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Written by leading UK tax professionals
Every article, tip and strategy in Tax Insider is written and reviewed by practising accountants, Chartered Tax Advisers and specialist tax consultants, including contributors such as Mark McLaughlin, Peter Rayney and Malcolm Finney. You're getting advice from people who advise real clients on real tax problems, not generic guidance.
New articles published
in October 2026
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Tax and NICs: Paying private bills through a company
A company is a separate legal entity, distinct from the people who own and run it. However, in a personal or family company, the boundaries can become blurred, and clients will often pay their personal bills from the company account.
It is important that where a company meets a director shareholder’s personal liability, it is handled correctly from a tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) perspective.Sarah Bradford outlines the tax and National Insurance contributions consequences for clients of putting personal bills ‘through the company.’
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Excepted estates for IHT purposes under HMRC’s spotlight
On death, information relating to a deceased person’s estate must be delivered to HMRC on Form IHT400 (see below). Such information is required to be delivered within 12 months of the date of death by personal representatives (PRs).
A deceased’s estate comprises all property owned by the deceased at the date of death, including property in which the deceased had a qualifying interest in possession but excluding, for example, excluded property.Malcolm Finney examines the inheritance tax excepted estates procedure.
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Top slicing and other mysteries: Chargeable event gains on investment bonds
Single premium investment bonds were sold in enormous numbers through the 1990s and 2000s, and a great many are still held by clients today.
These are technically life assurance policies rather than investments, which is what gives them their peculiar tax treatment; and because income and gains roll up within the insurance bond wrapper, they often generate nothing for a tax return until someone specifically takes some action, or if they take the ultimate terminal action and die.
Sam Hart considers what to do when faced with a chargeable event certificate, and what planning clients can do to improve the situation before realising a gain.
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VAT adjustments: Change in the taxable use of an asset
Suppose that a business purchases an asset (e.g., a building) for a project, expecting to use it in its taxable business, and recovers all the VAT on the purchase.
However, circumstances change and it no longer needs to use the building and decides to sell it to a housing association for redevelopment. It cannot opt to tax as it is selling to a housing association and so the sale is an exempt supply. The change of intention takes place two years after buying the property.
Andrew Needham looks at the VAT consequences of changes in the taxable or exempt use of an asset.
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Gifting investment properties to the children
In the UK, gifting an asset to a connected party is treated as a disposal at market value; capital gains tax (CGT) may be owed based on what the item is worth on gifting it, rather than what was paid for the item. Exemptions and reliefs (e.g., spouse transfers or gift holdover relief under TCGA 1992, s 260) can apply in certain circumstances.
Jon Golding outlines tax advantages that can be claimed where parents gift their investment properties to their children.
Can a dividend be recategorised as salary?The employment income tax legislation (ITEPA 2003, s 62) charges general earnings, which include anything provided as a reward for services. A dividend is a distribution in respect of a share, charged under ITTOIA 2005, Pt 4, Ch 3. The line blurs when an owner-managed business pays its director shareholder: is that a reward for services or a return on equity?
Parliament anticipated the overlap by including a dividend priority rule at ITEPA 2003, s 716A. Income falling within both Part 2 (employment income), Part 9 (pension income) or Part 10 (social security income) of that Act and Chapter 3 of Part 4 of ITTOIA 2005 (dividends from UK resident companies) ‘is dealt with under’ the ITTOIA chapter. A dividend, once declared, is therefore taxable as such in priority to employment income. That priority is subject to ITEPA 2003, s 554Z2(2), so the disguised remuneration rules in Part 7A displace it.Nick Wright considers if and when a correctly declared dividend can be recategorised as salary, and how the arithmetic has changed.
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Tax case reviews
- Travel from home to London area was ordinary commuting so not allowable
- Company’s failure to pay NICs was due to neglect on the sole director’s part
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Q&As with Arthur Weller
