May Questions and Answers
Newsletter issue - May 2015.
Q. I live in France and I am about to sell my former home in the UK, which has been let out since I emigrated in August 2001. Do I have to pay tax in the UK on the gain?
A. As you have lived abroad for nearly 14 years you will probably be treated as "non-resident" in the UK for tax purposes, but we need to check that with a few more questions. If you are a non-resident, the gain would generally be exempt from UK capital gains tax (CGT).
However, a new non-resident CGT applies to gains made on the disposal of residential property for 6 April 2015. This new tax only applies to the property of the gain falling after 5 April 2015. So if you sell the property fairly shortly after April 2015 there should be little gain to tax, and the first £11,100 of the gain will be exempt from tax.
Q. I am the sole director of my own company and will take a salary of £10,600 this tax year. How much dividend can I extract from the company this year without paying higher rate tax?
A. Assuming your company makes sufficient profits you can take out net dividends of £28,606 (90% of £31,785), without breaking into the 40% tax band.
Q. My Dad is nearly 90 years old and has an income of £26,000. My Mum who is 85, has an income of less than £10,000. Can my Mum transfer some of her unused personal allowance to my Dad in 2015/16?
A. Unfortunately, the transferable allowance of £1,060, doesn't apply to people who were born before 6 April 1935. Your father will already receive the married couple's allowance, which is worth up to £816.50 for 2015/16. The transferable allowance is only worth £212 (£1,060 x 20%), so he is better off with the married couple's allowance.
What our clients say about us...
"Paul has provided accountancy services to my company for 2 years now. I can recommend Paul very highly; his skills as an accountant are highly detailed and professional and he is always available to provide advice. One aspect of the way Paul works that I greatly appreciate is a preference to meet face to face when there is a detailed conversation to be had. I personally find this more productive and is a benefit of working with a small accountancy firm that you wouldn't get with the large faceless providers."
ALISTAIR FAIRWEATHER - PROGRAMME & PROJECT MANAGER, DELIVERING/RESCUING I.T. 7 BUSINESS CHANGE WITH BUDGETS UPTO £50M INC SUPPIER MANAGEMENT
"I couldn't ask for more from Paul as an Accountant. Paul has been accountant to Work Relief Charity Recruitment for just over a year now and is proving an invaluable asset. Accurate, knowledgeable, flexible with an emphasis on service delivery, I would recommend Paul's services to any organisation looking for an accounts professional."
Neil Price - Managing Director at Work Relief Charity Recruitment
"Paul was a referral from a family member when I started my business 2 years ago. As this was the first time I had ever run my own company I was totally clueless over the financial side of matters and was worried that I may have made mistakes in any of my accounting. I needn't have worried as after enaging Paul for a set monthly fee he was always there on the end of the phone for all sorts of questions I had and no matter how trivial they were Paul gave me all the information I required and more and did an excellent and painless job at the end of my first year! Couldn't ask for any better to be honest. Just two words - hire him!!!"
Lee Westrap MBCS - Director - Bulldog IT Services