Author Archives: Eliza Burke

Households should see a modest reduction in their electricity costs from 1 October 2026, when VAT on qualifying domestic electricity supplies in Great Britain is temporarily reduced from 5% to 0%. When does the VAT reduction apply? The temporary zero rate will apply from 1 October 2026 until 31 March 2027. Other domestic fuels, including […]

Businesses benefiting from the temporary 5% VAT rate for children’s meals and family attractions need to be ready for the relief to end. The temporary reduced rate applies up to and including 1 September 2026. From 2 September, affected supplies will generally return to their normal VAT treatment, which in many cases means the standard […]

The approved mileage rate for employees using their own cars or vans for business journeys has increased from 45p to 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in a tax year. Importantly, the increase has been backdated to 6 April 2026, so employers and employees should review mileage payments already made during the […]

Be sure to check the contents if you do receive the letter HMRC has started sending 2025/26 Simple Assessment letters to pensioners from 12 August 2026. If you receive one, it is important to check the figures carefully rather than assume that HMRC’s calculation must be correct. HMRC expects to issue around 1.8 million Simple […]

If you have recently joined Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax, or you are still uncertain about what the new rules mean for you, now is the time to act. The first quarterly update for many self-employed individuals and landlords was due by 7 August 2026. If you have not yet submitted your first […]

The Government is consulting on an extension to HMRC’s existing debt recovery powers that would allow lower-value tax debts to be recovered through affordable monthly deductions from taxpayers’ bank and building society accounts. HMRC already has powers to recover certain tax debts directly from bank accounts in limited circumstances. The consultation proposes extending those powers […]