From the Personal Savings Allowance and Dividend Allowance to the Help to Buy Isa, how can savers make the most of their Isa this tax year? March 15, 2016 The world of Isas was once a sleepy one. At every Budget, the chancellor would typically increase the amount you could contribute each tax year by some measure of inflation. You had a simple choice between putting that money into a cash or a stocks and shares Isa (or a slightly restrictive combination of the [...]
Budget 2016: Labour’s London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan urges chancellor George Osborne to take “emergency action” on housing March 14, 2016 Ahead of George Osborne's Budget this week Labour's London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan has called on the chancellor to take "emergency action" to help fix London's housing crisis. Khan is pushing Osborne to help double the number of homes built in the capital fo more than 50,000 a year. He warned that the capital's housing [...]
Budget 2016 predictions: A spread of tax raising measures are coming – from raising capital gains tax to tackling salary sacrifice schemes March 14, 2016 Next week’s Budget looms large as experts are anticipating wide-ranging changes, with chancellor George Osborne tweaking tax to raise revenue and balance the books. Pensions were widely anticipated to be an area of huge upheaval, but Osborne has now delayed plans to fiddle with the system. It’s more likely that lots of niche areas are targeted. [...]
Budget 2016: Chancellor George Osborne to kick start £16bn B&B sell-off March 12, 2016 Chancellor George Osborne is gearing up to kick start a £16bn sale of bailed-out banking group Bradford and Bingley (B&B) loans in next week's Budget. Osborne decided to include the projected sale of the mortgage lender on Wednesday, following weeks of discussions with Treasury officials. The timing of the auction is unclear, and it may not conclude for months, giving investor's appetites [...]
What does the latest forecast mean for Osborne’s budget? March 10, 2016 Following David Cameron and George Osborne's failure to extend Sunday trading laws, more bad news has arrived in the form of the ICAEW's economic forecast which could spell trouble for Osborne's Budget proposal next week. ICAEW's forecast has UK companies investing less this year due to declining business confidence, volatile global financial markets and a fall in [...]
Give booming London more control of tax to create a virtuous circle of new homes and better transport March 10, 2016 For decades, transport has been at the top of Londoners’ list of concerns. Weary commuters reading their copy of City A.M. on today’s commute will know all too well how delays and congestion can make travelling in the morning peak draining. But as a result of the sustained efforts of successive mayors, borough leaders and [...]
Fresh start for Argentina: Investors say Argentina is the bright spot in Latin America as President Mauricio Macri ends 15-year long dispute with hedge funds and gets serious about economic reform March 8, 2016 The land of beef, red wine, ranches and hinterland. Argentina is on the cusp of great change. The combination of a newly elected pro-change President, Mauricio Macri, and the resolution of a nearly 15-year long dispute with international lenders both mean Argentina is going to draw a line under its checkered past. Experts are now tipping [...]
Landlords are switching to company status ahead of stamp duty hike and the upcoming cuts in buy to let tax reliefs March 7, 2016 Landlords are increasingly setting themselves up as companies ahead of upcoming tax changes in the buy-to-let market. Tax breaks which allow landlords to claim for wear and tear on their properties and deduct mortgage interest from their overall tax bill are to be cut from 2017. It’s because the government wants landlords to be taxed on [...]
As Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch walk down the aisle, we sum up weddings in numbers: from venue costs and gift lists to tax tips for married couples and engagement ring costs March 4, 2016 Love is in the air, especially if you're in London. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and supermodel Jerry Hall have, according to various reports, tied the knot today at Spencer House. The two seem like a financially-savvy pair so we're sure they'd appreciate knowing these numbers behind weddings: 1. Friends and family thinking about their budget for [...]
As the collapse of Powa shows, fintech can be a dangerous game because the UK’s capital structure is prohibitive to growth March 4, 2016 Another day, another failed fintech business. I don’t say this glibly as it is in my interests to be part of a thriving UK financial technology industry. I do however think that we need to analyse ‘sustainable’ fintech and concentrate on that arena. Companies like Powa Technologies, the payments group, stand out. Powa was at [...]