Capital gains tax returns in Lancaster

Individuals and trustees in Lancaster disposing of assets: landlords selling a rental or a former home, investors selling shares or funds outside an ISA, employees exercising options or selling scheme shares, business owners selling a company or its assets, people gifting assets to family, and executors dealing with disposals during an estate administration.

• Gain computed for each disposal with acquisition cost, enhancement expenditure and incidental costs allowed in full
• 60-day UK residential property return filed through HMRC's online service with the tax paid on account
• Private residence relief, lettings relief and periods of absence calculated for homes that were once let or vacant
• Share and fund disposals matched under the same-day, 30-day and section 104 pooling rules
• Business asset disposal relief, investors' relief, gift relief and rollover relief claimed where available
• Losses identified and claimed, annual exempt amount and rate bands applied, Self Assessment pages completed

1. Scope the job

   We find out what you need filed, when it is due and what state the records are in, and tell you which fixed-fee package applies.

2. Agree the price

   The fee is confirmed in writing. There is no hourly billing and nothing added for questions during the work.

3. Hand over the records

   Photographs, PDFs, software access or a spreadsheet, sent however suits you. We confirm what we have and what is missing within two working days.

4. Approve, then we submit

   You review the draft with our explanation, sign off, and we file. Receipts, copies and the next deadlines come back to you immediately.

Lancaster is in North West, in the LA1 postcode district, England. For businesses in England the tax rules are those set by the UK Parliament: the 20/40/45% income tax bands, Class 4 National Insurance for the self-employed at 6% and 2%, Corporation Tax at 19% to 25%, and Stamp Duty Land Tax on property. Business rates are set locally by the council.

Payments on account

A common surprise in Self Assessment is the January payment that is far larger than expected. That is the balancing payment for the year just ended plus the first payment on account for the year ahead, which HMRC sets at half of the bill just calculated. We put the figure in your hands months ahead and tell you how to adjust it legitimately when circumstances change.

The Self Assessment calendar

Four dates govern Self Assessment: 5 October to register, 31 October for paper returns, 31 January to file online and pay, and 31 July for the second payment on account. Missing the January date triggers an automatic £100 penalty before any tax is even considered, so we treat it as the fixed point around which the rest of the year is planned.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

The biggest change to Self Assessment in a generation is Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, now live for higher-earning sole traders and landlords and arriving for the rest in stages. Quarterly updates are due by 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, built from digital records. The practical consequence is that spreadsheet-and-shoebox bookkeeping is ending for anyone above the threshold.

Late filing penalties

Penalties are the clearest reason to work to deadlines. A Self Assessment return one day late costs £100 regardless of whether any tax is due; three months late adds £10 a day. Late company accounts start at £150 and reach £1,500, and double if the previous year was also late. None of this is negotiable afterwards except through a narrow reasonable-excuse appeal.

Corporation Tax rates and marginal relief

Companies pay Corporation Tax at 19% on profits up to £50,000 and 25% on profits over £250,000. Between those figures marginal relief applies, producing an effective rate that rises gradually and a marginal rate of 26.5% on each pound in the band. The thresholds are divided by the number of associated companies, so a director with two companies has thresholds of £25,000 and £125,000 for each.

The VAT registration threshold

Watching the rolling twelve-month turnover figure is one of the quiet jobs of monthly bookkeeping, because the £90,000 VAT threshold arrives silently. Crossing it brings quarterly returns, Making Tax Digital software and a decision about schemes. Crossing it late brings a bill for VAT you could not recover from customers and a penalty for failing to notify.

Director's loan accounts

The most common tax problem in owner-managed companies is an overdrawn director's loan account: drawings taken during the year that were never declared as dividends or salary. The company faces a 35.75% charge on the balance outstanding nine months after the year end, and the director may have a benefit in kind. We review the account before every year end to clear it properly.