Houghton Stone - Chartered Accountants in Bristol

We must emphasise that this is an overview of just ‘some’ recent and upcoming legislation changes. Evidently there are significantly more legislation changes in many diverse areas.

17 th March 2005 - The stamp duty land tax threshold on residential property is increased from £60,000 to £120,000. The tax payable will remain at 1% if it is more than £120,000 but less than £250,000. The other rates and band remain unchanged.

1 st April 2005 – The turnover limit for VAT registration rises to £60,000. The turnover limit for deregistration rises to £58,000.

6 th April 2005 – The Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act, otherwise known as ITTOIA, is the third Act produced by the Tax Law Rewrite project. The Act replaces, for income tax only, Schedules A, D and F making them descriptive and hence informative. Each of the key types of income are in their own respective Part, with a separate Part for income exempt from income tax making the structure more logical. Foremost, ITTOIA amends some minor irregularities and includes a number of additional statutory concessions and accepted practices into the legislation.

1 st October 2005 – The national minimum wage is set to rise from £4.85 to £5.05 per hour and the development rate from £4.10 to £4.25 per hour.

1 st October 2005 - Under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, new regulations will require more detailed disclosure by companies of the audit and non-audit services supplied by the auditors. This legislation will apply to large rather than small and medium sized companies. For example, if the auditors produce the management accounts as well as providing the audit, then this must be disclosed.

6 th April 2006 - As of the 6 th April 2006 major changes in the pension provision in the UK will completely alter the way that people can plan for the future. The existing rules and regulations governing pension provision will be replaced by a single new piece of legislation coming to be known as ‘Pensions Simplification’, which offers a series of new wealth creation opportunities – for example, using residential property, for the first time, in your pension fund. The changes could be hugely beneficial; however, failure to act in advance of the 6 th April 2006 could bring a significant additional tax burden.

Should you require any further information on any of the above changes, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Tel: 0117 957 9000 or E-mail:info@houghtonstone.co.uk

*Disclaimer: We cannot be held responsible for any alterations to the above legislation. Although considerable effort has been taken to ensure the information contained is accurate at the time of preparation we hold no liability for any errors or omissions. We strongly recommend contacting the necessary qualified professionals in any particular case or field. We emphasise that the above detail does not constitute any legal advice.