Wealth Knowledge

Thousands benefit from time to pay  More than 142,000 people have used the tax catchup scheme known as ‘time to pay’ (TPP) with HMRC to spread the cost of their self-assessment tax bill since April 2021. The deadline for self-assessment tax returns and payments for 2020/21 was 31 January, but HMRC gave people until 1

Over one million individuals use extra time to file tax returns More than one million individuals completed their self-assessment tax return by the extended deadline at the end of February 2022. HMRC estimates 11.3m of 12.2m of the taxpayers who had to file a self-assessment tax return for the 2020/21 tax year did so by

Pandemic-related factors see divorce rates slump in 2020 The number of divorces in England and Wales fell by 4.5% in 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).  In 2020, there were 103,592 divorces granted in England and Wales, compared to 107,599 divorces approved in 2019. During the height of the pandemic, lockdown restrictions

Omicron fears save consumers £4bn last Christmas Consumers reportedly saved a total of £4 billion at the end of last year, amid concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. The identification of the new variant and the subsequent surge in positive cases caused many to put festive plans on hold late last

One in four buy-to-let landlords plan to sell up in 2022 Almost a quarter of landlords plan to sell up over the next 12 months as buy-to-let becomes increasingly difficult to navigate, a report has claimed. Research from the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) found that 23% of property investors intend to dispose of an

Equity release market on course for record-breaking year The UK’s equity release market is on track to break the £4 billion barrier as 2021 comes to a close, according to the Equity Release Council (ERC).  Homeowners reportedly took out £1.049bn in property wealth in the three months to 30 September 2021, the council said.  This

Savers exposed as lifetime allowance protection wanes The number of people protecting themselves against breaching the lifetime allowance slowed in the last year.  The lifetime allowance is currently £1,073,100, and HMRC offers two schemes which allow savers to protect their pension savings from April 2016.  Individual protection shields savers’ lifetime allowances to whichever is lower

Curtain comes down on stamp duty land tax holiday  The stamp duty holiday in England and Northern Ireland has ended, more than 14 months after it first came into effect.  The tax break saw buyers who purchased residential properties for £500,000 or less pay no stamp duty until 30 June 2021, although landlords still had

Stamp duty land tax holiday fuelled equity release spike Homeowners released £1.17 billion of property wealth between April and June 2021, said the Equity Release Council (ERC).  Tax savings on offer from the stamp duty holiday are thought to have spurred on over-55s to help their children get onto the property ladder.  The ERC said

Lower stamp duty land tax threshold in place until October The stamp duty land tax-free threshold in England and Northern Ireland reduced last month, as the tax holiday introduced in July 2020 began to be phased out.  The first cliff edge for residential property buyers came and went on 30 June 2021, marking the end