Welcome to Tax Dispatch: the latest roundup from BKL’s tax experts.
In each issue we cover a different specialist area of tax, while highlighting some things you may have missed.
Tax Dispatch is also available via email. If you’d like it sent to you, you can subscribe here.
Mini Budget and reversals
In the past two months, the phrase “new era” has applied in more than one sense. As a minor aspect of momentous royal news, HMRC now stands for His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs; and “new era” was how the then-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng described his Growth Plan announcement – widely referred to as the Mini Budget – on 23 September.
We reported at the time on the Mini Budget tax measures. Government statements since then, most recently today, have reversed almost all of the tax measures set out in the Mini Budget that have not been legislated for in Parliament.
Our list of these reversals, along with the Mini Budget tax measures that haven’t been reversed, is here.
Most of the above reversals were announced on 17 October as a bringing-forward of measures from the Medium-Term Fiscal Plan. That fiscal plan will be incorporated into an Autumn Statement on 17 November which will also contain an OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) forecast.
Advising Exagen
Our business tax specialists were among those from BKL who advised Exagen on securing up to £35m of funding from Octopus Energy’s new renewables fund in August.
Exagen is a leading renewable energy developer who builds and runs solar energy farms with battery storage facilities across the UK. The Octopus Energy Development Partnership (OEDP), launched in August, chose Exagen as its first investment.
The investment will fund a corporate expansion and the acquisition of three solar farms with onsite batteries and a combined capacity of approximately 400MW across the Midlands and the North East.
Sam does it again!
In May, we were delighted to see BKL Tax Manager Sam Inkersole win Rising Star at the Taxation Awards. He’s now followed this up by earning a place in the 35 Under 35: Accountancy Age’s annual listing of young professionals ‘who have made great professional contributions to the field and their individual firms.’
We congratulate Sam on this excellent recognition of his personal dedication and success, his commitment to building strong client relationships and the high esteem he fosters among colleagues.
Why not let Sam himself tell us more? In this new video, Sam talks about his career at BKL, including his move from audit to tax.
Tax team on video
More members of our team been talking tax on camera recently. Our latest videos feature business tax expert Guy Newall on the factors affecting non-resident landlord (NRL) companies holding property in the UK, and personal tax specialist Steven Randel on UK capital gains tax (CGT) planning and reliefs.
You can watch more of our videos, including webinar recordings, on BKL’s YouTube channel.
BKL in the professional press and face to face
As well as appearing on camera, we frequently share our tax expertise in print. Recent examples include:
- Tax Journal – Tax consultant David Whiscombe reviewed the first decision by the GAAR Advisory Panel (General Anti-Abuse Rules) in favour of the taxpayer.
- Taxation magazine – Tax consultant Terry Jordan explored the proposed Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (Amendment) (Siblings) Bill and IHT implications for brothers and sisters.
- Tolley’s Property Taxation 2022-23 – The chapter on overseas investors is written by Geraint Jones, our Head of Private Client Tax
- Taxation magazine – Most recently, Sam Inkersole delved into decentralised finance (DeFi) and cryptoassets
Another way in which we enjoy sharing our tax expertise is through training courses. Anthony Newgrosh will be speaking about corporation tax at this month’s Introduction to Insolvency course run by R3, the trade association for UK insolvency and restructuring professionals.
If you’re interested in a session run by our tax team for your colleagues, at your office or online, please get in touch with us.
Tax Dispatch focus: cross-border employment and tax
If there’s one area of tax that has gone from being a niche area to one where questions arise daily, it’s cross-border employment. Most often it is in the context of UK companies hiring local people in a foreign jurisdiction or foreign companies remotely taking on UK-based employees; we also see numerous temporary cross-border assignments which present their own challenges.
David Simpson, our Head of International Tax, explores these tax issues in our new article.
In addition to insights from our tax experts, in future editions of Tax Dispatch we’ll be pleased to bring you guest articles from Mark McLaughlin. Mark is highly experienced as a tax author, editor and consultant.
BrassTax
Thank you to everyone who follows our BrassTax articles. Whether you read them via your inbox, here on our website or as republished in Tax Journal and ICAEW TAXline, we’re glad to have you along as we explore the complexities and surprises of the tax landscape.
Recent BrassTax topics have included:
- EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) and SEIS (Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme) – risk to capital
- Land Remediation Relief
- The carry forward of trading losses
- Trustees and Business Asset Disposal Relief
If you don’t already receive BrassTax, you’re most welcome to subscribe: just reply to this email and we’ll add you to the mailing list.
Mortgages: proof of income for the self-employed
As of October 2022, anyone applying for a mortgage who is self-employed (including: sole traders; limited company directors who own more than 20% of the business), or whose income is derived from dividends and does a tax return, will need to provide a 2021/22 tax return to the mortgage lender as proof of income.
We work closely with IPFS (Integral Private Finance Services), who are experienced at providing a range of mortgage, protection and insurance advice to BKL clients. For self-employed people and company directors, this includes relevant life plans and key person cover.
If you’d like to know more about how IPFS can help you, please get in touch with your usual BKL contact or reply to this email.
Key dates coming up
31 October: Medium-Term Fiscal Plan and OBR forecast published
31 October: HMRC filing deadline for 2021/22 self-assessment tax returns being filed as paper tax returns
1 November: Corporation tax liabilities for accounting periods ended 31 January 2022 become due for payment
14 November: Quarterly instalment payments (large company)
1st payment for 30 April 2023 accounting period due
(also, 2nd payment for 31 January 2023 period, 3rd payment for 31 October 2022 period and 4th payment for 31 July 2022 period)
14 November: Quarterly instalment payments (very large company)
1st payment for 31 August 2023 accounting period due
(also, 2nd payment for 31 May 2023 period, 3rd payment for 28 February 2023 period and 4th payment for 30 November 2022 period)
30 November: Filing deadline for November 2021 corporation tax returns (and for amendments to 30 November 2020 returns)
1 December: Corporation tax liabilities for accounting periods ended 28 February 2022 become due for payment
14 December and 14 January: Quarterly instalment payments (large company) potentially
1st payments for 31/05/2023 & 30/06/2023 accounting periods
2nd payments for 28/02/2023 & 31/03/2023 periods
3rd payments for 30/11/2022 & 31/12/2022 period;
4th payments for 31/08/2022 & 31/09/2022 periods
14 December and 14 January: Quarterly instalment payments (very large company) potentially
1st payments for 30/09/2023 & 31/10/2023 accounting periods
2nd payments for 30/06/2023 & 31/07/2023 periods
3rd payments for 31/03/2023 & 30/04/2023 periods
4th payments for 31/12/2022 & 31/01/2023 periods
1 January and 1 February: Corporation tax liabilities for accounting periods ended 31 March 2022 and 30 April 2023 become due for payment
B Corp certification
Finally, we’re proud to share the news that BKL is now a Certified B Corporation (B Corp): a worldwide community of businesses that meet high standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.
Among the UK’s community of over 1,200 B Corps – which includes The Body Shop International, The Big Issue Group, Innocent Drinks and Octopus Group – only a handful are accountancy and tax advisory firms. BKL is the largest of these firms.
We would be pleased to speak with any clients who are considering B Corp Certification for their business, or who would like guidance on their ESG (environmental, social and governance) responsibilities.
Are there any particular topics you’d like us to cover in a future edition of Tax Dispatch? Let us know by getting in touch with your usual BKL contact or by using our enquiry form.