Tax

[old.user4556]

Hi,

Can any of you older, wiser, perhaps more tax savvy freddies recommend a book I can buy that covers all aspects of different taxes and perhaps deal with tax avoidance / paying least tax / maximising invest return etc.

Stuff like:

Inheritance tax
Corporation tax
Capital gains tax
Income tax

etc etc - any suggestions?

 

[Embattle]

LOL

 

[DaGaffer]

...or get an accountant

 

[old.user4556]

Book suggestion please, or places to read on the web.

 

[Chilly]

Be careful big G, reading a couple of books may give you lots of information, but tax law is very very long and very very complicated.

I wouldnt make any potentially costly decisions without advice from a professional - will probably only cost you couple hundred quid for a fairly detailed consult anyway.

 

[Vae]

Big G - How much advice you need depends entirely on your situation. If the sums we're talking about a large some schemes become worthwhile. The book will be very limited in what it can tell you since so much depends on teh circumstances. All it can do is provide some ideas which may or may not be appropriate to you and won't cover everything.

An accountant can provide appropriate advice if the situation is not too complicated or suggest you should approach a tax speacialist if the amounts are large enough or the situation complicated enough.

 

[Milkshake]

Sometimes financial advisors help, and most banks have them. I talked to mine at the Royal Bank of Scotland, and even though I'm 20, I'm paying way less tax than I did before.

Woo!

 

[Trem]

Ono and Dys are accountants, pester them or chat to Dys in our irc channel G(#xatrix). He was helpful with me regarding such things.

Samm has a book somewhere if I can root it out I will post it you, shes a legal cashier though, which is similar but more specialised to the legal side. The book did cover all these things iirc.

 

[DaGaffer]

Book suggestion please, or places to read on the web.

Seriously, get an accountant. Even if temporarily. The problem with books, is that with Uncle Gordon in charge, by the time they're published, they're out of date. Even web sites can't keep up. There are loads out there, but even a cursory look will tell you they're not all in sync or they give slightly different information.

 

[~Yuckfou~]

...or get an accountant

This will save you more money than a book.

 

[GDW]

If you want to study BASIC tax in those four areas then go for Taxation by Alan Melville.

As far as tax planning goes, I would pay for a personal tax specialist. They will be accountants who specialise in this area.

I am a chartered accountant and haven't a notion of personal tax as it is not my specialist area. So do not follow the misguided advice on this thread telling you to see an accountant as the majority of them will be of less use to you than a hole in the head.

 

[Gumbo]

I just have the one, straightforward PAYE paying job.

Is it worth me looking into saving any tax anywhere, or would I be better off spending my time on beer and skittles?

TIA

John

 

[DaGaffer]

So do not follow the misguided advice on this thread telling you to see an accountant as the majority of them will be of less use to you than a hole in the head.

Oh ffs. He asks a question about tax, we suggest an accountant. We're hardly going to mean "go see an auditor" are we? Pedant.

 

[Catsby]

I just have the one, straightforward PAYE paying job.

Is it worth me looking into saving any tax anywhere, or would I be better off spending my time on beer and skittles?

TIA

John

Catsby recommends that you leave it well alone, as PAYE is set up to be easy. Castsby had a PAYE job, but filed for self assessment due to unearned income such as interest and dividends and capital gains.

In Catsbys experience in the finance world, tax planning is really only of any use if you are going to make alot of money from a capital gain event, whereby you can structure the sale to be tax efficient by way of re-investing in certain funds.

Catsby is a fan of gross generalizations, and finds one fitting here: The UK Tax structure is built so that normal people cannot escape it in any way shape or form (unless, like Catsby, they leave the country), however "unusual" transactions like inheritance and capital gains can be planned to minimise the tax exposure.

Catbsy's top tip: Make sure your parents give you everything they own 7 years before they die, if their house (estate) is worth more than 275k of your English pounds.

If Mr.Big G were to give Catsby some more specifics, he would be glad to assist where possible.

Up the ICAEW.

 

[pcg79]

Catbsy's top tip: Make sure your parents give you everything they own 7 years before they die, if their house (estate) is worth more than 275k of your English pounds.

im trying to convince my parents on this one...

 

[xane]

Catbsy's top tip: Make sure your parents give you everything they own 7 years before they die, if their house (estate) is worth more than 275k of your English pounds.

Fantastic idea, as long as you don't die first, then your kids are f*cked

Also note I think this thing was cracked down on a few years back, any transfer of assets between parents and children in which the parents retain an interest (like giving away the house but still living in it rent-free) will get thumped for income tax instead.

 

[GDW]

Oh ffs. He asks a question about tax, we suggest an accountant. We're hardly going to mean "go see an auditor" are we? Pedant.

Pendant to you, Im only offering my advice which is more accurate and less misleading than that previously offered, I see no harm in that. He was asking for advice wasnt he?

 

[GDW]

Catsby recommends that you leave it well alone, as PAYE is set up to be easy. .

Yet so many payroll clerks fuck it up (including the firm I work for). I would always recommend that you make sure that the company you work for is correctly calculating your PAYE and NIC liabilities.

I'll try and dig out a spreadsheet I have that does this for you. Anyone who wants a copy can PM me. (It needs updated so be patient )

 

[DaGaffer]

Fantastic idea, as long as you don't die first, then your kids are f*cked

Also note I think this thing was cracked down on a few years back, any transfer of assets between parents and children in which the parents retain an interest (like giving away the house but still living in it rent-free) will get thumped for income tax instead.

Plenty of ways around that.

 

[Bodhi]

Move to Monaco. Problem solved.



Oh yeah and if you do, shotgun a seat on your balcony for the GP. I won;t make a single Massey-Ferguson joke whilst I'm there either. Honest.


OK maybe one. It will be funny tho!

 

[dysfunction]

If you want a tax book then you can read get Tolleys Tax Guide.
I dont think you can buy it online so you would have to go to a bookshop for that.


edit: yes you can buy it online. Click the link at the bottom of this page:

http://www.taxationweb.co.uk/reviews/tolleys_tax_guide_review.php

 

[GDW]

Agree that Tolleys books are the definitive books when it comes to UK tax, but they tend to be a bit too complex for a beginner. That said if you like a challenge and have cash to burn go ahead.

 

[Tom]

Dys, mind if I threadjack for a mo:

I'm self employed, and a client mistakenly took NI contributions from some of my contracts (single day stuff). It amounted to 5x £22.99, one for each day. They since paid back 4x £22.99 once I got a Schedule D letter from the taxman, but one is outstanding.

They're saying they can't repay it as its in the last tax year. Can I reclaim this somehow from the NI contributions I make regularly?

 

[dysfunction]

I'm not all that savvy when it comes to NI but I dont think you cant reduce your regular NI contributions. There is a mechanism within the NI system that should equalise your contributions over time if your employer does their calculations correctly based on your current and previous tax codes.

 

[Vae]

Tom you're going to waste more time and effort sorting this out than it is worth so I'd forget about it.

In theory the person who paid you paid that amount of NI over to the government on your behalf. As you're self-employed you're paying Class 2 weekly and Class 4 NI annually on your profits. So in theory last year your contributions were higher than they needed to be. The company who withheld it could redo their end of year returns and reclaim the 22.99 to repay you or you may be able to convince the Revenue that you are due it back but how you'd do that I'm not too sure. Either way it's far too much effort.