Wojciech

I have a question on tax and possible tax relief for employees. Specifically my case - I am an employee in a company, work regular office job using laptop provided by my company. I commute to our office daily. Recently however it was announced that our office would be relocating - current office would be closed for a period of three months and the new office would be further from my home, increasing my travel time and costs - significantly. Based on information I found online, employees can claim equipment 'if you use the equipment for work and there’s no significant private use' and travel / overnight stay but 'You cannot claim for travelling to and from work, unless you’re travelling to a temporary place of work.' https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/travel-and-overnight-expenses https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/buying-other-equipment This seems rather limiting as in my case: I would be traveling to a 'regular' place of work - it is just far and it is expensive (my initial estimate is around £15,000 per year) I might need to use hotel / overnight stay given the time and costs - though again, it would be a 'regular' place of work, not a temporary one I would need to buy equipment to work from home for three months - though I don't know if the equipment would qualify as 'having no significant private use' - I need things like chair, monitors, desk etc. What options do I have to claim tax reliefs on the above? I have regular job and regular place of work - though I would have significant (new) expanses because of the relocation of the office - approximately 20,000 the first year and 15,000 each of the following year (which is a significant percentge of my salary). Am I able to reduce my tax liability?

Thank you for the information - much appreciated. Can you please confirm: The declaration of trust - where, how would I need to submit it in order for HMRC to recognise this and not require the full tax from me? Or can I simply write the declaration of trust (using the example you linked), have a copy of it myself and another copy for my parents - and don't need to submit it anywhere? As for the 'default' taxation, are my calculations above correct - would rental income really be taxed at 90% effective tax rate - assuming approximately 25,000 annual rental income, 15,000 interest payments and 1,000 allowance (with no expanses being allowed) = paying 40% of 25,000 = 10,000, with the 1,000 allowance I would be paying 9,000 annual tax on rental income, which would only leave me with 1,000 of net income for myself? Even if I claim expanses, that might be around 2,000-3,000 GBP per year, it would still pretty much leave me with nothing if I pay 15,000 interest to bank, 9,000 to HMRC and only keep 1,000 myself - is that correct or am I missing something here?

Thank you for your response. Three follow up questions: How would the promissory note / loan be taxed - given the interest would be approximately 1500 per year when it is paid to me, for around 8 years? I am a higher rate tax payer, which I understand has 500 tax free interest per year. So would it be approximately 8x(1500-500) = 8000 tax on the interest, no tax on the 'capital' from the employee shares? I also lended money to a friend approximately 5 years ago - the loan was never fully repaid, so I lost money. Am I able to offset the some of the interest gains by this irrecoverable debt? If so, are there some limits (e.g. how long ago would this need to happen so that I am still able to use it to offset current gains) and what would I need to submit to HMRC (the contract between us etc.)? How about the income from employee shares for my girlfriend? Does she need to declare it to HMRC / pay tax on it? Kind regards, Wojciech

I am considering renting out my flat, however having done some reading, it would seem that the rental income would be combined with my income from employment and taxed at 40% rate - and apparently, can only claim 20% of my expanses (mortgage interest etc.). That is very high, so am considering some ways to reduce the tax burden - can you please advise on what the options are: Assigning the full rental income to my parents - who have no income and are fully reliant on me. Is that possible, with me being the owner of the flat? I don't think I can transfer the flat to them, as I have mortage on it - but perhaps the bank would allow me to add my parents as additional owners, would they be allowed to receive 100% of the income (and tax it in country of their residence - outside UK, EU country)? Utilise the rent a room allowance of 7500 (I would rent the whole flat, not living there myself) Utilise any other allowances (think there's 1000 GBP rental income allowance, but presumably that cannot be combined with the 7500 rent a room allowance) I have also read that when the net rental income is below 2500, then self assessment is not required - though presumably this again cannot be combined with other allowances? Essentially what I am asking is how to protect my rental income from high taxation. My mortgage payment interest is around 15000 per year (on top of that, I have to pay service charge, ground rent and other expanses), expected rental income could be around 25000. If I am only allowed to claim 20% of the interest, that 3000 per year + 1000 rental income allowance, then the tax I'd be paying would be something around 40% of 21000 = 8400 GBP, meaning I'd only end up with something like 1600 net per year for all the hassle of dealing with tenants etc. - surely this cannot be right? Can you please advise - surely this cannot be right, HMRC taking 8400 and me only getting 1600 in the above case - that would be 84% taxation (not even counting other expanses such as ground rent etc.), clearly I am missing something here.

My girlfriend and I received employee shares from our company some years back, in 2017. I have subsequently left the company and received a promissory note for my shares (earning me 1% interest per year). My girlfriend still works there and has her employee shares. We received communication that there would be payment (for her shares and my promissory note) in the upcoming months. Based on information on HMRC website, the CGT is not payable on employee shares: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employee-share-and-security-schemes-and-capital-gains-tax-hs287-self-assessment-helpsheet/hs287-capital-gains-tax-and-employee-share-schemes-2021 My questions are: Do we need to declare the income we receive from the shares / promissory note to HMRC? Do we need to pay CGT (or other tax) from her shares or my promissory note - or from the interest it has earned me? Kind regards, Wojciech