Tax planning in Hampstead Town

Company directors in Hampstead Town deciding how to pay themselves, higher earners near the £100,000 personal allowance taper or the £125,140 additional rate, couples who could use both sets of allowances better, landlords and investors with gains to time, business owners approaching a year end with profit to deploy, and anyone whose affairs have grown more complicated than their current adviser has noticed.

• A review of your current position across income tax, National Insurance, dividends, Corporation Tax and capital gains as relevant
• Allowances and reliefs checked: personal allowance taper, marriage allowance, pension annual allowance, dividend and savings allowances, ISA use
• Director remuneration modelled: salary, dividends, pension contributions and benefits for the coming year
• Timing decisions quantified: dividends across tax years, capital expenditure before year end, pension contributions, disposals
• A written report with the recommendations, the saving from each and the actions in order
• A follow-up call to answer questions and agree what we implement for you

1. Tell us your situation

   A short message or call about what you do and what needs filing. We ask the questions that determine the right package and nothing more.

2. Fixed fee in writing

   You receive one price for the work, confirmed by email before anything starts. It does not change if the job takes longer than we expected.

3. Send records, review the draft

   Records come by WhatsApp or email. We prepare the draft, explain the figures in plain English and answer your questions.

4. We file, you get the receipts

   Once you approve and the fee is settled, we submit electronically and forward the HMRC or Companies House acknowledgement the same day.

Hampstead Town is in North London, within Camden, in the NW3 postcode district, England. Income tax in England follows the UK rates: 20% basic to £50,270, 40% higher to £125,140 and 45% additional, with the personal allowance of £12,570 tapered away above £100,000. National Insurance, VAT and Corporation Tax are UK-wide, and Stamp Duty Land Tax applies to property purchases.

Record keeping

Good records are the difference between a quick enquiry and a long one. For the self-employed, five years after the filing deadline; for companies, six years from the year end; for VAT, six years. Photographs of receipts, PDF statements and software exports all count. The requirement is to keep records, not paper, and a well-organised cloud folder satisfies it.

Allowable expenses

Expense claims are where a return is won or lost in an enquiry. The test is wholly and exclusively for the trade; where a cost is mixed, the business proportion can be claimed if it can be identified. Capital items such as equipment and vans are relieved through capital allowances rather than as expenses, except under the cash basis where they are simply deducted when paid.

Crypto records and reporting

Most crypto holders have taxable events they do not recognise, because every swap is a disposal even when no pounds change hands. The computation requires the complete transaction history from every exchange and wallet, pooled by asset with HMRC's matching rules applied. Exchange-generated tax reports are frequently wrong because they cannot see transfers between a user's own wallets.

The 60-day property CGT return

The 60-day Capital Gains Tax return on residential property is the deadline landlords most often miss, because it falls outside the Self Assessment cycle and runs from completion, not exchange. Private residence relief for periods you lived in the property, plus the final nine months, reduces the gain. Penalties for a late return mirror Self Assessment, starting at £100.

Dormant companies

Dormancy is a status that is easy to lose. The strict rule is no accounting transactions other than share capital and Companies House fees, which means no bank account activity at all in practice. Fees should be paid personally by the director. A company that traded and has stopped becomes dormant only after its final trading accounts and tax return are filed and HMRC is told.

The trading and property allowances

Small side incomes are covered by two £1,000 allowances, one for trading and one for property, which remove the need to register or report income below that level. Once income exceeds £1,000, the allowance can be used in place of expenses, a choice worth making deliberately: a freelancer with £900 of costs is better off with the allowance, one with £3,000 is not.

Employer National Insurance

Since April 2025 employer National Insurance has been 15% on earnings above a £5,000 secondary threshold, a substantial increase for small employers. The Employment Allowance rose to £10,500 at the same time to soften it for the smallest businesses. Directors deciding their own salary weigh this cost against the Corporation Tax deduction a salary provides.