Thoughts and analysis covering both UK and offshore tax.
We've uploaded a couple of updated and revised articles to the site. These are: Which is the most tax efficient way to extract profits from your UK company? This covers the main tax implications of dividends versus salary and pension contributions…
Actually identifying when a property is a main residence can be tricky. It can be very attractive in tax terms though. Take the case where you own a property that is let. The increase in property values over the past couple of years could mean you're…
Your home is probably your most tax advantaged asset. Unlike many other countries the UK operates a tax exemption for your main residence, and the application of this is in many respects very wide in its scope. If you're not familiar with Principal…
Given the growth in overseas property investment by UK residents I've seen a lot of 'managed' opportunities around. These are often structure with an offshore company being formed (eg in the Seychelles, BVI or Panama) and this is then used to acquire…
Taxation of Offshore trusts and Hybrid Companies Offshore trusts and companies is a constantly developing area. There are always new techniques and entities that are being developed or brought into tax planning. Segregated cell companies are a good…
Emigration to avoid Capital gains tax ('CGT') Avoiding UK CGT by leaving the UK is a popular tax planning measure. Successive budgets have come and gone and whilst there have been changes( eg a couple of years ago to the use of double tax treaties to…
A successful company will hopefully get to the point where it grows out of its existing property and is looking to expand. There comes a point when a decision needs to be made as to how to structure the new property purchase. The main options are…
The United States and in particular Florida has grown in popularity as a location for purchasing an overseas holiday home or an overseas investment property. The capital growth on some properties has been huge with growth of over 100% in some cases…
The benefits of obtaining or rather retaining a non UK domicile status are pretty well reported. However did you know that non UK ordinary residents are subject to similar tax breaks but which are in some ways better? Many non UK ordinary residents…
Rollover relief allows you to defer the gain arising on a 'business asset' when you reinvest the proceeds in further business assets within a period of three years after the disposal (or one year before the disposal). The key point here is that it…
The associated companies rules can be an expensive area to overlook. If you're not familiar with them they provide for the corporation tax bands to be reduced depending on whether companies are under common control. This means that if you owned…
You're probably aware of the changes in the tax rates after the budget. If not I'll remind you! For the 2007 financial year you've got a small companies rate of 20% and a main corporation tax rate of 30%. By 2009 this is going to change to a 22%…
I've had a few e-mails regarding the changes in the budget to the taxing of overseas dividends. If you remember, the Budget changed the UK treatment so that overseas dividends can now in certain circumstances be taxed in the same way as UK dividends…
Given the surge in property values over the last ten years or so, there are lots of people holding properties with substantial gains. I've also noticed more and more people looking to cash in on this even more by buying properties to let or selling…
There were no changes to the tax benefits available to non UK domiciliaries in the recent budget. This is not surprising and if there was a change expected this is the kind of issue that is likely to be subject to a lengthly consultation period…
I've seen quite a lot of websites that are in one of these two camps: - Either they're dead against the use or even the existance of tax havens in principle, or - They're all for them and advocate that everyone can use them to reduce their taxes. In…
Many people look to purchase overseas property for holiday use and the moment in can seem like there is a mad rush to buy an overseas holiday home. Sometimes you need to slow down and examine the facts and figures in detail. In Spain for instance…
I was contacted by a friend of a friend last week. I was pretty surprised when they told me that they originally purchased their house via their UK Ltd company. Apparently they originally purchased it with the intention of letting it but changed…
The recent tax changes in Spain have been widely reported. There was a massive drop in the CGT rate for non Spanish residents which came about due to the EU getting involved and not liking the fact that Spain taxed residents at 18% but non residents…
I've had a few people asking whether the income and corporation tax changes in the budget make using a company more or less attractive. If you're not aware of these yet basically these increase the rate of corporation tax for a small company to 22%…