Author: Glenn

There is no requirement for employers to pay tax and National Insurance on certain health benefits covered by tax concessions or exemptions. For example, there is no requirement to report employees’ medical or dental treatment or insurance if they are a part of a salary sacrifice arrangement.

In addition, the following health benefits can be provided tax free:

• A maximum of one health-screening assessment and one medical check-up in any year.
• Eye tests required by health and safety legislation for employees who use a computer monitor or other type of screen.
• Glasses or contact lenses required by employees for working on computer monitors or other types of screen.
• Medical treatment for employees working overseas. The employer must have committed in advance to pay for this treatment or must pay the provider directly for the employee’s treatment or insurance.
• Medical treatment or insurance related to injuries or diseases that result from your employee’s work.
• Medical treatment to help an employee return to work. This allows the employer to pay up to £500 in costs for an employee to return to work.
• Any medical or dental treatment or insurance provided that is not exempt must be reported to HMRC. Employers may be required to deduct and pay tax and National Insurance on these amounts.

Gift Hold-Over Relief is a tax relief that defers the payment of Capital Gains Tax (CGT). It can be claimed when assets, including certain shares, are gifted or sold below their market value to benefit the buyer. This relief allows any gain on the asset to be "held over" until the recipient sells or disposes of it, by reducing the recipient's acquisition cost by the amount of the deferred gain.

The person giving a qualifying asset is not liable for CGT on the gift itself. However, CGT may be due if the asset is sold for less than its market value. Gifts between spouses and civil partners do not usually incur a CGT charge. A claim for the relief must be made jointly with the person to whom the gift was made.

If you are giving away business assets you must:

• be a sole trader or business partner, or have at least 5% of voting rights in a company (known as your 'personal company'); and
• use the assets in your business or personal company.

You can usually get partial relief if you used the assets only partly for your business.

If you are giving away shares, then the shares must be in a company that's either:

• not listed on any recognised stock exchange; or
• your personal company.

The company's main activities must be in trading, for example providing goods or services, rather than non-trading, investment activities.

There are a significant number of reliefs available to businesses that suffer losses. Certain losses that your company has not used in any other way can be carried forwards against profits in future accounting periods. In general, a company can carry trading losses forward to deduct from profits of future accounting periods as long as the trade continues.

However, there are limitations on the total amount of carried-forward losses that can be offset against profits for accounting periods starting from 1 April 2017.

These apply to carried-forward trading losses so that the total:

• amount that can be relieved using carried-forward trading losses that arose before 1 April 2017 is restricted to, broadly, the amount of an allowance up to £5 million, plus 50% of remaining trading profits after deduction of the allowance;
• overall amount that can be relieved using most types of carried-forward losses – including carried-forward trading losses incurred either before or after 1 April 2017 – is restricted to, as set out above, the amount of an allowance up to £5 million, plus 50% of remaining total profits after deduction of the allowance.

Any claim for trading losses forms part of the Company Tax Return. The trading profit or loss for Corporation Tax purposes is worked out by making the usual tax adjustments to the figure of profit or loss shown in the company’s or organisation’s financial accounts.

In the UK, certain business sectors are required to register with a regulatory body, such as HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) purposes. These sectors include:

1. Money Service Businesses (MSBs): This includes currency exchange offices, money transmission services, and cheque cashing businesses. MSBs are required to register with HMRC for AML supervision.
2. Estate Agents and Letting Agents: Estate agents involved in buying, selling, or letting property, especially transactions over a certain value, must register with HMRC. Letting agents also need to register if they facilitate transactions with monthly rents of €10,000 or more.
3. High-Value Dealers: Businesses that accept or make cash payments of €10,000 or more (or the equivalent in any currency) in a single transaction must register with HMRC. This category includes dealers in luxury goods, precious metals, and other high-value items.
4. Accountancy Service Providers (ASPs): This includes accountants, tax advisers, external auditors, and bookkeepers who offer accountancy services. These businesses must register with a relevant supervisory authority, such as HMRC, or a professional body like the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
5. Trust or Company Service Providers (TCSPs): Businesses that provide services related to the formation of companies, acting as company directors or secretaries, providing registered office addresses, or acting as trustees must register with HMRC.
6. Cryptoasset Exchange Providers and Custodian Wallet Providers: Businesses involved in exchanging cryptoassets or providing services for managing and storing cryptoassets (custodian wallets) must register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for AML purposes.
7. Art Market Participants: Businesses or individuals involved in the buying and selling of works of art, where the value of transactions (individually or cumulatively) amounts to €10,000 or more, must register with HMRC.
8. Bill Payment Service Providers and Telecommunications, Digital, and IT Payment Providers: Businesses that provide bill payment services or enable payments through digital or IT services must also register with HMRC for AML compliance.
9. Auctioneers and Dealers of Art or Antiques: Similar to high-value dealers, businesses in this sector must register if they manage transactions exceeding the €10,000 threshold.

These sectors are considered high-risk for money laundering and terrorist financing, and therefore, are required to register with an appropriate supervisory body to ensure compliance with the UK's AML regulations. Failure to register can lead to significant penalties, including fines and criminal prosecution.

You may be able to have tax underpayments collected via your tax code when you are in employment or in receipt of a company pension. Instead of paying off debts in a lump sum, money is collected in equal monthly instalments over the tax year.

You can pay your self-assessment bill through your PAYE tax code as long as these conditions apply:

• You owe less than £3,000 on your tax bill (you cannot make a part payment to meet this threshold).
• You already pay tax through PAYE, for example you are an employee, or you receive a company pension.
• You submitted your paper tax return by 31 October or your online tax return online by 30 December. This means that that for the 2023-24 tax year you have until 30 December 2024 to file your online self-assessment returns in order to have the monies collected in the 2025-26 tax year starting on 6 April 2025.

HMRC will automatically collect what you owe through your tax code if you meet the three conditions set out above unless you have specifically asked them not to (on your tax return).

You will not be able to pay your tax bill through your PAYE tax code if:

• You do not have enough PAYE income for HMRC to collect it.
• You had paid more than 50% of your PAYE income in tax.
• You had ended up paying more than twice as much tax as you normally do.
• You owed £3,000 or more but made a part payment to reduce the amount you owe to less than £3,000.