Tuesday 23 February 2016

PAYE coding notices, The right structure for entrepreneurs' relief, Changing domicile rules

The PAYE coding notice for 2016/17 contains a nasty shock for taxpayers who receive interest or dividends, as we explain below. A recent tax case illustrates that capital gains arising from business deals may not qualify for entrepreneurs' relief. Finally we have advanced warning of a change in the domicile rules, which could affect your clients earlier than you think. 

This is an extract from our topical tax tips newsletter dated 18 February 2016 (5 days before we publish an extract on this blog). You can obtain future issues by registering here>>>

PAYE coding notices 
When your owner/director clients receive the form P2 that sets out their PAYE code for 2016/17, they are likely to be confused by the following new deductions: 
  
Untaxed interest 
All bank interest will be “untaxed” in 2016/17 as tax won't be deducted by the bank. However, basic and higher rate taxpayers will have a savings allowance of £1,000 or £500 which should be set against the interest received. Only interest exceeding the savings allowance should be set against the personal allowance in the PAYE code. 
  
Dividend tax 
The notes on the back of the P2 say this deduction: “is to collect the basic rate of tax due on your dividend income.” However, dividends won't be taxed at the basic rate of tax: 20%, the tax rate will be 7.5% for a basic rate taxpayer. For higher rate taxpayers the P2 notes may refer to higher rate tax. 
  
To check the dividend tax deduction multiple it by the taxpayer's highest marginal tax rate. This how much dividend tax HMRC believes the taxpayer will be due to pay in 2016/17. Perform your own calculation of the taxpayer's dividend tax for 2016/17 based their expected dividend income for 2016/17. If the two figures are approximately the same, the PAYE code is roughly correct. 
  
The taxpayer can object to having dividend income or interest included in their PAYE code. To get the PAYE code changed you can ring HMRC, or complete the online form on behalf of your client. 

This is an extract from our topical tax tips newsletter dated 18 February 2016 (5 days before we publish an extract on this blog). You can obtain future issues by registering here>>>

The full newsletter contained links to related source material for this story and the other two topical, timely and commercial tax tips. We've been publishing this newsletter weekly since 2007; it's clearly written and focused on precisely what accountants in general practice need to know about each week. You can obtain future issues by registering here>>>

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