Martin’s Memo
Tax Year End 2016/17
This month we decided to give Brian some time off from his investment Brainstorming and instead use our monthly newsletter to remind you that the tax year end is fast approaching. As with any deadline, financial companies will begin to experience high levels of demand as the window closes and we here at Conçerva recommend that you aim to utilise any relevant allowances in good time to avoid any potential issues.
ISA allowances not utilised by 5th April 2017 will be permanently lost and the potential to place £15,240 (or £4,080 for Junior ISAs) into a tax efficient wrapper will be gone. Similarly, if you fail to take advantage of your Annual Exemption for Capital Gains Tax purposes this opportunity will be forfeited.
In addition to utilising the above allowances, we would recommend maximising contributions into your pension prior to 5th April 2017 if you have the means to do so. The current maximum that an individual can pay into a pension is £40,000 gross but if you have income over £150,000 this will begin to reduce. This is a technical area and if this is relevant to you please contact your Conçerva adviser for further information on this point.
As part of our ongoing service Conçerva aims to ensure that you do not miss the chance to benefit from these opportunities and if you are unsure about whether or not you have utilised any of these allowances please do let us know and we will be more than happy to assist you.
News
Conçerva’s Year-End Tax Guide 2016/17
Conçerva are happy to provide you with our Year-End Tax Guide. This guide covers both personal and business tax allowances and reliefs, as well as up coming changes for the 2017/18 tax year.
Deposits Protection Increase
From 30th January 2017 the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection in place for deposits has increased back to £85,000 for individuals and £170,000 for jointly held accounts.
This is another unforeseen consequence of “Brexit” and the decision taken by the Prudential Conduct Authority (PRA) to adjust protection levels comes on the back of the Pound’s depreciation against the Euro. This move suggests that the UK financial authorities now see the current exchange rates as a new status quo rather than a temporary fluctuation.
National Savings & Investments
NS&I will be reducing interest rates across its product range from 1st May 2017.
Premium Bonds, Direct ISA, Direct Saver and Income Bond account holders will all suffer from these reductions.
Steve Owen, acting Chief Executive of NS&I, explained that the reductions are due to the impact of the Bank of England base rate decrease in August 2016 from 0.50% to 0.25% high currency fluctuations in the pound.
Staff Matters
- Training in the office is well under way for the Manchester 10k on 28th May 2017. Ian Bromley, Martyn Mulligan and Chris Gregory have all entered the event and are quietly confident of posting some good times round the course.
- Conçerva have also decided to use this opportunity to raise some money for a good cause. We have chosen to support Headway, a charity that Conçerva works with very closely and our JustGiving page can be found below. Please give what you can to help us reach our target.Conçerva’s JustGiving Page
Statistical Information
| Last Month | This Month | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPI | 1.2% | 1.6% | +0.4% |
| RPI | 2.2% | 2.5% | +0.3% |
The data released on 17th January 2017 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) registered an increase in both measures of inflation and saw the Consumer Prices Index reach a level not seen since July 2014.
All non-food categories provided upward inflationary pressures, with transport being the sector with the single largest contribution to the increase. This is in contrast with transports largely downward contributions over the 2015 and early 2016 periods. The largest downward pull on inflation came from food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Should you wish to find out more about the inflation movements please click on the following link which will take you to the ONS website and this month’s statistical bulletin:
| December 2016 | February 2017 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Rate | 0.25% | 0.25% | 0.00% |
Following on from the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) meeting on 2nd February 2017 the Base Rate remained at 0.25%.
The MPC is next due to meet on 16th March.