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Many people enjoy a ‘flutter’ on the outcome of sporting events. Most people have the occasional win, but lose money in the long run. 

Mark McLaughlin warns that explaining bank receipts as gambling winnings might prove difficult when it comes to convincing HM Revenue and Customs. 

In a personal or family company, it may be commonplace for the company to pay directors’ personal bills. Companies may also meet employee’s personal liabilities. 

Sarah Bradford looks at how the fiscal rules apply where a company meets an employee’s or a director’s personal bills.

On a sweltering bank holiday Monday, Kylie was having a rare moment in her deckchair. She would be 64 next week and this led her to think about the future of ‘her’ civil engineering business, particularly who would ‘take the reins’ when she was unable to carry on. 

Peter Rayney shares a succession planning story (anonymised, of course).

A company is a separate legal entity, distinct from the shareholders that own it. Consequently, if the directors and shareholders want to use the profits made by the company for their personal use, they will need to extract those profits first. There are various ways in which this can be done; some are more tax-efficient than others.  

Sarah Bradford considers options for extracting profits from a company in a tax-efficient manner in the 2024/25 tax year.

HMRC recently undertook a ‘One to Many’ letter campaign, wherein HMRC’s skilled data analysts undertake to mine nuggets from a huge range of sources to test for omissions or errors in tax returns. 

Lee Sharpe reports on HMRC getting all ‘Nancy Drew’ with its sleuthing over company reporting and shareholders’ dividend income returns.