Income withdrawal meaning

In this issue: Company law and regulatory matters Corporate governance Tax treatment Useful information Trackers Dates for your diary Weekly highlights from other practice areas Company law and regulatory matters Companies (Directors’ Remuneration and Audit) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 published The Companies (Directors’ Remuneration and Audit) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/439) have been issued and will take effect on 11 May 2025, having previously been laid for sifting last month (see News Analysis: Share Incentives weekly highlights—6 March 2025—Company law and regulatory matters). They remove most of the 2019 reporting obligations imposed on quoted companies in relation to directors’ remuneration, introduced to implement aspects of EU Directive 2017/828 (the revised Shareholder Rights Directive). This change reflects substantial overlap with pre‑2019 UK rules on directors’ pay reporting that remain in force and continue to apply. The instrument also updates the audit regulatory framework to address inconsistencies identified by the government and the Financial Reporting Council, which arose during...

In this issue: Probate Trusts Court of Protection UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Budgets and Finance Bills Pensions, insurance and tax efficient investments Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland International Question of the week Additional Private Client updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts LexTalk®Private Client: a Lexis+® community New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q&As Useful information Probate HMCTS Probate application processing times continued to improve to the end of 2024 HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has released figures showing that probate application processing times kept improving across the year to December 2024. In December 2024, the average wait was a little over four weeks, a striking turnaround from the end of 2023, when applicants typically faced 12 weeks for their applications to be dealt with. Digital submissions, which represent...

York SD Ltd and others v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 877 (TC) The EIS encourages backing for early‑stage companies by enabling investors to claim substantial income tax and capital gains tax reliefs. As a result, the qualifying rules are tightly drawn. Investors cannot obtain relief without HMRC’s authorisation, given by way of a compliance certificate issued to the company. To secure that certificate, the company must file a compliance statement with HMRC, supported by information and declarations. Even once EIS authorisation is granted, HMRC may later withdraw relief and reclaim any related tax from investors in specified circumstances. This case arose from HMRC’s decision to remove relief from investors in six UK companies set up to trade in solar electricity generation in Spain and Portugal through local subsidiaries. The UK companies were incorporated in 2015, and the relevant shares were issued in late 2015 and early 2016. However, the subsidiaries did not commence operations until 2018 or later. In the meantime, the UK companies installed rooftop solar panels on UK...

THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES TO MONEY PURCHASE ARRANGEMENTS FROM 6 APRIL 2015 From 6 April 2015, new pension flexibilities expanded the retirement choices for DC members and others with ‘flexible benefits’ (in essence, money purchase and/or cash balance entitlements). As part of those reforms, drawdown became more broadly accessible. For background on the changes implemented on 6 April 2015, see Practice Note: Pension freedoms—an introduction [Archived]. This Practice Note concentrates on the legal framework for drawdown arrangements set up on and after 6 April 2015. It also addresses how pre-April 2015 drawdown is treated from that date. For the rules governing drawdown before 6 April 2015, see Practice Note: Drawdown between 6 April 2011 and 5 April 2015 [Archived]. What is drawdown? The label ‘drawdown pension’ (often called ‘flexible income’) replaced ‘unsecured pension’ and ‘alternatively secured pension’ used up to 5 April 2011. Drawdown pension describes the method of paying benefits that allows members to set their own yearly income from a pension arrangement...

The tax regime applicable to property authorised investment funds (PAIFs) applies to UK open-ended investment companies (OEICs) which: meet a number of prescribed conditions, and have notified HMRC in advance that they wish the PAIF regime to apply to them This Practice Note concentrates on the criteria that must be satisfied for the PAIF rules to apply to an OEIC in practice. As a starting point, for a top-level overview of the PAIF tax regime in its entirety, see Practice Note: Taxation of property funds—overview. Further important elements of the framework are considered in the Practice Notes: PAIFs—tax treatment of the fund and its investors and PAIFs—breaches and exit. There is significant overlap between the PAIF tax rules and the UK tax regime for real estate investment trusts (REITs) in many areas. This reflects their complementary design: the PAIF regime is tailored to open-ended vehicles investing in real estate, while the REIT regime is aimed at closed-ended vehicles with a similar purpose....

Brexit impact The UK ceased to be an EU Member State on exit day, 31 January 2020. Under the Withdrawal Agreement, the state pension and benefit rights of UK nationals residing in the EU, European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland are protected. See: Benefits and pensions for UK nationals in the EU, EEA or Switzerland. Likewise, information on the entitlements of EEA and Swiss citizens to UK benefits and state pensions is set out at: Benefits and pensions for EEA and Swiss citizens in the UK. State pensions A state retirement pension depends on an individual’s National Insurance (NI) contribution record and may consist of up to three elements: the basic old age pension the State Second Pension (S2P—formerly the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme, SERPS) the graduated pension Payments are generally made gross, with tax collected through Pay As You Earn (PAYE) against a person’s other income, such as an occupational or private pension. Income tax can also...

Archived: The ability to offer tax-favoured employee shareholder shares or ESS (commonly used in private equity company arrangements) has now been removed In the Autumn Statement 2016, the government confirmed that certain ESS-related tax reliefs would be withdrawn. The changes remove: The income tax and NICs relief applying to the first £2,000 of employee shareholder shares an individual receives The capital gains tax exemption in respect of all, or a portion, of ESS shares The provision ensuring that, when a company purchases employee shareholder shares from an employee shareholder, the consideration is not treated as a distribution in the shareholder’s hands The withdrawal of these reliefs applies to any employer shareholder agreements entered into on or after 1 December 2016. However, an individual who had obtained independent advice about entering an employer shareholder agreement before 23 November 2016 could still complete the agreement before 1 December 2016 and retain the beneficial income and CGT tax advantages...