SC Tax

SC Tax We create expert tax solutions to complex financial situations.

Cashing in an investment bond? Don’t pay more than you need to.When a life insurance investment bond pays out, the whole...
10/10/2026

Cashing in an investment bond? Don’t pay more than you need to.

When a life insurance investment bond pays out, the whole gain is added to your income for that one tax year. A gain built up over many years can suddenly push you into a higher tax band.

Top slicing relief helps. The gain is divided by the number of complete years you held the bond, and that “slice” is used to work out your tax rate. If the slice fits within your basic rate band, there may be no extra tax to pay.

Example: Jane earns £40,000 and cashes in a UK bond with a £50,000 gain, held for 10 years. Without relief, she’d pay around £7,900 in extra tax. With top slicing relief, her £5,000 slice keeps her in the basic rate band, so there’s nothing more to pay.

Good to know:

- UK bonds come with a 20% tax credit, so basic rate tax is treated as already paid
- You can usually take up to 5% a year of what you paid in, for 20 years, without an immediate tax charge
- Timing matters: cashing in when your other income is lower can mean less tax
Book a free 30-minute consultation with our team. Link in bio.

Sold shares this tax year? You may need to report the gain to HMRC, even if you’ve never filed a tax return before.You n...
08/10/2026

Sold shares this tax year? You may need to report the gain to HMRC, even if you’ve never filed a tax return before.

You need to report if:

- your total gains are over the £3,000 annual allowance, or
- you’re registered for Self Assessment and sold more than £50,000 of assets, even if your gains are under £3,000

For 2026/27, Capital Gains Tax on shares is 18% within the basic rate band and 24% above it. Shares held in an ISA or pension are outside the scope of Capital Gains Tax.

If you’d like help working out what to report, book a free 15-minute consultation @ www.sctax.co.uk

06/10/2026

Getting married can be a good time to review how you own your investments.

Spouses and civil partners who live together can transfer assets to each other on a no gain, no loss basis, so there’s no Capital Gains Tax on the transfer. That gives couples real flexibility:

- Selling shares: using both £3,000 annual allowances and a basic rate spouse’s 18% rate can cut the tax bill. In our example, a £20,000 gain costs £4,080 if one higher rate spouse sells, and £2,940 if it’s split first.
- Dividends: each spouse has a £500 dividend allowance and their own tax bands. At the 35.75% higher rate, £10,000 of dividends costs £3,396 in tax, which could fall to nil in the hands of a spouse with no other income.

If you’d like to review your position, book a free 15-minute consultation via our website: www.sctax.co.uk

05/10/2026

YouTuber, streamer or creator? Your tax isn’t standard, and your accountant shouldn’t be either. 🎥

We’re specialist accountants for content creators, working with some of the UK’s best-known YouTubers and streamers.

Here’s where we make a difference:

- VAT done right: YouTube and Google ad revenue is often outside the scope of UK VAT, while UK brand deals usually aren’t.
- Niche expenses: props, costumes, games and filming kit that would normally be disallowed may be allowable if they’re wholly and exclusively for your content.

Every income stream covered: ad revenue, brand deals, memberships and merch, all handled properly.

Book a free 15-minute consultation with our team by visiting our website www.sctax.co.uk

Untaxed income from abroad? If you’re UK tax resident, you’re taxable on your worldwide income and gains.That includes:-...
01/10/2026

Untaxed income from abroad? If you’re UK tax resident, you’re taxable on your worldwide income and gains.

That includes:

- Rent from property overseas
- Interest from foreign bank accounts
- Overseas pensions
- Foreign dividends and investments
- Gains on selling property or shares abroad
- Income from work done abroad

It’s generally taxable as it arises, even if the money never comes to the UK.

If it hasn’t already been taxed through Self Assessment, you’ll usually need to register by 5 October after the end of the tax year and report it on your tax return by 31 January. If you’ve paid tax abroad, you may be able to claim credit for it against your UK bill.

For 2025/26, the deadline to register is 5 October 2026.

Missed it in earlier years? HMRC receives information on overseas accounts from tax authorities around the world. Coming forward before HMRC contacts you usually means lower penalties.

New to the UK? If you weren’t UK resident in any of the previous 10 tax years, you may be able to claim the 4-year foreign income and gains regime.

Book a free 30-minute consultation with our team via www.sctax.co.uk

01/10/2026

What are my fees? It’s the first thing most people want to know, so we’ve made it easy to find out.

At SC Tax, every client is priced the same way: on your turnover and how many transactions you have. More activity means more work. Less means you pay less. No hourly rates and no guesswork.

Our full price list is on our website, with clear, fixed fees for every service we offer, from personal tax returns and company accounts to VAT, payroll and Making Tax Digital.

Want a figure for your business? Use our quick calculator, and your personalised quote and letter of engagement land straight in your inbox. It’s free and there’s no obligation.

See what you’d pay at www.sctax.co.uk

Sole director with no other staff? You can’t claim the £10,500 Employment Allowance.The Employment Allowance can take up...
30/09/2026

Sole director with no other staff? You can’t claim the £10,500 Employment Allowance.

The Employment Allowance can take up to £10,500 a year off your company’s employer National Insurance bill, and since April 2025 most employers can claim it. But if your company has only one director, and they’re the only employee paid above £5,000 a year, the company isn’t eligible.

That affects how many sole directors set their salary. Without the allowance, employer NIC is 15% on pay above £5,000. For 2026/27, common options are:

- £5,000: no NIC, but no State Pension qualifying year from this salary
- £6,708: at the lower earnings limit, so it counts towards your State Pension (£256.20 employer NIC)
- £12,570: uses your full personal allowance (£1,135.50 employer NIC, deductible for Corporation Tax along with the salary)

Taking on an employee paid above £5,000, or a second director, can make your company eligible, as long as the role and pay are genuine.

The right salary depends on your company’s profits and your other income, so it’s worth reviewing each year.

Book a free 30-minute consultation with our team to check yours at www.sctax.co.uk

Up to 27p back for every £1 your company spends on R&D. Are you claiming it?R&D tax relief isn’t just for scientists in ...
29/09/2026

Up to 27p back for every £1 your company spends on R&D. Are you claiming it?

R&D tax relief isn’t just for scientists in labs. If your business is trying to make an advance in science or technology and working through genuine technical uncertainty to get there, your project could qualify. It applies to software, engineering, manufacturing, food and drink, construction and life sciences.

What could it be worth? On £100,000 of qualifying costs:

- A profitable company could save £15,000
- A loss-making company could get £16,200 back in cash
- A loss-making, R&D-intensive SME could get up to £26,970
- Qualifying costs include staff, subcontractors, software, consumables, cloud computing and data.

Timing matters. If you haven’t claimed in the last three years, you must notify HMRC within six months of your period end or lose the right to claim. Every claim also needs an additional information form.

Think your work might qualify? Book a free 30-minute consultation with our team via our website www.sctax.co.uk

Moving abroad part-way through the tax year? Your next tax year could decide this one.Split year treatment can divide th...
28/09/2026

Moving abroad part-way through the tax year? Your next tax year could decide this one.

Split year treatment can divide the year you leave the UK into a UK part and an overseas part. Overseas income after you leave then generally stays outside UK tax.

But there’s a catch. To qualify when you leave, you need to be non-UK resident for the following tax year too.

If you’re relying on the full-time work abroad rules, you need to keep working full-time overseas for the whole of that following tax year, up to 5 April. After that, you can stop without losing the split.

If you’ve given up your UK home, you may not need to keep working abroad, but you do need to stay non-resident, and there are strict limits on UK visits in the year you leave.

Come home early and the split can fail, leaving your overseas salary taxable in the UK.

Not sure where you stand? Download our free Statutory Residence Test flowchart to check your residence status, and read our full guide to split year treatment on the blog at sctax.co.uk/blog

An engine only works when every part does its job.This is ours.One team with one aim: to take away your accounting stres...
22/09/2026

An engine only works when every part does its job.

This is ours.

One team with one aim: to take away your accounting stress and make the complicated simple.

We believe you should know what you are paying for before the work starts. That is why we publish our fixed fees online and explain exactly what is included, what costs extra and who each service suits.

View our services and fixed fees:

https://sctax.co.uk/scpricing

You can meet us in Wi******er or Salisbury, or work with us securely online through the SC Tax portal.

Meet your accounting engine.

Unbelievably, we still offer an introductory 15 minute call here at SC Tax:

https://sctax.co.uk/sctax15minuteconsultation

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