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The difficulties of affording a house and the potential for help from the ‘bank of mum and dad’ are often discussed. Parents may be willing to assist and this will commonly be by transferring money to children and because there is no ‘gift tax’ on such payments, it might be thought that this is the end of the matter. However, there may be inheritance tax (IHT) implications.
 
Richard Curtis considers some of the inheritance tax implications of parents helping their children pay mortgages.

Putting a property in someone else's name can be sensible planning. However, it is not always straightforward, and documentation is key.

Consider the following scenario. A friend’s parents devised a genius plan: uncle needs to clear his mortgage of £200,000. Dad will buy uncle’s flat in Manchester for £200,000 to pay the bank, then let him live there rent-free. To help his two (adult) children, he decided to buy it in their names and instructed his conveyancer to draft the documents. 

Tristan Noyes highlights some of the potential difficulties in transferring a property interest to family members, from both a tax and non-tax perspective.

HMRC has stated that expenditure on business entertainment cannot be claimed as a deduction against profits (and is therefore also non-VAT-recoverable), even if a genuine business expense. 

However, that is not entirely correct – there are exceptions.

Jennifer Adams considers when business entertainment is allowable and circumstances in which it is not. 

The employment-related securities legislation deals with arrangements involving shares and securities provided by reason of employment where the full value of the employment reward provided to the employee is not included in the salary package and is charged to tax.  

Jennifer Adams considers the tax implications of shares in a family company being awarded or gifted to family members of employees. 

When HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) opens a tax return enquiry, the natural reaction of most taxpayers is to speculate about the reason why their tax return has been selected. In fact, HMRC does not need an excuse to open a tax return enquiry; a small proportion of tax returns are simply selected at random. . 

Mark McLaughlin looks at whether a taxpayer can find out if an HMRC enquiry has been opened as the result of an accusation made by a third party. 

When considering the tricky matter of remuneration planning, there are two things to consider; the amount of remuneration, and what form it takes. 

Chris Thorpe looks at what to watch out for with regard to paying employees and directors.

Despite the reduction in National Insurance contributions (NICs) in Spring Budget 2024, more employees are paying tax at higher rates on their earnings due to the freezing of tax thresholds. Some may find that any pay rise or bonus attracts additional tax and NICs such that the net pay increase is minimal.  

Jennifer Adams looks at some alternatives to rewarding an employee with a pay rise or a bonus. 

Mark McLaughlin looks at company purchases of own shares and warns not to become too focused on the more difficult rules for capital treatment. 

A company purchase of its own shares from a shareholder is a popular ‘exit’ strategy when an individual shareholder is retiring, or a dissenting shareholder is departing.