Personal tax

Licence agreement (garage)Where you use your garage for storage on behalf of your company, it can pay you rent. The arrangement should be formalised by a licence agreement which gives the company non-exclusive rights over the property.Company storage... Read more

Deed of trust for propertyIf you let property which is owned jointly the rental income is taxed on each of the owners equally. However, a deed of trust can be used to transfer some or all of the beneficial entitlement from one joint owner to the othe... Read more

Deed of variationThe terms of a will can be varied by agreement among the beneficiaries so that the residue of an estate passes on different terms than those included in the will. This is known as a deed of variation. These are often used to improve ... Read more

What HMRC is likely to askThere's a pretty standard set of questions that the inspector will ask at interview. These are mostly designed to undermine the records you've kept and so allow them to make a demand for tax on missing income/profits or over-cl... Read more

Company's option to buy/sell shares clauseIn the event of the untimely death of one of the major shareholders, the surviving shareholders probably won't want the shares to go to the deceased's beneficiaries unless they are already involved in running the... Read more

Wastage/losses recordHMRC typically uses a mark-up of purchases to selling price to construct an anticipated sales figure. However, this doesn't generally allow for wastage/write-offs. So what simple records could you keep about "wastage"?Wasted stockProd... Read more

Letter to chase a tax repaymentRepayments arising from online filing of self assessment tax returns may be stopped for a variety of reasons, and HMRC staff have to look at them before they can be released. Contacting HMRC should help to speed up your... Read more

Capital allowances for fixtures in buildings recordSince April 2014 it has been crucial for prospective buyers of second-hand commercial buildings to ensure that the seller has allocated their expenditure on fixtures to a capital allowances pool befo... Read more

Land and buildings tenancy in common declarationThere are various of reasons why you might want to own a property as tenants-in-common rather than as joint beneficial owners (also knows as joint tenants). Tax planning is often the motive. Joint benef... Read more

Property management company contractCompany tax rates are lower than those for individuals, so it might make sense to divert some of your rental income from properties you own personally into your own property management company. In order to avoid a ... Read more