AT Magazine: September/October 2019 edition

reader

Just got my AT magazine for September/October 2019.

I would say it is probably one of the best editions, if not the best edition, that I have read in the last 10 years.

Covered some good topics, e.g. 3 pages dedicated to the commercial aspects of the new IR35/off-payroll rules (by Dave Chaplin from Contractor Calculator), tax clinic on use of home as office (by Michael Steed), new structure and buildings tax allowance, a bloomsbury publishing discount code (BPAAT15), Farid Gasanov's inspirational AAT licensed accountant journey, and Phil covered the latest developments with regards to the AAT practising licence.

Now I know I am going to sound quite negative here but there appear to be quite a few errors in Michael's tax clinic, e.g.
1) Throughout Michael's tax clinic (which ideally should really appear in every edition no matter how much AAT need to pay Michael!) the tax acts ITEPA and ITTOIA were constantly incorrectly spelled as ITAPA and ITOIA. Yes, a minor error but still quite shocking to see.
2) Michael, in his tax clinic, forgot to mention if the employee is paid monthly the use of home limit is actually £18/month (rather than £4/week for weekly paid employees only). This is even on the government's website here: https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home and something I would expect a member of the public to know. Again, another minor point but worth mentioning.
3) Regarding limited company use of home/rental charges, Michael mentioned "you tend to just pass the tax along the line. In other words, you'd get a tax reduction of 19% as the business, but you get taxed at 20% as the homeowner, so it doesn't make a lot of difference". I would completely disagree with this. In general, you tend to see the limited company director claiming the business proportion of their household costs of their personal tax return as an expense and therefore you do achieve year-on-year tax savings, especially where the personal allowance is available for 1 or both of the homeowners. I feel this was his biggest mistake in his tax clinic.

In terms of improvements to the AT Magazine going forward, it would be good to see:
1) Michael's tax clinic become a regular thing, e.g. next time he would talk about settlements legislation, gifting shares to spouse, alphabet shares, dividend waivers, etc.
2) Phil getting a regular small column (not necessarily a double page spread, but it can be a double page spread if he has a lot to talk about) regarding practising licence developments, e.g. partnerships with Xero, Croner-i tax helpline developments, new lenders who are accepting AAT, etc. At least then: 1. student members see the benefits of AAT and sign up to become full members at the end of their studies, and 2. members see the benefits of being licensed and apply to become licensed.
3) Would be good if AAT published a comprehensive list of lenders who do/don't accept the AAT qualification so at least licensed members can sign documents with the confidence knowing that they will be accepted or being able to proactively warn the client in advance that alternative arrangements will need to be made (rather than getting an embarrasing rejection).

Fingers crossed that the quality of this magazine is not a one off!