HMRC’s Personal Tax Accounts (PTAs) serve as an online tool that enables taxpayers to view and update their information in real time. The PTA can be used for many routine requests and services and help you bypass the need to call or write to HMRC.

Every individual in the UK that pays tax has a PTA, but taxpayers must sign up in order to access and use the service. This can be achieved by using the Government Gateway. You may need to verify your identify when using the service.

The following services are currently available on your PTA:

• check your Income Tax estimate and tax code
• fill in, send and view a personal tax return
• claim a tax refund
• check your Child Benefit
• check your income from work in the previous 5 years
• check how much Income Tax you paid in the previous 5 years
• check and manage your tax credits
• check your State Pension
• check if you’ll benefit from paying voluntary National Insurance contributions and if you can pay online
• track tax forms that you’ve submitted online
• check or update your Marriage Allowance
• tell HMRC about a change of name or address
• check or update benefits you get from work, for example company car details and medical insurance
• find your National Insurance number
• find your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number
• check your Simple Assessment tax bill

The PTA is a key component of HMRC’s broader strategy to transition to a fully digital tax service.

Companies developing artificial intelligence (AI) to improve safety on construction sites, reduce time spent repairing the railways and cut emissions across supply chains are amongst a number of projects set to receive a share of £32 million in UK Government funding.

Announced 7 August 2024, almost 100 ground-breaking projects have been awarded financial backing as the government continues its mission to boost productivity and kickstart growth across the economy through AI, so everyone is better off.

A total of 98 projects from Southampton to Birmingham and Northern Ireland will receive funding, involving more than 200 businesses and research organisations spanning a range of sectors including public services, driving efficiencies and reducing administrative tasks.

As part of the government’s mission to build an NHS which is fit for the future, pharmacies that deliver prescriptions across the country are also set to benefit from this new financial support. A project led by Nottingham-based Anteam will see them collaborating with retailers and the NHS to improve the efficiency of their deliveries using AI algorithms. This technology will match the delivery needs of retailers and hospitals to existing delivery journeys, unlocking under-utilised capacity, cutting carbon emissions and delivering a better experience for patients.

The charity commission has offered the following guidance to charities following the recent public disorder events.

The main points are summarised below:

• Are you operating in an area which has seen or is at risk of unrest? If so and you wish to continue to operate what changes could be made to mitigate any risk to your staff, visitors or beneficiaries?
• Have you reviewed the entry points to your property for weaknesses should there be unrest? Can you restrict access/improve secure entry to the property?
• Are different entrances available?
• Do you have alternative exit routes from the property if required? Are these clear and communicated to staff visitors on arrival?
• Should an incident occur do you have a clear procedure in place for what staff / visitors should do to stay safe? Is everyone briefed on this procedure and is it clear who will issue instructions should an incident occur?
• Do you need to have first aid trained staff or volunteers onsite?
• Have you contacted the local police force community liaison team to agree contact points for sharing of specific risks or to seek specific advice and guidance on operating?

Some risks may be specific, or time bound such as an alert from police of a specific risk / threat based on their monitoring of social media or intelligence. You may therefore want to consider:

• Who in your charity / how your charity continually reviews the latest advice, guidance or alerts from police forces or other local authorities including monitoring of social media channels.
• If you are at higher risk do you need a procedure at the start of each day to assess risk and a clear channel or method to communicate with staff or beneficiaries prior to start of operations on whether or not they should attend site.
• Ensuring you have a clear process or nominated person responsible for acting upon any urgent alert or risk.

Charities should not hesitate to call emergency services if their staff, volunteers or beneficiaries face abuse, feel threatened, or are in danger.

You can usually claim tax relief on private pension contributions worth up to 100% of your annual earnings, subject to the overriding limits. Tax relief is paid on pension contributions at the highest rate of income tax paid.

This means that if you are:

• A basic rate taxpayer you get 20% pension tax relief
• A higher rate taxpayer you can claim 40% pension tax relief
• An additional rate taxpayer you can claim 45% pension tax relief

The first 20% of tax relief is usually automatically applied by your employer with no further action required if you are a basic-rate taxpayer. If you are a higher rate or additional rate taxpayer, you can claim back any further reliefs on your self-assessment tax return.

You can claim additional tax relief on your self-assessment tax return for money you place into a private pension amounting to:

• 20% up to the amount of any income you have paid 40% tax on; and
• 25% up to the amount of any income you have paid 45% tax on.

You can also call or write to HMRC to make a claim if you pay Income Tax at 40%.

These figures apply for those claiming tax relief in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. There are regional differences if you are based in Scotland.

There is an annual allowance for tax relief on pensions of £60,000. There is also a three year carry forward rule that allows you to carry forward any unused amount of your annual allowance from the last three tax years if you have made pension savings in those years.

The lifetime limit for tax relief on pension contributions was removed with effect from 6 April 2023 and has now been abolished.

It was announced as part of the Spring Budget measures that the present favourable tax benefits presently allowed for the letting of properties as short-term holiday lets – known as the furnished holiday lettings (FHL) tax regime – is to be abolished from April 2025. The Labour government has confirmed that these changes will take effect as planned.

HMRC has now published a policy paper providing further details of how these changes will work in practice.

The policy paper states that the changes will remove the tax advantages that current furnished holiday let landlords have received over other property businesses in four key areas by:

• applying the finance cost restriction rules so that loan interest will be restricted to basic rate for Income Tax;
• removing capital allowances rules for new expenditure and allowing replacement of domestic items relief;
• withdrawing access to reliefs from taxes on chargeable gains for trading business assets; and
• no longer including this income within relevant UK earnings when calculating maximum pension relief.

After repeal, former FHL properties will form part of the person’s UK or overseas property business and be subject to the same rules as non-furnished holiday let property businesses.

There is also an anti-forestalling rule that prevents the obtaining of a tax advantage through the use of unconditional contracts to obtain capital gains relief under the current FHL rules. This rule applies from 6 March 2024.

The loss of the special tax regime for holiday lets is expected to have a significant effect on many of those involved with the short-term holiday rental business in the UK.