January 2021 Newsletter | Cylchlythyr Misol Ionawr 2021
Some financial matters to ponder at the start of the New Year:
- Use comparison sites for your utilities (e.g. home insurance). Quotes for those who renew with the same provider each year can be ridiculously high.
- With the Bank of England base rate at historical lows, review your mortgage rates to check whether there are better deals elsewhere.
- Over half of UK adults still do not have a valid will. Are you one of them?
Following further lockdowns across the UK, this has led to self-employed individuals facing significant cancellations of work projects. Remember that the third grant under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme remains open until 29 January 2021, if you have not claimed already.
In late December, the Welsh Government announced a change to Land Transaction Tax rules where the additional levy payable on second homes now starts at 4% for homes worth up to £180,000 and rises on a sliding scale for properties above this value.
Following the recent growth in the price of Bitcoin, a number of scam companies have been set up to tempt individuals to invest in Bitcoin through their websites. Be very careful when investing and ensure that the company is legitimate. It is very easy to buy Bitcoin but it can be very difficult to sell. There is no redress and you can lose 100% of your money.
HMRC have reported a surge in self-assessment scams ahead of the 31 January tax return deadline. If you are unsure as to whether you have HMRC's correct bank details when making self-assessment payments, check with your accountant or check HMRC's bank details at:
https://www.gov.uk/pay-self-assessment-tax-bill/bank-details
Ask Huw & Aled: as a self-employed individual, I have received grant funding during the pandemic in order to support my business. Is this grant funding taxable?
A significant number of different grants have been made available by different organisations during the pandemic.
The vast majority of grants, including Government schemes such as the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, are taxable and need to be included within your tax return. However, if you have fallen on hard times and obtained funding from hardship funds offered by non-governmental organisations, these may not be taxable.
In order to verify whether a source of grant funding is taxable or not, the terms and conditions of the grant contract must be reviewed in detail. Check with your accountant.
