Personal tax

Allocation of savings interest agreement If spouses or civil partners do not want a 50/50 split of savings interest, they can declare that income be split according to each person's beneficial entitlement as detailed in a written agreement.Beneficial o... Read more

Appeal and postponement of direct taxThis standard letter can be used to make an appeal against any direct tax assessment, e.g. income tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax etc., but not VAT, customs or other duties.How to use itThe time limit for ... Read more

Bank account declaration of beneficial ownership Interest received on a bank account held jointly with your spouse/civil partner is taxed on you equally, even where the actual ownership of the funds in the account is not 50/50. However, you can send a... Read more

Changing interview notesIf you attend an enquiry with one or more HMRC officers they will make notes of the meeting and they will ask you to agree that they are a true and fair representation of what was said. The document can be used as evidence in ... Read more

Letter to get a tax penalty reduced or suspendedHMRC has the power to reduce a maximum tax penalty to take account of the nature and quality of any disclosure you have made about an "inaccuracy". How do you get this on the inspector's negotiating agenda... Read more

Key events chartIf you are subject to a personal tax enquiry, deposits on your bank account statements could be taken to be a second source of income by HMRC. Therefore, it's a good idea to keep an up-to-date record of these rather than relying on you... Read more

Private expenditure recordDuring a full enquiry into your tax return, if you are self-employed you can expect the inspector to start asking questions about your private expenditure. The presumption is that any "missing" takings from the business will s... Read more

Employee expenses policyResponsibility for determining whether business expenses reimbursed to employees and directors are exempt of tax and NI rests with the employer. To aid with this it's good practice to have an expenses policy in place. Evidence ... Read more

Checklist for challenging an HMRC business economics exerciseIf HMRC challenges your accounts based on it carrying out a business economics exercise, use our checklist to identify flaws in HMRC's assumptions and calculations. Missing incomeHMRC uses i... Read more