Date	What’s Due
1 March	Corporation Tax for year to 30/05/2024, unless quarterly instalments apply.
19 March	PAYE & NIC deductions, and CIS return and tax, for month to 05/03/2025 (due 22/03 if you pay electronically).
26 March	Spring Forecast: the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, will present her Spring forecast.
1 April	Corporation Tax for year to 30/06/2024, unless quarterly instalments apply.
5 April	End of the 2024/25 tax year – many tax planning actions need to have been taken by this date.
6 April	Start of the 2025/26 tax year.
19 April	PAYE & NIC deductions, and CIS return and tax, for month to 05/04/2025 (due 22/04 if you pay electronically).
30 April	Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) returns and payment for the chargeable period starting on 1 April 2025.

 

The table below sets out the HMRC advisory fuel rates from 1 March 2025. These are the suggested reimbursement rates for employees’ private mileage using their company car.

Where the employer does not pay for any fuel for the company car these are the amounts that can be reimbursed in respect of business journeys without the amount being taxable on the employee.

Engine Size	Petrol	Diesel	LPG
1400cc or less	12p (12p)		11p (11p)
1600cc or less		12p (11p)
1401cc to 2000cc	15p (14p)		13p (13p)
1601 to 2000cc		13p (13p)
Over 2000cc	23p (23p)	17p (17p)	21p (21p)

 

Previous rates are shown in brackets.

 

You can also continue to use the previous rates for up to 1 month from the date the new rates apply.

Note that for hybrid cars, you must use the petrol or diesel rate.

For fully electric vehicles the rate is 7p (7p) per mile.

Employees using their own cars

For employees using their own cars for business purposes, the Advisory Mileage Allowance Payment (AMAP) tax-free reimbursement rate continues to be 45 pence per mile (plus 5p per passenger) for the first 10,000 business miles, reducing to 25 pence a mile thereafter. Note that for National Insurance contribution purposes the employer can continue to reimburse at the 45p rate as the 10,000 mile threshold does not apply.

Input VAT

Within the 45p/25p AMAP payments, the amounts in the above table represent the fuel element. The employer is able to reclaim 20/120 of the fuel amount as input VAT provided the claim is supported by a VAT invoice from the filling station. For a 2500cc petrol-engine car, 4 pence per mile can be reclaimed as input VAT (23p x 1/6).

 

Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) is payable by ‘non-natural persons’, such as companies, that hold an interest in UK residential property valued at over £500,000. The ATED charge is based on the value of the property and applies unless an available relief is claimed.

One such available relief is for dwellings that are let to a third party on a commercial basis and are not, at any time, occupied, or available for occupation, by anyone connected with the owner. If this relief applies, it should be claimed in an ATED return.

ATED is payable for a chargeable period ending on 31 March each year. Returns must be filed within 30 days of the period commencing, so returns for the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 must be filed on or after 1 April 2025, and no later than 30 April 2025.

Over the coming months, HMRC will be sending ‘One-to-Many’ letters to companies that own one or more dwellings valued at over £500,000, declared no profits in their Corporation Tax returns between 2017 and 2020 and either filed no ATED returns or claimed the relief outlined above. The letter explains that as the company’s tax returns show that it did not make a taxable profit, it may not have been run on a commercial basis, with a view to a profit. In such cases, the ATED relief will not apply.

The letter asks companies to review their ATED position and respond within 40 days, either providing further information, making a disclosure or filing any outstanding returns. If HMRC do not receive a response within the set time, they may raise a discovery assessment and penalties may apply.

2024 was the first year for which digital platforms such as Amazon and eBay were required to send information about vendors to HMRC. The reporting requirements apply unless the vendor made fewer than 30 sales in a year and received less than €2,000 (approximately £1,700) for those sales.

The new rules merely strengthen HMRC’s data collection powers and do not create any new tax obligations for individuals. It does however mean that if an online trader has not been declaring their income, HMRC are more likely to find out about it!

There has been a lot of misinformation online and on social media surrounding the new rules, leading people to believe that they’ll have to pay tax on their sales from having a clear-out and selling their unwanted possessions! This isn’t necessarily the case. In a recent educational campaign, HMRC set out the circumstances in which tax would be due. They say, “Selling stuff for some extra money might just feel like a fun hobby you do on the side, but it could also count as something HMRC calls ‘trading’”. The definition of trading is complex, but generally it means that the activity is pursued with a view to making a profit. HMRC go on to say. “Just casually selling some unwanted personal belongings from time to time? It’s unlikely you’ll need to pay any tax on this.”

The campaign also addresses the £1,000 trading allowance.  If a person’s sales income from trading is £1,000 or less in a tax year, that trading income does not need to be declared; if sales from trading exceed £1,000, then that trade needs to be declared on a self assessment tax return.

2024 saw an increase in the main rates of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) for disposals taking place on or after 30 October 2024 (now 18% and 24%). It was also announced that the rate of CGT on Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR) gains would increase from 10% to 14% from 6 April 2025, with a further increase to 18% planned from 6 April 2026. The upcoming change means that getting the timing of BADR-qualifying disposals wrong could mean you paying more CGT.

As a general rule, the disposal date for CGT purposes, for unconditional contracts, is when the contract is entered into, rather than the time that it is completed. New rules prevent using unconditional contracts to secure the lower rates of CGT. There are also new rules that prevent using elections to lock in the lower rate of CGT when share exchanges or reorganisations take place. If you are planning to make a BADR-qualifying disposal, please speak to us so that we can help you avoid any pitfalls!

With just over a year to go before Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD for IT) is mandated, now is the time to consider whether your business will be required to comply with the new requirements from 6 April 2026.

If you are a sole trader or run an unincorporated property business, and your ‘qualifying income’ (generally turnover from a sole trade or property business) is £50,000 or more in the 2024/25 tax year, you will be mandated into MTD for IT from 6 April 2026. It’s too early to know your 2024/25 income until your accounts or tax return have been prepared for the tax year, but your 2023/24 self assessment tax return should give you an indication as to whether or not you’ll be mandated. If your qualifying income in 2023/24 was above or nearing £50,000, and you expect it to stay at around that level or increase for 2024/25, then there’s a good chance that you’ll be mandated.

HMRC are taking this approach. They have said that they’ll use 2023/24 returns (the deadline for which was 31 January 2025) to identify which taxpayers are likely to be mandated from 6 April 2026. They’ll be sending those taxpayers a letter in the coming months, advising them that they’re likely to be mandated and explaining why.

If you receive such a letter, or if you’d like to know more about preparing for MTD for IT, please let us know. MTD for IT will involve keeping your detailed accounting records in compatible software and sending quarterly digital reports to HMRC. This might be a big change for some, but it could actually benefit you. We can help you choose the most suitable software and implement the required processes in a way that adds value to your business.

Date	What’s Due
1 February	Corporation Tax for year to 30/04/2024, unless quarterly instalments apply.
19 February	PAYE & NIC deductions, and CIS return and tax, for month to 05/02/2025 (due 22/02 if you pay electronically).
1 March	Corporation Tax for year to 31/05/2024, unless quarterly instalments apply.
19 March	PAYE & NIC deductions, and CIS return and tax, for month to 05/03/2025 (due 22/03 if you pay electronically).
26 March	Spring Forecast: The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, will present her Spring forecast.

In 2024 we saw a lot of legal cases that examined the VAT rating of food and drink and it appears this trend is continuing into 2025! The VAT rating of food and drink has always been a contentious topic but in the case of Global By Nature Ltd v HMRC (TC09396) we can see the first time that a tribunal or court has examined the VAT law covering ‘sports drinks’.

VAT legislation allows food and drink (other than catering) to be zero-rated but there is quite a long list of foods and drinks that are exceptions to the zero-rating and so are subject to VAT at 20%. One such exception is “Sports drinks that are advertised or marketed as products designed to enhance physical performance, accelerate recovery after exercise or build bulk” and this includes powders or syrups that are used to make such drinks.

In the Tribunal, HMRC argued that the above legal wording provides a definition of ‘sports drinks’, in that they are drinks that are “advertised or marketed as products designed to enhance physical performance, accelerate recovery after exercise or build bulk”. They said that Global By Nature Ltd’s drink powders were sports drinks, they were marketed as such, and were standard rated.

Global by Nature Ltd (GBN) argued that their powders, whilst intended to be consumed as a drink, were not ‘sports drinks’ and, even if they were, they were not marketed as such.

The Tribunal agreed with GBN in that two tests should be used to determine whether a product met the conditions in the legislation:

• Is the product a sports drink?
• If so, is it advertised or marketed as products designed to enhance physical performance, accelerate recovery after exercise or build bulk?

‘Sports drink’ is not defined anywhere in law, so after examining various dictionary definitions and uses of the phrase, the tribunal decided that GBN’s powders did not contain enough carbohydrate to be considered sports drinks. As they were not sports drinks, how they were advertised or marketed did not need to be considered – they did not fall within the exception and could be zero rated.

It is possible to claim Income Tax relief on eligible employment expenses that have not been reimbursed by your employer. If you file a self assessment tax return, relief must be claimed on the employment pages, but for employees who do not file a self assessment, it is possible to claim tax relief using an online form (P87). This follows a period during which HMRC had temporarily suspended the online form process due to a high number of ineligible claims being made. When making a claim it will be necessary to provide evidence of the expenses incurred.

Expenses on which tax relief can be claimed include:

• Working from home (if your employment contract requires you to do so).
• Repairing or replacing a uniform or small tools.
• Travel for business journeys (not journeys to or from work).
• Professional fees and subscriptions.

HMRC has published new guidance regarding a change in the interpretation of how Double-Cab Pickup (DCPU) vehicles should be classified for car benefit, capital allowances and some deductions from business profits purposes.  Previously, HMRC accepted that if the payload of a DCPU was 1 tonne or more, it was a goods vehicle, not a car, and therefore qualified for beneficial capital allowances and benefit in kind treatment.

Following the government’s announcement in Autumn Budget 2024, from April 2025 (1^st for companies, 6^th for individuals), HMRC will no longer apply the payload test and instead consider the vehicle’s primary suitability when it was constructed. As DCPUs are ‘dual-purpose’ they are not primarily suited to carrying goods or burden and so will be classed as cars.

Transitional arrangements are in place, so if you are considering purchasing a DCPU, bear in mind that ordering a DCPU prior to 6 April 2025 could ensure that the more attractive benefit in kind tax treatment that applies to goods vehicles is available for a few more years. For capital allowances purposes, entering into a contract to purchase a DCPU prior to 1/6 April 2025 will secure the beneficial capital allowances treatment for goods vehicles, provided the date the obligation to pay for the DCPU is before 1 October 2025.