Action Fraud are warning people to watch out for fraudsters claiming to be from the Financial Ombudsman Service. Fraudsters claiming to be from the Ombudsman are cold-calling victims and telling them they have a cheque for a large amount of money from a compensation claim. The victim is then told to buy an iTunes (or […]
Scotland UK Excluding Scotland Taxable Income £ Tax Rate % Band Name Taxable Income £ Tax Rate % 0-2,000 19 Starter N/A N/A 2,001-12,150 20 Basic 0-34,500 20 12,151-32,423 21 Intermediate N/A N/A 32,424-150,000* 41 Higher 34,500-150,000* 40 Over 150,000* 46 Top/Additional Over 150,000* 45 * If earnings exceed £100,000 the Personal Allowance is […]
An HMRC paper promised in the Budget could be bad news if you use Airbnb. The government has set out a call for evidence relating to rent-a-room relief in response to the rise in short term rentals facilitated by Airbnb and its competitors. Rent-a-room relief is typical of some of the neglected parts of the […]
The government has published a review on automatic enrolment in workplace pensions which makes important proposals for employers. Automatic enrolment of employees in workplace pensions has been a greater success than many predicted when it was introduced in October 2012. To date over nine million employees have been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension and […]
The US central bank increased interest rates again in December. While the Bank of England managed just one interest rate rise in 2017, to end the year at 0.5%, its counterpart in the US notched up three increases, finishing at 1.25%-1.50%. The trio of Federal Reserve increases were all well telegraphed, so much so that […]
Index 2017 Change FTSE 100 +7.6% FTSE All-Share +9.0% Dow Jones Industrial +25.1% Standard & Poor’s 500 +19.4% Nikkei 225 + 19.1% Euro Stoxx 50 (€) + 6.5% Shanghai Composite +6.6% MSCI Emerging Markets (£) +22.7% The world’s share markets were a profitable place to be in 2017. 2017 had its fair share of dramas. […]
