Nunn Hayward - May 2007

Abacus May 2007

Revenue Get Tough on Overseas homes and Inheritance Tax (IHT) Evasion

According to estimates from the Office of National Statistics, around 250,000 British residents currently own property overseas.

Following on from a previous article concerning claiming 100% relief from IHT, many people wrongly assume that if they retire overseas or own property overseas they will not be liable for the 40% IHT charge on the property. In fact, most homeowners will still fall under UK rules for some if not all their estates.

HM Revenue and Customs is planning to scrutinise more closely the Estates of people with houses and flats abroad as part of a new crackdown on foreign properties.

The Revenue believes that families may be using overseas homes to evade IHT and they warn that people face penalties if they fail to declare them properly on IHT Returns.

HMRC have said in their IHT Newsletter that they will be paying particularly close to attention to foreign assets.

In appropriate cases they will open an enquiry and ask for further information to satisfy themselves that all foreign assets have been included and that they have been valued on the statutory basis.
With appropriate tax planning, the IHT risk can be legitimately mitigated, if not eliminated (see our recent articles for just two options).

Should you have any queries regarding this article please contact Steve Cook, Tax Partner at steve@nunn-hayward.com or on 01753 888211.

TAX ON COMPANY VANS – Is it now Voluntary?

From 6 April 2005 many people have longer had to pay tax on the use of their company van. Tax is only payable if you use the van for private journeys other than journeys between home and work.

If you do use the van to make other private journeys then you will charged tax on a fixed scale for this. However if your private use of the van is insignificant, i.e. taking rubbish to the tip once or twice a year then no tax will be payable.

Your employer maybe asked to demonstrate to the H M Revenue & Customs that you are not liable to pay tax on the van. Therefore you maybe asked to keep mileage records, or your contract of employment may change to include restrictions the use of the van.

If you are charged tax, the amount you will have to pay tax on will be Ł3000. This can be reduced if you share the van or have not had use of it for the whole tax year.

HMRC have included the Ł3000 charge in the PAYE codes for most employees who have had a van in previous years, so please check your code as the tax charge will make a significant difference to your take home pay.

Any queries please contact Suzanne Precious, Tax Manager at Suzanne@nunn-hayward.com or call 01753 888211.

Have you been overcharged by your bank?

There has been quite a bit of Press coverage recently on banks having made unauthorised charges to their customers in the past and, when challenged on this, they now seem to be frequently repaying these charges.

We believe it is possible to go back up to six years and common areas where there has been excessive charging are such things as unauthorised overdraft fees or charges for unpaid cheques.

There is a good website – www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk – which is a useful point of reference or call your normal engagement partner at Nunn Hayward.

Important Tax Dates

May
31	-	Deadline for issue of forms P60 for 2006/07 to employees

June
30	-	End of CT61 quarterly period
	-	Last day for UK businesses to reclaim EC VAT chargeable 2006
	-	Annual adjustment for VAT partial exemption calculations (March VAT year end).

July
6	-	Deadline for submission of forms P11D for 2006/07

Please contact us to discuss the above further

Tel: 01753 888211 Fax: 01753 889669 Email: abacus@nunn-hayward.com
Nunn Hayward, Sterling House, 20 Station Road, Gerrards Cross, Bucks SL9 8EL.

Chartered Accountants, Registered Auditors and Insolvency Practitioners. This publication has been prepared as a guide only to topics of current financial and business interest. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice. No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of any material in this publication can be accepted by either the authors or Nunn Hayward. All rights reserved.

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