Topic 3 Flashcards
UK tax resident
Someone who lives in the UK for 183 or more days in a tax year. If they live in the UK for less than 183 days, a Statutory Residence Test is carried out to see if they should be considered a UK tax resident.
Domicile
The country considered to be an individual’s home by the tax authorities. It is usually their father’s domicile, or their mother’s domicile if the parents were not married.
Deemed domicile – someone who is not UK‑domiciled but has been a UK tax resident for 15 of the previous 20 tax years.
Domicile of choice – it is possible to change from UK domicile by moving abroad and permanently severing all ties with the UK – it takes a long time and can be challenged.
Gift Aid
Can apply to gifts made by a tax payer to a registered UK charity. The gift is made net of basic rate tax, and the charity can reclaim the tax deducted. So, if basic rate tax is 20%, the individual pays £80 and completes a Gift Aid declaration. The charity can claim £20 income tax, giving a total donation of £100.
Tax legislation
The main statute relating to taxation is the Income and Corporation Taxes Act
1988 but there are other sources of tax law.Some of these take the form of
statutes (ie legislation passed by Parliament), while others are case law (ie law
established by the decisions made by judges in court cases
Tax year
in the UK, a tax year (also known as a fiscal year)
runs from 6 April in one calendar year to 5 April in the next.
Residence
A person who is resident and domiciled in the UK will be subject to UK income
tax on their worldwide earned and unearned income, whether or not such
income is brought into the UK.
CAPITAL GAINS TAX
Tax payable on the gain made when certain assets (eg personal property
above a specific value, or business assets) are disposed of, usually by
selling them
EARNED INCOME
Income from employment or self‑employment (profits, salary, tips,
commission, bonuses and pension benefits).
UNEARNED INCOME
Income that is not derived from employment or self‑employment
(interest/dividends from investments, rental income, trust income, etc).
WHY IS DOMICILE IMPORTANT?
Domicile mainly affects liability to IHT.
If a person is domiciled in the UK, IHT is chargeable on assets
anywhere in the world, whereas for persons not domiciled in
the UK, tax is due only on assets in the UK.
People who are not UK‑domiciled but have been resident in the
UK for tax purposes in at least 15 of the previous 20 tax years
are deemed to be UK‑domiciled for IHT purposes
Which of the following people would be most likely to be a ‘UK resident’?
a) Susan, who normally lives in Spain but spends three months a
year working for the family business in England.
b) Antoine, a French surveyor, whose eight‑month contract in
Devon with a construction company started in May.
c) Max, who moved to London from Cologne on 6 January for a
seven‑month teaching contract.
d) Brenda, who spends 180 days a year in the UK and the remainder
in the USA
Answer b) Antoine is correct. Answer c) is not correct because three months
of Max’s contract are in one tax year and the rest in the following year. He
will not spend 183 days in either tax year in the UK
Which of the following will not be subject to UK inheritance tax
upon death?
a) UK property owned by Paolo, who has lived in the UK for three
years but is not UK domiciled.
b) Overseas property owned by Kavita, who was born in the US (to
American parents) but has lived in the UK for the past 18 years.
c) Overseas property owned by Helena, who is UK resident but
not UK domiciled nor deemed domiciled.
d) Overseas property owned by David, who is UK domiciled but
resident in France
c) As Helena is not UK domiciled she will not pay IHT on overseas assets
For a child, which of the following would be subject to income tax?
a) All earned income.
b) An educational grant.
c) Any earned income that exceeds their personal allowance.
d) A settlement from their parents
C) Any earned income that exceeds their personal allowance. The
settlement from their parents (answer d) will be taxed as the parents’
income, the educational grant (answer b) is tax‑free, and they would
not pay tax on all of their earned income (answer a), only that which
exceeds their personal allowance
Allowances
All UK residents, including children from the day of their birth, have a personal
allowance, ie an amount of income that can be received each year before
income tax begins to be charged.
Personal allowance
the personal allowance threshold usually determines
the rate above which income tax is charged. Individuals whose annual
income exceeds an upper threshold have their personal allowance reduced,
depending how much their earnings exceed the threshold
Marriage allowance
it is possible for an individual to transfer part of
their basic personal allowance to their spouse or civil partner, providing
the transferor is not liable to income tax at all and the recipient is not liable
to income tax at the higher or additional rate
Married couple’s allowance
this allowance is available if one partner in a
marriage or civil partnership was born before 6 April 1935. The allowance
is provided as tax relief and is limited to a percentage of the applicable
allowance amount
Blind person’s allowance
this allowance is available to those registered
as blind with a local authority. If the allowance cannot be used by the
individual, it can be transferred to their spouse or civil partner
Personal savings allowance (PSA)
this enables savers to receive a certain
amount of savings interest tax‑free. The tax‑free amount decreases for
higher‑rate taxpayers and there is no tax‑free savings interest allowance
for additional‑rate taxpayers
Dividend allowance (DA)
where an individual’s aggregate dividend
income in a tax year falls within the DA, no tax is payable
Allowances for property and trading income
o‑called
‘micro‑entrepreneurs’ who supplement their main income with property
or trading income are entitled to an additional allowance. There are two
separate allowances, one for trading income and one for property income.
The allowances apply to those who, for example, make small amounts of
money by selling on eBay or by renting a room in their house or a parking
space. If trading/property income is less than the allowance, then no tax is
payable on that income; if it is more than the allowance, then the individual
has the choice to either deduct the allowance from trading/property income
or calculate profit in the usual way and deduct allowable expenses
Deductions
In addition to these allowances, taxpayers are permitted to make certain
deductions from their gross income before their tax liability is calculated.
These deductions include:
certain pension contributions (within specified limits) – for example, a
scheme set up by an employer;
certain charitable contributions;
allowable expenses – such as costs incurred in carrying out one’s
employment
For self‑employed people, allowable expenses can
can only be incurred “wholly
and exclusively for the purpose of trade”
for employed persons allowable expenses
must be incurred “wholly, exclusively and necessarily” while doing the job
Taxable income
When all the relevant deductions have been made from a person’s gross
income, what remains is their taxable income. This is the amount to which the
appropriate tax rate(s) is applied in order to calculate the tax due.
FACTFIND
For the latest rates and allowances, check:
www.gov.uk/income‑tax‑rates
Income bands and tax rates
PAYE tax rate Rate of tax Annual earnings the rate applies to (above the PAYE threshold)
Basic tax rate 20% Up to £37,700
Higher tax rate 40% From £37,701 to £125,140
Additional tax rate 45% Above £125,140
Paying income tax
ncome taxed at source
In some cases, HMRC collects income tax at source, ie from the person who
makes the payment, not the recipient.
An example of where tax is deducted at source is PAYE (see section 3.4.2).
Employers deduct tax weekly or monthly (as appropriate) from wages and
salaries, which are then paid to the employee net of tax
How do employees pay income tax?
Employees pay income tax under the pay‑as‑you‑earn (PAYE) system. Employers
use tables supplied by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to calculate the tax
due from each employee; they then deduct the appropriate amount from their
wages or salary and pass it to HMRC. In order to deduct the right amount of
tax, the employer is supplied with a tax code number for each employee: the
tax code relates to the amount that the employee can earn without paying
tax, taking account of allowances, exemptions, and adjustments for taxable
employee benefits (commonly referred to as benefits in kind) and for amounts
overpaid or underpaid from previous years
P60
A P60 is issued to each employee by the employer in May each year. This shows,
for the previous tax year, total tax deducted, National Insurance contributions
(NICs) and the final tax code.