Author: Neil Dando

How divorce can affect property, pensions, investments and future tax bills. Divorce or the end of a civil partnership often involves difficult personal and financial decisions. Tax may not be the first point on the list, but it can change the real value of a settlement. A proposed division of assets may look fair on…

Key planning points for businesses ahead of the 2029 mandate. E-invoicing is moving from a software choice to a compliance and finance planning issue. The government has confirmed that e-invoicing will become mandatory for all VAT invoices from April 2029. HMRC and the Department for Business and Trade are due to publish an implementation roadmap…

The UK crypto industry has reached a “significant milestone” after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) confirmed new rules for firms operating in the sector. From October 2027, crypto firms will need to meet tougher standards on financial resilience, market integrity and consumer protection. The regime will apply to trading platforms, intermediaries, custodians, stablecoin issuers and…

More than 5 million homeowners are expected to see their monthly mortgage repayments rise by the end of 2028, according to new Bank of England forecasts. That is 1m more than the Bank predicted in December, with the change linked to the economic impact of the Iran war and higher energy prices. The Bank’s latest…

According to the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) latest annual report and accounts, fraudulent benefit overpayments reached £9.9bn in 2025/26. The overall overpayment rate fell slightly from 3.3% to 3.2% of benefit spending measured for fraud and error. However, the total value increased from £9.4bn to £9.9bn because overall benefit expenditure rose during the…

HMRC collected £938.8 billion in tax and National Insurance receipts during 2025/26, an increase of 9.3% on the previous year. Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax and National Insurance remained the largest sources of revenue, together accounting for 59% of total receipts. The figures underline the continued importance of employment and personal taxation to Government finances.…

The benefits worth knowing and the limits to plan for. Salary sacrifice can be a useful way to reduce tax and National Insurance, increase pension savings and access certain employee benefits at a lower net cost. Used well, it can reduce the tax and National Insurance paid on some benefits, preserve allowances that would otherwise…

Running more than one limited company is common for many owner-managers. You might have a trading company alongside a property company, a separate company for a different service line, a holding company above the group, or an old company kept for a brand name. Each company may have made sense when it was set up.…

The Government has unveiled further details of its plans to give workers on zero and low-hours contracts greater certainty over their working patterns. This comes despite warnings from businesses that the reforms could harm employment prospects for younger workers. Under recent proposals, employees who regularly work more hours than their contracted amount could become entitled…

Too many people face a significant drop in income when they retire, with the majority unlikely to save enough to maintain a moderate standard of living, according to a new report from Pensions UK. The trade body estimates that a moderate retirement lifestyle now requires an annual income of £32,700 for a single person and…

UK businesses are turning to temporary workers rather than permanent staff as weak confidence, rising costs and global uncertainty weigh on hiring plans, recruiters say. A new report from recruitment firms says permanent staff appointments fell in May at the fastest rate for 10 months. Employers appear reluctant to expand their long-term headcount while the…

Higher borrowing costs are putting fresh pressure on homebuyers, with many now spending the largest share of their income on mortgage repayments since the 2008 financial crisis. Analysis from UK Finance, the trade body for the banking and finance industry, shows buyers are spending an average of 21.3% of gross household income on initial mortgage…

What business owners need to know before borrowing from their company. Many business owners withdraw funds from their companies beyond salary and dividends at some point. It could cover a short-term personal cost, help with a property deposit, or bridge the gap between dividend declarations. That flexibility can be useful, but director’s loan accounts come…

How to manage your UK tax position when living or working overseas. Spending time abroad for work has become much more common. You might be moving for a posting, taking a permanent role overseas, working remotely from another country, or returning to the UK after several years away. What often surprises people is how far…

UK construction firms are facing some of the steepest cost increases in almost 30 years, as the war in Iran pushes up fuel, energy and raw material prices. A closely watched survey of UK construction companies found that input cost inflation rose sharply in April, reaching its highest level since June 2022, when commodity prices…

A new survey suggests that British households are bracing for renewed financial pressure as conflict in the Middle East dampens economic confidence. Consumer confidence in the UK has fallen at its fastest quarterly rate since June 2022, when inflation surged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed up global commodity prices. The survey, which tracks measures…

British Steel is set to return to public ownership after Sir Keir Starmer announced plans for new legislation giving the Government powers to take full control of the company. The Prime Minister said the move would be subject to a public interest test, which will consider issues such as national security, critical infrastructure and economic…

Government borrowing costs have risen sharply as investors react to uncertainty over the future of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. The effective interest rate on 10-year Government borrowing briefly reached 5.13%, close to levels last seen during the 2008 global financial crisis. Longer-term borrowing also came under pressure, with the 30-year gilt yield hitting 5.81%,…

Simple ways to use the reliefs available on qualifying gifts. Giving to charity is often driven by values rather than tax planning, but the tax treatment still matters. Used properly, the available reliefs can make a donation go further, lower your tax bill, or both. HMRC’s latest charity tax relief statistics show that tax reliefs…

Review systems, suppliers and processes before the deadline. E-invoicing has moved from a back-office improvement to a planning issue for UK businesses. The government has said that all VAT invoices will need to be issued as e-invoices from April 2029. In practice, that mainly affects business-to-business and business-to-government VAT invoices, rather than ordinary business-to-consumer sales.…