our blog

Last year, we posted about the National Audit Office (NAO) findings that more than a quarter of matured Child Trust Funds had still not been claimed by the summer of 2023.

According to the Labour Party, there is a ‘black hole’ in public finances left unaccounted for by the previous government to the tune of £22 billion.

New legislation introduced this year makes it illegal for employers to withhold tips from their staff, overhauling gratuity practices to ensure that from 1st October 2024 workers can keep 100% of the money they have earned in the form of tips and service charges.

The threshold for repaying student loans in England and Wales, which determines the amount of money a graduate can earn annually before they must begin repaying their university loans, has been frozen at £25,000 until the 2027 tax year.

HMRC is known to send ‘nudge letters’ to taxpayers who may have undeclared taxable income – from online trading or sales suppression, for example – encouraging recipients to contact the tax agency and provide more information about their earnings.

Dividend income, which is paid to company shareholders, is taxed like most other forms of income – but there is also an annual tax-free allowance for dividends.

While this allowance was cut from £5,000 a year in 2018, it remained at £2,000 a year until 2022, after which it has been gradually reduced year on year – dropping to £1,000 in 2023 and halving again to £500 from April 2024.