes Bear in mind some upcoming changes: restrictions on pension contributions and self-employed class 2 national insurance contributions.

With the news dominated by the promises and counter-promises of the political parties’ manifestos, there will be food for thought to chew over in the next few weeks. In the meantime, there’s plenty of information in the newsletter to absorb, so let us know if you’d like more detail on any of these topics – we’d love to hear from you.