Pension automatic enrolment is getting closer to home. The roll out of automatic enrolment of employees into pension schemes started back in October 2012 with the largest employers. The logic was that these big organisations would have the necessary resources to start the process quickly and efficiently. Since those early days, the size of employers […]

The latest Quarterly Inflation Report from the Bank of England suggests there will no base rate rise this year. “Free beer tomorrow” is a sign that used to be spotted in some pubs before they were closed down or became eateries rather than drinking establishments. Of course, tomorrow was always one day away, so free […]

Last month’s unexpected election result has been followed by the more anticipated announcement of a second 2015 Budget. Quite what it will be about is unclear for now – the Treasury’s press release gave little more than the date. In terms of what was in the Conservative manifesto on tax, there are two measures that […]

Annual inflation has been zero for two months. Both the February and March readings for annual Consumer Prices Index (CPI) were a big fat zero, the lowest level since the index formally started in 1997. Were it not for rounding, the March figure would have been negative – something we could see for April. The […]

A lesson in why it pays to take advice has ended with a creative decision from a tax tribunal. It is unfortunately all too common for the UK’s labyrinthine tax legislation to create some unwelcome tax traps for the unadvised. One of the best/worst examples is the tax treatment of single premium life assurance policies, […]

Not all the contents of the March Budget reached the statue book. Democratic scrutiny is not always what it seems. Consider this year’s (first?) Budget, presented by the Chancellor on 18 March. It was followed by the issue of a 300+ page Finance Bill on 24 March, which then went through three readings, a committee […]

At long last it has become possible to transfer Child Trust Funds to Junior ISAs. One of the first acts of the coalition in May 2010 was to announce an end to the Child Trust Fund (CTF), with no government payments to newborns after 2 January 2011. In November 2011, Junior ISAs (JISAs) were launched […]

ISAs can now be inherited in limited circumstances. In last December’s Autumn Statement, one of George Osborne’s surprise announcements was that ISAs would become inheritable by surviving spouses and civil partners. As pension funds can now pass down through generations, the ISA move was a logical step. It was also one of those measures which […]

The income tax picture was improved slightly by the Budget. It almost goes without saying now that any Budget or Autumn Statement will include an announcement about an increase in the personal allowance. The 2015 Budget was no exception: Mr Osborne announced (and the Finance Act 2015 legislates for) a £200 increase in the personal […]

The Budget confirmed that the government is exploring ways to create a market in pension annuities. One of the criticisms of the wide-ranging reforms to pensions that take effect on 6 April 2015 is that they only apply to those who have not yet started to draw benefits. As was well-leaked in the run up […]