The end of the tax year is fast approaching, so now is the time to act to make sure you’re not paying more tax than you have to. One of the best ways to do this is to maximise your pension contributions. Contributing to your pension is one of the most tax-efficient ways to save …
Between April and November 2023, HM Revenue & Customs collected £5.2 billion in inheritance tax (IHT) payments. That’s £400 million higher than in the same period last year, according to official figures. The IHT threshold is currently £325,000, or £650,000 for a married couple. So if your estate is worth more than this amount, you …
Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has delivered his Autumn Statement, and we wanted to keep you informed about what has just been announced. We’ll provide more detailed insight over the coming days, but for now, here are the main headlines. Taxes Employee National Insurance to be cut from 12% to 10% from January …
The end of the tax year is fast approaching and time is running out. So in the weeks ahead of the April 5th deadline, what steps should you be taking to make the most of your money and reduce your tax bill? Here are just a few areas you could look at. Use your ISA …
The Bank of England’s aim is for the country to have low and stable inflation – and it works to a target of two per cent. Changing interest rates are the Bank of England’s mechanism for achieving its inflation target, and in the current climate of high inflation, it believes raising rates is the right …
Couples who live together but aren’t married sometimes refer to their boyfriend or girlfriend as their common law partner. But what does that actually mean in legal terms? Well, to be blunt, not a lot, as you’re not related to your partner either by blood or by marriage. So if you die suddenly, they won’t …
Publisher, entrepreneur and diplomat, Benjamin Franklin was almost certainly the most-quoted figure of his generation. He is popularly credited with ‘a penny saved is a penny earned’ and, in Advice to a Young Tradesman, Franklin wrote, ‘Remember that time is money’. In November 1789, Franklin wrote to a friend in France: ‘Our new constitution is …
Ageing and death aren’t easy subjects to think about, but as we get older, they’re topics that it would be foolish to ignore. The average life expectancy in the UK is continuing to increase, which means many more of us might struggle to manage our own affairs and remain independent in the future. That in …
In the first week of the New Year there was a story that was widely reported in many of the papers. ‘More and more people pushed into higher rate tax bracket’ ran the headline with – according to which paper you read – either 1m or 1.2m more people are set to pay the 40% …
Government borrowing is at its highest level since the Second World War. According to the Office for National Statistics it reached £303.1bn in the year to March – nearly £250bn higher than in the previous year. Borrowing in March was £28bn – the latest month to set an unwelcome record. Borrowing in the year to …
