New legislation is set to simplify one aspect of tax on divorce or dissolution. Marriage is not what it used to be. In 2020, 46% of births in England and Wales took place outside of a marriage or civil partnership, according to the Office for National Statistics. Even so, UK tax law still draws sharp […]
Rising interest rates could mean you may start to pay tax on interest. Since 2009, deposit interest rates have been so low that the income generated has been minimal. That fact, combined with the introduction of the personal savings allowance (PSA) in April 2016, means you may well not have had to think about […]
New data from HMRC show the Treasury’s inheritance tax (IHT) receipts have doubled since 2012/13. Of all the various taxes levied in the UK, IHT is one of the most peculiar: For a start, its name is misleading. In other countries that levy inheritance taxes, the tax is usually based on the inheritor and […]
The Bank of England has said that inflation could reach over 13% before the end of the year. But that’s the lower end of the speculation. The inflation figure in July 2022 reached an eye-watering 10.1%, as measured on the consumer prices index (CPI) yardstick. That was the highest level in 40 years, a reminder […]
The pandemic taught us many things, but some of them are already slipping away. The Covid-19 pandemic is now beginning to fade from the collective consciousness, despite the best efforts of the Omicron variants to snare those who had previously avoided the virus. It is understandable that we do not want to linger on that […]
Action Fraud is urging the public to be aware of scam emails claiming to be from Ofgem as the cost of living crisis continues. Energy prices are set to increase on 1 October 2022 and in the last two weeks, more than 1,500 reports have been made to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) about […]
There comes a time when you stop working for your money and put your money to work for you. For most people, that is retirement. The decisions you make then could have repercussions for the rest of your life, and in recent years there have been some major changes to the retirement choices you can […]
Ruth Fowler: Despite a career in banking – I was a freelance IT consultant – I have never been very good at managing my own money. My first business partner, Mick, was slightly more prudent than me, and persuaded us that we should take out life assurance. Sadly this proved very prescient as, when he unexpectedly […]
New research shows how the most recent increase in state pension age has hit those affected. The last change in State pension age (SPA) was phased in between December 2018 and October 2020. Over that period, the SPA for both men and women increased from 65 to 66. The move was controversial, not least because […]
