If you’re an employer and provide expenses or benefits to employees or directors, you must usually:Report them to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
Pay tax and National Insurance on them.

It is common for family members to be employed within owner-managed businesses. When employing family members, taxpayers need to be aware that where remuneration is set at an uncommercial rate, HMRC may seek to disallow a portion of the expense when computing their taxable profits.

The section 455 tax charge is a specific tax charge levied on a close company where a loan to a ‘participator’ (normally a shareholder) is not cleared by the corporation tax due date falling nine months and one day after the end of the accounting period.

When starting a business, it is usually as self-employed or as a partnership. As the business grows, working through a company may be considered for several reasons (limited liability being one of the more important).

Owner-managers can extract funds from the company in various ways. Typically, the working shareholders may well, in addition to drawing a normal salary, decide whether to extract surplus profits by means of a bonus or dividend.

The current late payment and repayment interest rates applied to the main taxes and duties that HMRC currently charges and pays interest on are : Late payment interest rate — 7% from 31 May 2023. Repayment interest rate — 3.5% from 31 May 2023.

HMRC is raising awareness of the tax treatment of termination payments related to Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions (NIC). Several changes have been made to these rules over the past five years, which HMRC wants to remind accountants and employers to consider when finalising severance packages.

When you’re UK resident you’re normally taxed on the arising basis of taxation. This means that all your worldwide income and gains will be taxable in the UK. Therefore, even if your foreign income and gains have already been taxed in another country, they will still be taxable in the UK, and you must declare all of your foreign income and gains on your tax return.

The Apprenticeship Levy was first announced in the Summer Budget 2015 and it was later confirmed in the Autumn Statement 2015 that the levy would be introduced from 6 April 2017. Primary legislation was subsequently included in the Finance Act 2016, Pt. 6 (s. 98 – s. 121) and secondary legislation (Income Tax (PAYE) Regulations 2003, Pt. 7A) was inserted with effect from 6 April 2017.

The term ‘travel expenses’ includes the actual costs of travel together with any subsistence expenditure and other associated costs that are incurred in making the journey. Tax relief is available only where travel is in the actual performance of the duties or where it’s necessary.