Welcome to the Autumn 2011 Edition of our newsletter.
In this edition, we look at a range of tax and law issues which may interest you, either personally or professionally.
If you would like more information on any of the topics contained in this newsletter, please contact us, or of you have any suggestions for topics you would like us to cover in future issues, again please let us know. |
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Can't see the wood for the trees?
It often pays to step back, ignore all today’s news and take a long-term view.
And taking a long view is exactly what the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has done in its first ‘Fiscal Sustainability Report’....
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Pension planning for 2012/13
It may seem some months away, but it is already time to start thinking about pension planning for next tax year.
The changes to pension rules made by the Coalition Government have been many and various. The reforms have not taken...
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Meeting the cost of care
The latest in a long line of Government-sponsored reports into long term care funding has been published. This one might not end up being left on the shelf.
Who pays for any care that you may need in old age? At present the answer is...
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A Saturday year end?
If your company’s financial year end is Saturday, 31 December, it will soon be time to start planning.
No two years are the same in business and that is just as true of planning what to do with your company’s profits at the...
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How secure is your income?
What would happen if illness forced you to stop working? Recently published statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) suggest that help from the state may be hard to come by.
Taking sickness benefit was once seen as a...
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Foreign FTSE 100
Allocating to the good old FTSE 100 may no longer give your portfolio a slice of British business, as international exposure and a heavy bias to commodities have skewed this former lodestone of UK plc.
With commodities giant Glencore...
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Paying to learn
Decades of subsidised degrees grind to a halt next year, when many universities will be charging students the maximum possible fees for their courses. It may be a lot more than you bargained for.
Learning to pay
2011 marks...
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Nearing NEST
The deadline is getting closer…
The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) is due to launch in October 2012, little more than a year away. NEST is a Government-initiated default pension scheme, primarily aimed at low to...
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A new KIID on the block
Investment fund information is changing.
A revised set of EU rules for investment funds, UCITS IV, came into force on 1 July. These rules are mainly designed to make it easier for funds that are established in one EU country to be...
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Investing in Europe - still worth it?
Europe isn’t all bad – some sectors have never had it so good
“Debt crisis!” “Default!” “Euro faces meltdown!” Anyone who has picked up a newspaper recently could be forgiven for believing...
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If you prefer to complete your tax return on paper rather than file via the internet, have you remembered that the deadline of 31 October is approaching?
This year HM Revenue & Customs has a new set of penalties for late filing which is much harsher than the predecessor. For example, if you are one day late with your return, the fine is £100, even if you have no tax to pay, whereas before no tax due...
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Did you know that, in June, a small bank, Southsea Mortgage and Investment Company, was placed in administration by the Financial Services Authority (FSA)?
It was the first such failure of a deposit taking institution since the problems encountered by Dunfermline Building Society in 2009. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme’s new faster compensation payments system kicked in and the ‘vast...
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Is higher rate tax relief to go?
In summer, the Sunday Telegraph ran a story suggesting that the Chancellor was considering the abolition of higher (and additional) rate tax relief for pension contributions, a move which would save £7 billion a year. The article was given added...
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