R & L Otley Partnership

R & L Otley Partnership We are a client focused tax accountancy practice serving a variety of clients across the UK, from pe We are able to offer fixed rate fees payable monthly.

PERSONAL TAX ACCOUNTING SERVICES

R & L Otley Partners are pleased to offer cost effective
personal accounting services for clients who need to complete a self assessment tax return for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and/or other authorities. We will ensure that your financial planning, taxation planning, asset documentation is all in order, the appropriate taxation is computed and any tax deducti

ons or tax relief are claimed for. BUSINESS ACCOUNTING SERVICES

R & L Otley Partners are pleased to offer business accounting services to new or existing businesses who are required to complete tax returns for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and who wish to take advantage of our comprehensive financial accounting, tax, VAT and business services. For small, medium and growing businesses, we monitor growth, profit, cash flow and risk, ensuring the appropriate management accounts are in place, taxation is paid and any tax deductions or tax relief is claimed. We can assist to ensure that your ongoing business financial planning, taxation planning and documentation is in order with Companies House, HMRC and other authorities to highlight issues proactively at regular intervals throughout the financial year. TAX REFUNDS FOR OUR ARMED FORCES CLIENTS

We assist both serving and former armed forces personnel who can be eligible to claim a tax relief for their travel expenses to temporary postings in any or all of the last four tax years. These postings must be 24 months or less when you were posted whether they’re in the UK or overseas. The tax relief and refund is available to you whether you use your own vehicle or public transport, and with our help our armed forces clients average a travel tax refund of £2,500. Please contact us for further information and to start your claim.

26/03/2025

Spring Statement 2025 – Key Points

On 26 March 2025, the Chancellor delivered her Spring Statement against a backdrop of ongoing global uncertainty, high borrowing costs, and a desire to restore fiscal stability. We’ve summarised below the key announcements likely to be of most interest to our clients.

Economic Overview

Inflation: According to the ONS, inflation fell to 2.8% in February, although the OBR now expects it to average 3.2% this year, before falling to 2.1% in 2026 and stabilising around 2% thereafter.

Growth Forecast: The OBR has cut the growth forecast for 2025 from 2% to 1%, citing economic pressures and global instability.

Government Borrowing: Revised figures show a higher short-term deficit, but a surplus of £9.9bn is forecast for 2029-30—restoring the Chancellor’s fiscal headroom.

No new tax rises were announced. Income Tax, VAT, and employee NICs remain unchanged from the March Budget.

Employer NICs were increased in the March Budget.

A further £1 billion will be raised through new anti-tax avoidance and evasion measures, including investment in HMRC resources and technology.

It remains to be seen how wider civil service cuts—including a proposed 10% reduction and the abolition of NHS England—will impact HMRC services.

Public Spending and Welfare

Welfare Reform: The health element of Universal Credit will be cut by 50% for new claimants and then frozen. The overall welfare budget is expected to be cut by £4.8bn.

The standard allowance for Universal Credit will rise from £92 to £106 per week by 2029-30.

Day-to-day government spending will still grow, but more slowly—1.2% a year above inflation instead of 1.3% as previously planned.

Defence and Innovation

Defence spending will rise by £2.2bn next year, reaching 2.5% of GDP by 2027 with an ambition to increase this to 3%.

Notably, 10% of the equipment budget will be spent on AI, drones, and advanced manufacturing.

A £400m innovation fund has been established to support defence tech startups and speed up procurement.

Planning and Growth Initiatives

The government will protect capital spending, increasing it by £2bn annually.

New planning reforms are forecast by the OBR to increase GDP by 0.2% by 2029/30 and 0.4% within 10 years, the largest forecasted GDP uplift the OBR has ever made from a single policy.

Additional growth measures include support for a third runway at Heathrow and pension reforms to boost investment.

31/10/2024

What’s in the Autumn Budget 2024?

The UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves has shared the first budget under the Labour government. There’s a lot of information within the Chancellor's address to Parliament, and the following list is not exhaustive of all the announcements made.

You can read the full UK Autumn budget on the GOV website.

1.2% increase to National Insurance contributions
From April 2025, there will be an increase to the amount of National Insurance (NI) contributions an employer must make. NI Contributions will increase by 1.2% to a total of 15%, and the National Insurance primary threshold - which is when employers begin to pay NI, will be lowered from £9,100 to £5,000.

Although the NI threshold has been lowered, the amount of National Insurance a business can offset will increase as the employment allowance will change from £5,000 to £10,500. The government claims this change to the employment allowance will result in 865,000 employers paying no National Insurance, whilst over 1 million businesses will pay the same amount of National Insurance as the previous year.

Freeze on the Income Personal tax threshold will end in April 2028
The Chancellor confirmed that the freeze on income tax and National Insurance thresholds will end in April 2028. From 2028 - 29, personal tax thresholds will be updated in line with inflation.

Changes to the minimum wage
The National Living Wage for workers over 21 will increase by 6.7% in April 2025 to £12.21 per hour, which is worth an extra £1,100 per year for a full-time worker. Meanwhile the National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20-year-olds will go up by 16% to £10 per hour.

Update on business rates
The current 75% discount on business rates is set to expire in April 2025, this will be replaced by a discount of 40% (maximum discount of £110k). In addition there is a plan to introduce permanently lower business rates for high-street retail, hospitality and leisure properties from 2026-27.

Corporation tax
The main rate of Corporation tax for businesses with taxable profits over £250,000 will remain at 25% until next election.

Capital Gains Tax
Capital Gains tax rates for disposal on or after 30 October 2024 will increase from 10% to 18% and the higher rate from 20% to 24%. The rate for Business Asset Disposal Relief and Investors’ Relief will increase to 14% from 6 April 2025, and will increase again to match the lower main rate at 18% from 6 April 2026.

Windfall tax on energy
The energy profits levy applied to oil and gas firms will rise by 3%, meaning the level of tax is now 38%, and this will remain in place until 31 March 2030.

Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR)
BADR will remain at 10% this year, before rising to 14% on 6 April 2025 and 18% from 6 April 2026-27.

HMRC changes
The interest rate applied will increase on tax that is overdue to encourage prompt payment, in addition there will be an increase in HMRC criminal investigation work by hiring more compliance officers.

Making Tax Digital update
There was a Making Tax Digital (MTD) update within the budget, and the Labour government reiterated its commitment to delivering on the current timeline and expanding the rollout for businesses with an income over £20,000 per year. Rest assured, we’ll be supporting all customers with MTD.

30/10/2024

We now know that the rate of Employers’ NICs has been increased in today's budget from 6 April 2025.

Not only that but, the Chancellor has lowered the secondary threshold for when businesses start paying ER NICs. This will increase the amount the Treasury recovers from this measure.

Employers NICs rate increase

The rate will be increased from 13.8% to 15% from 6 April 2025.

Employers Class 1 National Insurance Secondary Threshold (ST) will be reduced to £5,000 per year.

Employment Allowance will be increased to £10,500 and the £100,000 threshold removed.

Employers NICs (Secondary Class 1 NICs)

The Secondary Threshold is the point at which employers become liable to pay NICs on employees’ earnings and is currently set at £9,100 a year. This will be reduced to £5,000 per year from 6 April 2025 until 6 April 2028 and then increased in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) thereafter.

Employment Allowance

The Employment Allowance currently allows businesses with employer NICs bills of £100,000 or less in the previous tax year to deduct £5,000 from their employer NICs bill. The government will increase the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, and remove the £100,000 threshold for eligibility, expanding this to all eligible employers with employer NICs bills from 6 April 2025.

30/10/2024

Below are details of some of the key announcements that we have extracted from today's budget.

The Chancellor’s budget introduced significant tax rises, increased support for low-income households, and several changes targeting businesses, the environment, and social benefits. Key measures include:

Taxation and Business: £40bn in tax rises overall, with capital gains tax increasing to 18% at the lower rate and 24% at the higher rate. Non-dom tax status will be abolished from April 2025, replaced by a residence-based regime. Corporation tax remains unchanged, while business rates reliefs for retail, hospitality, and leisure will offer 40% relief.

National Insurance: Employers’ NI contributions will rise by 1.2 percentage points to 15%, with the threshold for employer contributions lowered from £9,100 to £5,000. Employment Allowance increases to £10,500.

Income and Support for Households: The National Minimum Wage will rise to £12.21 per hour from April, with a phased increase towards a single adult rate. Carers’ Allowance will also increase to reflect 16 hours of weekly earnings at the minimum wage.

Capital Gains and Inheritance: Inheritance tax thresholds will be frozen until 2030, and stamp duty on second homes will rise to 5%. A 40% relief on business rates will apply to eligible sectors, while VAT will be added to private school fees starting in January.

Environmental and Health-Related Levies: A new va**ng duty will be introduced from 2026, and Air Passenger Duty will rise by 50% for private jets. Fuel duty is frozen, but to***co and alcohol duty rates will increase, with draught duty cut to reduce the cost of pints.

Social Support: The Household Support Fund will receive £1bn in new funding from next year, while £1.8bn has been allocated to Post Office scandal victims, and £11.8bn to those affected by the infected blood scandal.

29/10/2024

ID verification, which is considered to be a major component of the wider Companies House reforms, is set to be rolled out in 2025.

27/10/2024

A question that we are often asked, is why does the UK tax year start on 6 April each year?

When much of the world quite sensibly chooses New Year’s Day to also be the start of their tax year, amongst the major nations only the UK has a quirky start date to its personal tax year (and of course, has a different one for corporation tax!?). Ireland also used to have a 6 April start date to its tax year until 2001, when they very sensibly opted for a short-year coupled with a move to 1 January. So why does the UK use 6 April and how do it’s origins relate to this actually also being a New Year’s Day start to the tax year, well almost?

Firstly, we need to go back to 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII ordered a change from the Julian Calendar (named after Julius Caesar) to the Gregorian Calendar (named after, well you can probably guess). The Julian Calendar had consisted of eleven months of 30 or 31 days with a 28 or 29 day February, and had worked pretty well for the previous 1600 years or so. However, it differed from the solar calendar (the actual time taken for the earth to travel around the sun) by approximately 11½ minutes per year and by the late 1500s this discrepancy had put the Julian calendar behind the Solar calendar by 10 days.

And so in 1582 Europe changed to a new system which drops a leap year every Century (unless that century is divisible by four, unless that century is divisible by four-hundred) and the problem was solved. Except that the UK, who had previously had their own “disagreements” with the head of the Catholic church on matters such as divorce, ignored the Pope’s decree and carried on with the Julian Calendar (as did Russia incidentally and for much longer than the UK). Thus for the next 170 years there existed a difference of at least 10 days between the calendar in Britain and that used in the rest of Europe. Using the new rules, 1600 added another day’s difference, whereas 1700 did not, and by 1752 Britain was therefore 11 days out.

Meanwhile, in England and Ireland the four main Christian religious holidays (including Christmas Day) had been used as the “quarter days” on which debts and accounts had to be settled and rents for land and property had to be paid. The first of these quarter days fell on “Lady Day” (the date of the announcement by the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would become the mother of Jesus Christ), being 25 March and that was also New Year’s Day and the first day of the British tax year.

It was not until 1752 that the British finally realised that they would have to align their calendar with the rest of Europe and move New Year’s Day to 1 January and drop 11 days from the calendar in order to catch-up. Therefore, 1752 would be an unusual year and in fact it was September 1752 that was the unusual month, with 2 September being immediately followed by 14 September. Perhaps understandably, the British people were unhappy with being robbed of 11 days of their lives and took to the streets to protest. The main focus of their fury was that their taxes were not also being similarly adjusted and so they were expected to pay a full year’s tax, despite the fact that the year had only 354 days.

In typical style, the Treasury was concerned to ensure there would be no loss of tax revenue and no concession to the populous and so it decided that the tax year should remain as 365 days. And so the beginning of the following tax year was moved from 25 March to 5 April and everyone was happy, kind of. Having done it once, the Treasury then decreed in 1800 that there would be another lost day of revenue, given that the century end would have been a leap year under the Julian calendar whereas it was not under the new Gregorian calendar. Thus 1800 was a leap year for tax purposes but not for the purpose of the calendar and so the tax year start was moved on again by a single day to 6 April.

This practice was dropped in 1900 and it seems that we are stuck with a 6 April start date for our UK tax year. If only the Treasury had continued adding a Julian leap year for tax purposes, where there was not a Gregorian leap year; we would have caught up with the rest of the world on 1 January 37901!?

06/03/2024

To assist our clients we highlighted elements which may the greatest impact.

Economy:
The Chancellor highlighted the low unemployment rate. Noting that interest rates were still high as the Bank of England tackles inflation. Inflation stands at 4% and the OBR forecasts show that inflation will continue to fall.

National debt is falling and the UK has the second lowest debt in the G7.

OBR forecasts show that growth will be 0.8% this year.

Income Tax and National Insurance:
There had leaks concerning a cut to National Insurance, which were confirmed, with the Chancellor announcing a 2p cut to National Insurance (this tax will now stand at 8%). Self employed National Insurance to be be reduced from 8% to 6%.

The Chancellor announced his intention to continue to cut National Insurance.

Rumours had suggested that income tax would not be cut due to the high cost, and these proved true.

VAT Registration Threshold:
VAT registration threshold to increase from £85,000, to £90,000 from 01 April 2024.

Child Benefit:
High income child benefit charge to be moved to be based on household income from April 2026. Though from April 2024 the charge will start at £60,000, with the full taper only taking effect at £90,000.

Non-Dom Tax Status:
New system to be introduced based on residency, with the current system to be abolished and a residency based system to be introduced; after four years people will be subject to the same tax requirements as residents.

Alcohol Duty:
Duty freeze extended to February 2025.

Fuel Duty:
Duty freeze and 5-p cut extended for another 12-months.

Investments:
Full expensing to apply to leased assets, this will be introduced in specific legislation at a later date.

ISAs:
New British ISA, to allow an additional £5,000 allowance for investment in British equities.

Va**ng Duty:
An excise duty will be introduced on va**ng products, with a consultation to be announced.

Air Passenger Duty:
None economy tickets to see an increase to air passenger duty.

Furnished Holiday Lets:
The furnished holiday lets relief to be scrapped.

Multiple Dwellings Relief:
Multiple dwellings relief to be scraped.

Capital Gains Tax:
Higher rate of property CGT to be reduced from 28% to 24%.

Oil and Gas:
Energy Profits Levy to be extended to 2029.

Please contact us in relation to any specific issue from today's budget.

22/11/2023

Today the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, delivered his Autumn Statement. This fiscal event has been used for a variety of purposes in the past, ranging from major policy announcements to summaries of the most recent forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). This statement was delivered against a backdrop of sky-high inflation, soaring interest rates and an impending general election.

Below we have summarised some of the key points we think will be of most interest to our clients.

Income Tax and National Insurance
Employee National Insurance to be cut by 2% to 10%, with this to take effect from the 6 January.

Class two national insurance to be abolished.

Class four national insurance to be cut to 8% from April 2024.

Super Deduction and Full Expensing
Full expensing to be made permanent.

Living Wage Rise
Announced before the Statement the National Living Wage will rise from £10.42/hour to £11.44/hour. This will now apply to anyone over the age of 21 (previously a lower figure applied to those aged 21-22).

Business Rates
Small business multiple to be frozen for another year.

75% discount for retail, hospitality and leisure to be extended.

Alcohol Duty
All alcohol duty frozen until 01st of August 2024.

Universal Credit/Benefits
Universal Credit and other benefits will increase by 6.7%.

Local housing allowance to increase to the thirtieth percentile of local rents.

Reforms to the benefits system to incentivise those currently unemployed due to medical problems, to find work.

Economic Forecasts
Inflation fell last week to 4.6%, headline inflation to fall to the 2% target in 2025.

Headline national debt forecast reduced and will not hit the previously forecast 100% of national GDP.

The UK economy is expected to grow by 0.6%.

Should you have any specific questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Address

Greystones House, Watten
Wick
KW15UG

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when R & L Otley Partnership posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category