Nowadays, the only way many young people can afford a home of their own is by turning to the Bank of Mum and Dad for some additional financial help. The challenge facing parents prepared to lend or gift money to their children is to decide quite how best to do so. Although it’s understandable that […]
6 April marks the 20th birthday of the Individual Savings Account (ISA). When the ISA was introduced in 1999, many thought it to be little more than a rebranding of the two schemes it replaced: the Personal Equity Plan (PEP) and Tax Exempt Savings Account (TESSA). The following 20 years have proved ISAs to […]
UK inflation fell below 2% for the first time in two years. January 2019 saw the lowest level of inflation since January 2017, with the rate recorded at 1.8%. The data was slightly better than had been expected, with the CPI rate falling to below the Bank of England’s 2% target for the first time […]
A European Court decision from 1990 is suddenly raising questions about a key element of pension taxation. On 17 May 1990, the European Court of Justice decided that gender equality should be applied to non-state pensions. The case, Barber v GRE, prompted a major overhaul in UK pension provisions. At the time most pension […]
Your April pay may look much the same as March’s, but it is worth giving your pay slip a close look. If you are an employee, your April pay slip is always worth checking, even if you pay little attention to the other eleven you receive over a year. The items to check include: […]
Buy-to-let investors will be hit by another notch up of the tax ratchet. When George Osborne announced in his summer 2015 Budget a variety of tax changes aimed at discouraging buy-to-let (BTL) investment, they came as a surprise. To ease their impact, the then Chancellor phased in the most significant reform, a revised treatment of […]
