Dalton Pardoe Chartered Accountants - Kingswinford

28/05/2026

OFFICIAL MILEAGE RATE INCREASES TO 55p

The announcement sees the official rate increase from 45p to 55p for the first 10,000 miles, with no change to the 25p rate above this mileage threshold.

This is the first rise in 15 years and what this means is for the self-employed, you just need to use the higher rate of 55p when preparing your 2026/27 tax return next year – no action is needed until then.

For employees, your employer is not obliged to pay the higher rate, and not all will do so. In this case, you can claim a refund from HMRC – to get tax relief on the difference between what your employer pays you and the 55p rate. However, this is only tax relief, at 20%, 50% or 45% – not the full 100% amount of the difference.

22/05/2026

☀️Bank Holiday Closure Notice ☀️

Our office will be closed on Monday 25th May for the late May bank holiday.

We’ll be back and ready to take your enquiries on Tuesday 26th.

Wishing everyone a lovely bank holiday!

P.s. Don't forget the sun cream!

14/05/2026

Many individuals quick off the mark this year!

298,905 people filed their Self Assessment tax return in the first week of the tax year.

86,270 did their 2025 to 2026 tax return on Easter Monday, 6 April.

April as a whole set a new record with almost 740,000 submitting their returns for the 2025 to 2026 tax year.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/298905-self-assessment-filers-quick-off-the-mark

08/05/2026

RED CARD FOR HMRC AS PGMOL TRIUMPHS

A long-running employment status saga between the PGMOL and HMRC has reached its latest milestone, with the first tier tribunal handing a win to the referees.

After almost a decade of litigation and a Supreme Court ruling that looked like it was going to settle matters in HMRC's favour, the first tier tribunal has handed the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) a win.

Judge Geraint Williams and Dr Phebe Mann found the individual match engagements between PGMOL and its National Group (NG) referees were contracts for services, not contracts of employment.

24/04/2026

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tax/hmrc-policy/admin-ramped-up-for-directors-of-close-companies

First they remove the requirement to file a tax return if you don't receive any taxable remuneration other than a salary for directors.

But now if you do file a return for any reason you must provide details of all companies you are a director of including shareholdings, company number etc...

Directors of close companies need to complete a separate employment page for each directorship on their self assessment tax return from 2025/26 onwards,

20/04/2026

Do you understand the taxes you pay, based on your salary?

If you had a salary of £60,000 & was given a £20,000 pay rise or bonus the additional taxes you would on the basis of having 3 children and a student loan would be as follows:

£3,268 - HICBC (16.3%)
£8,000 - Income Tax (40%)
£400 - NIC - (2%)
£1,800 - Student Loan - (9%)

Total payable - £13,468!!, leaving you just £6,532 in net pay. This equates to 67.3% in tax.

The other high bracket to fall into is those earning between £100-£125K. When you factor in tax, NI, loss of personal allowance & student loans the effective tax rate is 71%, those earning above £100k also lose other tax free insentives such as tax free childcare.

10/04/2026

Zero or Standard Rated?

The sticky question of whether giant marshmallows are standard or zero rated for VAT has come down to whether they are normally eaten with the fingers – and maths.

Innovative Bites Limited, a wholesaler of oversized marshmallows marketed as Mega Marshmallows, has been battling around the campfire with HMRC for some

02/04/2026

EASTER 2026 LONG WEEKEND CLOSURE!

We are now closed and will re-open on Tuesday 7th April 2026.

Happy Easter everyone!

27/03/2026

Do you use ChatGPT or other AI software for tax advice?

Please always use with caution, with the AI world always growing we are seeing more and more clients & non-clients use AI for tax advice.

We admit for the majority the advice is correct but sometimes AI is pulling info from articles dating back 5+ years and the tax legislation to their specific scenario has changed.

One client recently nearly got caught out and it would have cost them tens of thousands of pounds.

To confirm HMRC does not accept AI as a reasonable excuse for errors when it comes to tax.

20/03/2026

SIDE HUSTLES

Platforms such as Vinted, eBay and Airbnb are required to share data with HMRC for any users who sell more than 30 items a year or earn more than about £1,700.

Note: This is not an allowance for the individual, the annual tax free trading allowance is £1,000 per year.

If you are selling old clothes or other unwanted belongings, these are classed as personal possessions, and you can sell as many of them as you like without having to pay tax on the income.

The only exception is if you sell something for more than £6,000: as you may need to pay capital gains tax on any profits.

Profits you make through running a stall at a market are subject to the same rules, but you will need to keep track of the figures yourself.