Every week, we take a look at what is trending in the accountancy and tax press and share items that we think will interest you. However, these are only outlines and where they relate to tax planning should not be acted upon without looking into them more completely, as everyone’s circumstances are particular to them. You need to take specific advice appropriate to your own circumstances.

While every effort is made to deliver accurate, informative and balanced articles, this content is general in nature and should not be used as the sole basis for making decisions.

 

 

Will Farmers Get an IHT Respite

It is rumoured that the Treasury is reviewing options for a higher £5m threshold, which could equate to more once the nil rate band and married/civil partnership status are taken into account, as well as the regular IHT allowance.

Under the current plans, APR is set to raise an estimated additional £1.6bn by the end of the parliament in 2029.

This IHT would be charged at 20% with a 10-year repayment window, unlike regular IHT at 40% over the threshold, with only six months to pay.

It is reported that the Treasury is keeping silent on possible Budget decisions.

If the farmers’ inheritance tax threshold were to be raised to £5m per individual, the tax that was originally expected to be collected would need to come from somewhere else.

The Budget is scheduled for Wednesday, 26 November at 12.30.

 

 

New Online HICBC Service

This new service means that anyone who has to repay child benefit under the HICBC does not need to register for Self-Assessment if that was the only reason for registering. This avoids the need to file a tax return.

The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) is charged to households receiving child benefit if there is a taxpayer with an adjusted net income above £60,000. HICBC is charged on the higher earner in the household at a rate of 1% of the child benefit received for every £200 of adjusted net income above £60,000. Before

It has been necessary for taxpayers to either opt out of child benefit payments or register for self-assessment in order to declare the liability due via a self-assessment tax return.

Where the total liability due to HMRC was below £2,000, there was the opportunity for taxpayers to have the HICBC collected via their PAYE coding notice for a later tax year.

There was no option for the HICBC to be paid in real time. The 2025 Spring Statement announced a commitment to make this possible via a new HICBC service.

The new service launched in September 2025 as a means of allowing employees to pay their HICBC via PAYE, where they have no other reason to complete a self-assessment tax return. The intention is to allow them to pay the HICBC in the tax year that the charge relates to, although this will depend on when they sign up.

Individuals have until 31 January after the end of the tax year in order to register for the service. But if they have previously been registered for self-assessment, it will be necessary for them to first deregister from self-assessment before using the service.

On registering for the new service, it will check that you have de-registered for self-assessment and ask questions to help determine whether you or your partner has the higher adjusted net income for the tax year.

Where the partner is the child benefit claimant, it will use their national insurance number to pull details of their actual claim to help ensure that the HICBC is based on the exact amount of child benefit paid. The individual is then asked for details of any changes during the year.

Any future changes to the child benefit claim will then be automatically updated, such as where new children are born or adopted or where children reach the age of 16 (unless they remain in approved education or training).

 

 

F2F is Best

The last four feet, i.e. a face-to-face meeting, is human interaction, which means eye contact, pushing the agenda aside, saying yes to more coffee, and accepting another biscuit.

It’s where data, strategy, and preparation come together uninterrupted by mobiles because the most important people in the world at that moment are in that room.

The last four feet build trust and is a more human experience that you can ever get across screens. It is the coffee before the meeting, the shared cab after a conference, the lunch that moves you from ‘supplier’ to ‘partner’. These moments simply cannot be replicated from behind a screen.

It is all about human connection in the last four feet.

Preparation and slide decks are just that, but from a human perspective, they are sterile emotionally. Only in the last four feet can you read the prospect’s face or decide to hold back a slide because you are reading the room’s emotions and realise it would not fit in that moment. Only by being in that last four feet can you read all their faces and make your own instant judgements about the direction of the pitch. Maybe it’s a moment for small talk and not the hard sell.

BNI teaches you that first you must be visible, but then you must establish credibility, and only then comes profitability. Profits will not flow unless you have established credibility.

It’s about credibility, reliability, and trust.

In a world where trust is harder to win and easier to lose, you cannot delegate those moments to a computer.

So bring the research, bring the prep, bring the insight, but when the last four feet arrive, bring yourself. Because the deal is still done face-to-face.

 

 

HMRC Under-Reported VAT 

HMRC has issued revised figures for VAT revenue for the first five months of the tax year after it made an error in reporting cash receipts. This had a positive impact on the figures, resulting in an additional £2.4bn in VAT receipts for the period from April to August 2025.

The impact is an upward revision of VAT cash receipts by approximately 3% of year-to-date VAT receipts.

Total VAT receipts for April 2025 to August 2025 were £77.4bn, which is £3.2bn higher than the same period last year.

Earlier this year, the Office for National Statistics had to revise down inflation figures after the wrong road tax data was supplied by the Department for Transport.

Do you think they need an accountant?

 

 

New R&D Eligibility Tool

The tool is designed to help you gauge whether your project meets the criteria to qualify as research and development (R&D) for tax purposes before you submit a claim.

The tool has a selection of questions which need to be answered to assess the eligibility of the research work, but the depth of information required is fairly detailed.

HMRC stressed that a ‘competent professional’ would have to provide some of the more detailed information.

It is aimed at first-time claimants, businesses with limited experience in R&D tax relief, companies with limited experience or knowledge of the tax relief or anyone unsure whether their project qualifies or needs additional support.

The tool is not really designed for novices, as HMRC requires that a ‘competent professional’ is available to help with questions. They define this as someone who is suitably qualified or experienced in the field of science or technology to which the R&D project relates.

HMRC describes a competent professional as ‘someone suitably qualified or experienced in the field of science or technology to which the R&D project relates. Usually, this is someone directly involved in the project with professional expertise relevant to the advance being sought.

If at any time an answer given indicates that a project is ineligible, the questionnaire will pause, and a reason will be given explaining ineligibility. Answers can be edited at any time.

HMRC R&D tax relief checking tool

 

 

Associated Companies and Corporation Tax

A company is an associated company of another where one has control of the other, or both are under the control of the same person or persons.

Control is defined and is much wider than simply shareholding, and it is necessary to check whether there are other means of control.

The rights of associates are attributed to a person if there is ‘substantial commercial interdependence’ between companies, but only if that applies.

 

 

Minimum Wage and Travel Time to Work 

In a recent employment tribunal case, poultry workers on zero-hour contracts were collected up from their homes by their employer, who then transported the employees to poultry farms around the country to work.

The issue to decide was whether the travel time was ‘work’, as viewed by HMRC, and so should have been paid at the national minimum wage. HMRC argued that hours when a worker is travelling, and ‘where the worker would otherwise be working’, should be treated as working time. HMRC had issued notices assessing that the employers for arrears of these wages as well as penalties in relation to that travel time.

It was finally decided that the workers would not ‘otherwise be working’ during their commuting time and would have been able to use this time as they so wished, despite being in the back of a minibus.

Work meant ‘actual work, and the employer’s workers were not doing actual work while they were travelling.  Travel time was not required to be treated as working time, and so no further remuneration was payable or taxable.

 

 

 

Questions?

If you have any questions about any of these, you know where to find us. If you prefer, just give me a ring on 07770 738770 or email me at alan.long@thelongpartnership.co.uk.