Contractor Financials

In this month’s Planet Contractor we gauge the impact of today’s budget speech on our clients as an unexpected £11billion undershoot in the deficit figures did nothing to dramatically improve the room for manoeuvre that George Osborne had to work with. This was therefore no giveaway budget but there were, however, promises of jam tomorrow …

Time is fast running out for Contractors who may be hoping to take advantage a key tax saving opportunity. The suspension of stamp duty land tax offers first time buyers, purchasing their first home, relief from this brutal tax on a house value of up to a value of £250,000. This saving of up to …

With the New Year now firmly underway it’s time to shrug off those January blues and plan for what’s sure to be another eventful year If the last 4 very dramatic years on Planet Contractor have shown us anything it’s that, as a Freelancer, it is vital to plan ahead so that you’re ready to …

The news that we have been anticipating in the last four issues of Planet Contractor finally broke this month with the announcement that the annual pensions allowance will be cut to £50k. Amongst other changes related to pension tax relief and with the changes set for April 2011, we urge Contractors to make hay while …

The Liberal Democrats conference this week was used to showpiece a crackdown on tax avoidance to the tune of £7bn and this in conjunction with pre-stated aims to restrict pension tax relief means that we urge Contractors to act now before regulations change. It is a well known fact that pensions tax relief has been …

The deadline is fast approaching to use the current freedom on pension’s tax relief following last month’s Planet Contractor article on the impending new £40k allowance. The treasury announced last month that there will potentially be a new allowance of £40k a year for higher rate pension’s tax relief, subject to a public consultation. The …

In a follow up to last month’s emergency budget coverage on Planet Contractor, the Treasury has suggested that they will limit the annual allowance for tax relief on pension investment to £40k, subject to a consultation with industry leaders, employers and investors. George Osborne made it clear that he disagreed with the earnings related cap …

The devil is in the detail and Osborne’s emergency budget today was no exception. A seemingly throw away comment about higher rate pensions relief may end up having a massive impact on Contractors. Here we look at the impact of a change in the annual allowance. When George Osborne stood up to address the house …

We were forewarned that this would be a harsh budget; in fact David Cameron reportedly said it would be the worst since the Second World War, but no-one could have predicted all of the cost cutting measures that the new chancellor would have to employ. One of the worst hit areas is personal taxation, with …

The 6th May election resulted in a hung parliament for the UK and after tense negotiations Nick Clegg got in to bed with David Cameron to form a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition. Whilst many of us are excited by the prospect of a fresh start for politics and the economy, there is concern that changes to …