Building Better Futures International

Supporting women and children in rural India through training and education programmes.

We would like to celebrate the work of Building Better Futures International (BBFI- formerly Friends of the Poor in South India), operating in Tamil Nadu , South India. This small charity was set up by two of our clients to help marginalised women living in rural villages by providing education and training to enable them to support themselves and their children.

In normal times the charity works to provide training and micro-credit for tailoring, rope-making, animal husbandry and hand loom weaving projects as well as tuition centres to help children after school. Unfortunately, due to the impact of Covid-19 in India they have had to extend their work to include providing food parcels to beneficiaries who are unable to work due to quarantine and lockdown restrictions.

Please visit their website https://www.bbf-intl.org.uk/   to see the work that they are doing and their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/bbfi.org.uk   and if you can like or share it.

You can support their work by liking and sharing their facebook page, if you are able to donate please visit https://www.bbf-intl.org.uk/donate/ . A little money goes a long way in India with just £21 funding a food parcel to provide supplies to a family for 40 days.

BBFI will be the firm’s charity for the coming year and further details of how we will be supporting them and specific projects will follow in due course.

Thank you for reading this and any support you can provide.

9 Ways to save inheritance tax

1. Make a Will so that your estate is distributed as you wish and not under the rules of intestacy which may be less tax efficient. If you have made a Will is it up to date and does it reflect your current wishes? Wills should be updated for major life changes: marriage, birth of children, divorce, death of beneficiaries.
2. Make gifts during your lifetime, if you survive 7 years the gifts are free of inheritance tax, there is a sliding scale for tax payable if you die between 3 and 7 years after a gift.
3. Regular gifts out of income– gifts made out of surplus income which do not reduce the donor’s standard of living and represent “normal” expenditure will be free of inheritance tax. This can be a valuable relief for those with large surplus income and if seeking to rely on this relief careful record keeping is recommended.
4. The annual exemption allows individuals to give up to £3,000 tax free per year, in addition there is a small gifts exemption that enables any number of gifts to be made up to £250 per person.
5. Up to £5,000 can be given on the occasion of a child’s marriage with smaller exemptions for other relatives.
6. Business or agricultural property relief may be available for business owners. Certain investments may also qualify for business property relief e.g. qualifying AIM shares. If you are considering these investments specialist advice should be sought.
7. Passing on your pension – pension assets do not form part of your estate for inheritance tax. If you can afford to leave your pension untouched whilst using other assets to fund living costs,  you could reduce your taxable estate.
8. Gifts to charity are exempt and where 10% or more of an estate is given to charity the inheritance tax rate is reduced by 10% from 40% to 36%.
9. Spend your money – enjoy yourself! There is no sense in living on a tight budget to leave money to be taxed at 40%, if you have worked hard for it then enjoy it.

As ever there are detailed rules for many of these exemptions, so professional advice should be sought when seeking to rely on them.

Reminder – reporting Capital Gains on the sale of residential property

Since 6 April 2020, there has been a requirement to report taxable gains on the sale of residential property to HMRC and pay the tax due within 30 days of completion. We are finding that many people are unaware of this reporting requirement and risk incurring penalties for non-compliance.  See our article for further details: https://www.sjbtax.co.uk/30-days-to-pay-capital-gains-tax-if-you-sell-chargeable-uk-residential-property/

Is your small business struggling to make a decent profit?

“It’s been a difficult year” I hear you say, which is true…but that should not stop you from reviewing your business and making changes.

To make a profit during hard times, you will need to adapt and change. See our recent article on six profit holes that could be reviewed to boost profits: https://www.sjbtax.co.uk/is-your-small-business-struggling-to-make-a-decent-profit-here-are-six-little-known-profit-holes/

 For more information or to discuss any issues raised above please contact Simon Bell by phone on 01376 571358 or email [email protected] .Please feel free to forward this newsletter to any colleagues or friends who may be interested in it.
This newsletter is written in general terms and therefore cannot be relied on to cover specific situations; applications of the principles set out will depend on the particular circumstances involved and it is recommended that you take professional advice before acting or refraining from acting on any material in the newsletter.