Below we have summarised some of the areas to be aware of in the next 12 months for tax and other business regulations. While the list is not exhaustive and not all areas may be applicable to every individual or business, it is intended to provide useful insights and guidance. This was accurate at the time of publishing (28 March 2025).
Here are the tax rate tables for 24-25 and 25-26.
Table of contents:
1) Use of Pensions
2) Employment Allowance and Employers National Insurance
3) Inheritance Tax
4) Capital Gains Tax rates
5) Stamp Duty Land Tax
6) Making Tax Digital for those who have trading (not partnerships), rental or a combination of both income in excess of £50k
7) Companies House changes
8) Furnished Holiday Lets
9) Properties held in a Company – ATED
10) Corporation Tax Payment Deadlines
11) Scottish Changes
12) P11D’s
13) Company Cars
14) Double Cab Pick Ups and Crew Cab Vans
15) HMRC Interest Rates & Corporation Tax payments
16) Late Payment Penalty Increases
17) Assistance
1 Use of Pensions
With the tax year ending, now is a good time (especially for higher or additional rate taxpayers) to consider making additional personal pension contributions (provided you are within your allowances and thresholds) to help mitigate your tax. Paying more into a pension can assist with:
- Staying in the basic rates of tax
- Protecting from the child benefit loss for those who have incomes of £60k – £80k
- Protecting against the loss of the personal allowance, which starts at £100k and the associated tax free childcare issues.
- In addition, considering paying into spouses’ pensions can be tax advantageous or even children can receive £2,880 net per year from a parent.
2 Employment Allowance and Employers National Insurance
For the tax year starting 6 April 2025, the Employers NI allowance will increase to £10,500 from £5,000 for those business with employers NI below £100k in a year.
However, the Employers NI is also increasing to 15% and the threshold where you start paying this from is decreasing from £9,100 to £5,000. This reduction alone creates additional Employers NI of £615.
We have written a small article – Employers National Insurance Increases from 6 April 2025
For smaller businesses it may be worthwhile considering having larger salaries and lower dividends to make use of the threshold, albeit it does mean tax is collected sooner than via self-assessment, so cashflow needs to be considered as you have to pay PAYE and National Insurance much sooner.
3 Inheritance Tax
These announced Inheritance changes in the 2024 Autumn Budget are not currently law and there is a consultation happening at present to prepare draft legislation. Some planning can be carried out now, but without sight of what is going to be tax law there is still uncertainty – Reforms to Inheritance Tax agricultural property relief and business property relief: application in relation to trusts – GOV.UK
4 Capital Gains Tax Rates
The Business Asset Disposal Relief tax rate increases from 10% to 14% from 6 April 2025 and to 18% from 6 April 2026. Other capital gains tax aligned to be the same from 30 October 2024 to 18% up to basic rates of tax and 24% for higher rates of tax.
There is no pro rating of losses or gains in the year. Gains are taxed at the rate depending on the date of disposal and losses can be utilised in the most tax efficient manner in the tax year.
CGT and SDLT rates increased in Budget | ICAEW
5 Stamp duty Land Tax (SDLT)
The residential nil rate band is being reduced to £125k from £250k on 1 April 2025 meaning an additional tax charge of £2,500. For those looking to buy a 2nd home the surcharge was increased to 5% from 31 October 2024.
6 Making Tax Digital
From 6th April 2026, self-employed businesses and landlords with income (not profit) exceeding £50,000 will be required to comply with Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax. This will involve maintaining digital records and submitting quarterly returns to HMRC using compatible software. At the end of the year, a standard tax return will still need to be submitted.
Furthermore, from 6th April 2027, this income threshold will be reduced to £30,000.
If you are not currently using software for your record-keeping or accounting, we can assist in preparing this for you, or alternatively, you will need to familiarise yourself with MTD-compliant software.
Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax – GOV.UK
7 Companies House Changes
ID requirements from 8 April 2025
From 8 April 2025, anyone setting up, running, owning or controlling a company in the UK will need to verify their identity to prove they are who they claim to be. This is mandatory for all new company directors and People with Significant Control (PSCs) on incorporation and appointment from Autumn 2025, and existing directors and PSC’s have a year to complete these new requirements.
This can be done through GOV.UK One Login, or through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP), which our firm will be registering for. We will need to charge a small fee where we carry out these checks. If the ID we hold for you has expired, or you have moved address, we will require new copies.
When an ACSP verifies someone’s identity, they must:
- collect the person’s full name, date of birth, address for the last 12 months and e-mail address;
- review documents that verify the person’s identity;
- authenticate documentation using Identification Document Validation Technology (IDVT) or manually by a trained professional; and
- ensure the identity belongs to the person claiming it by cross-referencing documents and biometric data.
Suppress Historical Personal Data
From Spring/Summer you will be able to suppress historical personal data held on Companies House.
Profit and Losses
All companies will need to file summarised profit and loss statements with Companies House. The date has not yet been announced but we would expect it to be by the end of 2027.
8 Furnished Holiday Lets (FHLs)
FHLs are abolished and will be taxable as rental income from 6 April 2025.
This means instead of being able to adjust the basis by which you are taxed on between the owners of the property annually, you will now be taxed on your beneficial ownership levels. It may be advisable to change this basis on or before 31 March 2025 (due to SDLT), or up to 5 April 2025 (if a mortgage is below £250k), which we can assist with. Certain forms also are required to be sent to HMRC within 60 days of any change otherwise they will not recognise this.
9 Properties held in a Company – ATED
If you hold a residential dwelling inside of a company with a value of £500k+ (based on the 1 April 2022 valuation or if later, the date of acquisition) you may need to complete an ATED form by 30 April 2025, which we can assist with. In most cases there is no tax charge, but the form still needs completing. Please contact us if you are unsure.
10 Cryptoassets
For our clients who have these, there will be separate boxes on the tax return to separate these out from other Capital Gains entries.
11 Scottish Changes
For our clients living in Scotland please visit this ICAEW link – Scottish Budget makes income tax changes | ICAEW
12 P11D’s
The tax year ended 5 April 2026 will be the last year that P11D’s will be required for non-cash benefits. From 6 April 2026 these will need to be payrolled, which may mean a double tax hit for employees that received a P11d for 2024/25 with any tax code adjustments from the prior year overlapping with the payrolled benefits in 2025/26. Payrolling benefits will increase admin for employers and will need to be considered on a month-by-month basis.
13 Company Car Rates
If you cease or acquire a company car, you need to make HMRC aware of this. We can complete the required forms on your behalf, but it is important to make us aware. Here are the company car rates up to 2029-2030.
14 Double Cab Pick Up Trucks and Crew Cab and Multi-Purpose Vans
Any new double cab pick up trucks purchased from 6 April 2025 will now be treated as a car for Income Tax, Corporation Tax, Capital Allowance but as a van for VAT. Existing double cap pick up trucks will retain the current van tax treatment to 5 April 2029 (at the latest).
Please take care if you are looking at purchasing crew cab and/or multi-purpose vans. When they are available for private use, they may be deemed to be taxable as a car and not a van for income tax. The difference in tax for the employee and the employer can be significant.
Fully electric vans have 0% BIK rate.
15 HMRC Interest Rates
HMRC are increasing the Interest rates for late payment only from 6 April 2025 by 1.5%. This means that interest will be charged at 8.5% and paid at 3.5% in most cases.
For Corporation Tax, with HMRC paying 4.25% on early payments it may still be advisable to pay some upfront, or pay early with consideration to cashflow. Late payments will be charged at 8.5%.
For Quarterly Corporation Tax payments, the rates will be 7% and 4.25%, so it is advisable to avoid underpaying during the year and try to react to your profit expectations.
If you rather hold onto the cash then this website Best Business Savings Accounts UK | Up to 4.60% | March 2025 is a useful resource. You should always consider the £85k FSCS deposit protection.
16 Late Payment Penalty Increases
With effect from 1 April 2025, the penalties are increasing for late payment of tax as follows:
- Self-Assessment the surcharge is rising to 10% from 5%
- For VAT the penalties will rise from 2% to 3% of unpaid tax at 15 days, 2% to 3% at 30 days, and 4% to 10% from day 31.
17 Assistance
Please feel free to contact us if you need assistance with any of the above and a member of our team will be happy to help.
