Updates are continuing to come through on HMRC’s ‘Making Tax Digital for Income Tax’ (‘MTD for IT’) initiative. It will initially apply from 6 April 2026 for sole traders and property landlords who generated gross trade and rental income (‘qualifying income’) of more than £50,000 in the 2024/25 tax year. The MTD for IT rules […]

The minimum hourly rates that employers must pay their employees go up from 1 April 2026. Employers must pay their employees at least these minimum rates to avoid penalties, back payments and other regulatory action. If you have employees paid at or just above these levels, you need to ensure that birthdays, full working hours […]

National Insurance Contributions (NICs) NICs deducted from employee wages remain at the same levels as we head into 2026/27. This means that, for employees, no NICs are deducted on the first £12,570 of pay, then a rate of 8% applies on earnings up to £50,270, with a rate of 2% applied thereafter. For employers, the […]

As we head into 2026/27, it should be remembered that, for most sales of capital assets, CGT will apply at 18% for basic rate taxpayers and 24% otherwise. The rate of CGT for business asset disposal relief (BADR) purposes will increase from 14% to 18% from 6 April 2026. Particularly in relation to business disposals, timing […]

IHT can apply to certain lifetime transfers/gifts and also on the value of an individual’s estate at the time of death. The IHT nil rate band is £325,000, with an additional £175,000 ‘residence nil rate band’ available in some cases for leaving the family home to direct descendants. For any value remaining after the nil […]

For 2026/27, the annual investment allowance (AIA) will remain at £1 million and the full expensing regime will be available to companies. The rate of writing down allowance (WDA) applicable to qualifying capital expenditure in the main rate pool will drop from 18% to 14% on 1 April 2026 for companies and 6 April 2026 […]

From 1 April 2026, the VAT registration and deregistration thresholds will remain at £90,000 and £88,000 respectively. There have been no changes to the rates of VAT and the standard rate continues to be set at 20%.

Business rates As announced in the 2024 Budget, two new lower multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values (RV) below £500,000 will be introduced from 1 April 2026. Each of the new multipliers is 5p lower than the standard multiplier for a business property of equivalent rateable value. The new […]

Besides the new property income tax rates detailed in the taxes on income section, another change affecting property is the introduction of a high value council tax surcharge, otherwise known as the ‘mansion tax’.  The surcharge will be in addition to existing council tax and will be applied to properties with a value over £2 […]

England and Northern Ireland If you are planning to purchase residential property, the good news is that there were no changes to stamp duty land tax (SDLT) announced in the Autumn Budget. The main threshold above which you start to pay SDLT remains at £125,000 and you will still pay the higher rate of SDLT […]