Clear, practical reads on contracting & tax
Straight-talking guides for UK contractors, freelancers, and small business owners. Tax, IR35, payroll, dividends, expenses — explained without the jargon.
Page 1 of 7 · 158 posts in total
Budget 2026: What It Means for Contractors and Expats
29 Oct 2026
John Healey delivered his first Budget on Wednesday 28 October. I already knew the question that would be landing in the inbox: "Does this change anything for me?"For most of our c...
UK Tax Bands and Rates 2026/27: Income, Dividends, CGT and NI
21 Aug 2026
Last updated 29 October 2026, to reflect the Budget 2026 changes to savings and property income rates and the cash ISA limit.Every April I end up having the same conversation two o...
UK Tax on Overseas Savings Interest: HMRC Letters Explained
17 Aug 2026
Earlier this month I had a Teams call with a Kiwi PA working at a private bank in the City who was fairly convinced she was about to go to prison.She'd had a letter from HMRC menti...
UK tax residence, your NZ rental, and the 120-day question
09 Aug 2026
I had a Teams call a couple of days ago with a Kiwi who's thinking about a move to the UK. We do a few of these every month, so nothing unusual there, but her question was a good o...
Working in the UK for a Kiwi or Aussie Employer
27 Jul 2026
"I'm doing Australian work, for Australian clients, in an Australian setting. I'm not really doing anything in the UK besides using an internet connection."That was a lawyer from S...
200% HMRC Penalties: What UK Contractors Need to Know
01 Jul 2026
IntroductionHamish moved over to London from Hamilton about twelve years ago. He builds software for a living, rents a flat in south London, and still owns a tidy little rental bac...
Companies House April 2028 Changes for Contractors
22 Jun 2026
Update, October 2026: on 23 October 2026 the government paused the requirement for small and micro companies to file a profit and loss account from April 2028, so abridged and fill...
Do UK Contractors Pay Tax on NZ or Aussie Rentals?
08 Jun 2026
Emma, a software developer from Wellington, has been contracting in London for three years. She still owns a tidy little rental back home, and one day she thinks she'll move back t...
HMRC CEST Tool: IR35 Kill Switches Explained
25 May 2026
IntroductionFor over twenty years we've been helping UK contractors understand and renegotiate their way through IR35. For the most part IR35 is employment law, and we're not lawye...
Expat Guide to UK Property: Sell, Hold or Pass On
18 May 2026
IntroductionIt's a conversation we have often. You spent your working years in London, got onto the property ladder, built up some equity. Then life moved on – back to New Zealand,...
PGMOL & IR35: Referee or TV Presenter?
11 May 2026
IntroductionIt's a scenario we're familiar with. You're a limited company contractor a few months into what has been a perfectly fine engagement. An email lands from your end clien...
Crypto & Investments via Your Limited Company
04 May 2026
These days it’s common for clients to put their surplus business funds to work. There are numerous trading platforms that can be used, which makes buying crypto, ETFs, stocks & sha...
UK CGT: When Going Home to Sell Works
30 Apr 2026
Over the past few weeks I have been helping a client work through the UK temporary non-residency rules. The person had significant assets back home, and was aware that as a UK tax ...
FIG Regime: Should Kiwis & Aussies Use It?
20 Apr 2026
IntroductionI have spent a lot of time recently talking with clients about the new Foreign Income and Gains regime. We have written before about what the FIG regime is and how it w...
How to Break Up with HMRC: Lose UK Tax Residency
30 Mar 2026
I was speaking to a client recently who was planning on leaving the UK and returning to Australia. Due to the nature of their Australian income, they wanted to be absolutely sure t...
VAT Registration for First-Timers
15 Mar 2026
You’ve been grafting away, building your business, and things are going well. Really well. So well, in fact, that you’re about to cross the £90,000 turnover mark. Which means one t...
What UK Contractors Need to Do Before 5 April
02 Mar 2026
Although 01 January is an ideal time to crack into your new years resolutions, around March each year is a good time to enact some tax year resolutions.In the UK, the end of the ta...
MTD for Sole Traders: A Practical Guide
25 Feb 2026
I speak with a lot of sole traders. Builders, electricians, IT contractors, graphic designers, personal trainers – you name it. And the one thing nearly all of them have in common ...
Australian Exit Tax: Pay Now or Defer?
16 Feb 2026
We had a client reach out recently. He’d moved from Sydney to London a couple of years ago, had a portfolio of Australian shares and some foreign investments, and was trying to fig...
Making Tax Digital: Sole Trader Guide
09 Feb 2026
IntroductionI was catching up with my mate Shane last week. Shane’s a builder in London, been in the trade for years, and he knows just about every sole trader on every site he’s e...
When HMRC Comes Knocking About Your Property
02 Feb 2026
IntroductionA few months ago, a client got in touch after fifteen years of living in the UK. He and his wife still owned a rental property in Australia (had done the whole time) an...
Tax on NZ & AUS Bank Interest in the UK
19 Jan 2026
IntroductionWhen Kiwis and Aussies move to the UK, there is a long list of things that need sorting. Visas, work, somewhere to live, getting paid. What almost never makes that list...
2026 UK Tax Checklist for Kiwis & Aussies
13 Jan 2026
IntroductionThere is something about the start of a new year that makes big life decisions feel suddenly achievable. A fresh calendar, a bit of space after Christmas, and that long...
The Tax Questions Everyone Read in 2025
22 Dec 2025
IntroductionWith Christmas just around the corner, most people are winding down, wrapping presents, and trying to remember where they hid the good chocolates.I’ve been doing someth...