A critical review of how the government taxes child benefits has raised a major question mark over HMRC’s approach to collecting payments. Child benefit tax, or the High-Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) to use its legal name, is a case study in how not to introduce and operate a tax. It was designed as a […]
With inflation hitting 6.2% in February and outstripping wage growth, make sure you are paying attention to what’s happening to your money. We explore some ways to help keep your money where it belongs. Tip 1: Make sure you have the right tax code Now that the new tax year has started, it is worth […]
Despite the numerous shocks that occurred in the first quarter of 2022, the world’s share markets held up surprisingly well. Cast your mind back to the start of the year. The world was coming to terms with the latest Omicron variant of Covid-19, which was supposedly proving less serious than its predecessors. The latest […]
As inflation hits a 30-year high in the UK, double-digit price increases could be on the horizon. At the start of 2021, inflation measured by the CPI yardstick, was running at a benign 0.7%, having been driven down by the impact of the pandemic. A year later, the rate had jumped to 5.5%, close to […]
The changes to national insurance contributions (NICs) announced in the Spring Statement in March were not straightforward. Let’s set the record straight. In his Spring Statement – or was it a mini-Budget? – the Chancellor announced several changes to NICs aimed at reducing the impact of the 1.25 percentage points increase in the rates that […]
The government has nearly finished its review of the next stage of State Pension Age (SPA) increases. But changes to life expectancy figures pose a significant, and potentially expensive, dilemma. A review of State Pension ages from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) back in March 2017 stirred initial controversy. The report by John […]
