If you want to avoid paying stamp duty on your next property purchase you need to get a move on: there has been a surge in people keen to move. Between 8 July and 8 August, the number of people registering to buy across the country was up by 38 percent on the same period last year, boosted by the stamp duty holiday. Properties are going under offer faster than ever. Currently, one in seven homes are under offer within a week of listing. But things slow down after that. A conveyancing log-jam after lockdown means that even if a sale is agreed quickly, a transaction could take six months to complete, especially if it is in a chain.

People thinking of coming to market need to do so in by early December if they want to have a chance of completing within time to beat the stamp duty deadline. Stamp duty is currently suspended on properties worth up to £500,000, saving buyers as much as £15,000. However, the tax will be reinstated on 31 March 2021. The stamp duty holiday has accelerated the moves of buyers who were looking for larger properties with gardens and space for home offices. But the surge is expected to subside as unemployment rises with the end of the furlough scheme and lenders wind down their forbearance policies this autumn.

With the housing market rising quickly post-lockdown wise buyers may opt not to rush to embrace the stamp-duty holiday. Racing simply to save 1 per cent to 3 per cent on the cost of your next home at a time when house prices are ludicrously high and are up 2 per cent on last month and 3.7 per cent on last year is futile.

Quote Of The Day

“Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be”

 Jack Welch

Alternative Quote Of The Day

“Doctor Doctor, my arm is broken in three places.” Well stay out of those places.”

Tommy Cooper

Money Statistics

£5.25 was the average discount received by diners from the government Eat Out to Help Out scheme. In the first three weeks of the month-long scheme in August, 64 million discounted meals were served at 84,000 outlets, at a cost to taxpayers of £336m.

$56.14 is how much an American wearing a face mask for a day saves the US in lost GDP by helping obviate the need for more costly lockdown measures. Not bad for something you can buy for about 50 cents.

£7,000 is what it would cost to buy an original 2007 edition of the Star Wars Lego Millennium Falcon, which was available on Amazon this summer. Lego sets — especially Star Wars Lego sets — can become favourites of specialist collectors.

£260,000 is how much a pair of Mahatma Gandhi’s sunglasses sold for at auction last month.

£368,000 is what a sheep has been sold for in Scotland. It is a record sale, beating the previous sheep-record of £230,000 set in 2009. Bidding started at £10,000 for the Double Diamond, a six-month old Texel ram.

$1.1bn is the annual estimated value of seabird droppings worldwide. The unassuming lime can be used as fertiliser and to provide nutrients to coral reefs, to boost fish numbers.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

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Here are some totally legitimate tactics that can save you some tax. They are often purpose-made loopholes based on encouraging growth in sectors of the economy, so you can rest safe in the knowledge that you are helping your country too.

Buy An Electric Car

Small businesses that buy electric cars with CO2 emissions of less than 50g per kilometre have, since April 2018, been able to claim a capital allowance worth 100 per cent against the purchase — so the entire cost of the car can be deducted from company profits. Also, the cars can be used for personal journeys free of tax from April this year and incur a benefit-in-kind charge of 1 per cent the following year and 2 per cent the year after.

Max Out Your Allowances

Commonly available tax exemptions mean a couple can achieve a fairly sizeable income without paying tax. For example, the personal income tax allowance is £12,500, which, for two, makes £25,000. The annual CGT exemption for a couple is £24,000, the dividend allowance is £4,000 and savings allowances are £2,000 — although the last of these goes down to £500 for higher-rate taxpayers and is zero for those paying the additional rate. Put together, these make a joint potential tax saving of £55,000. Add the basic-rate bands for each spouse to this, which is two times £37,500, and they could have a combined income well over £130,000 before they start paying higher-rate tax.

Quote Of The Day

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”

Douglas Adams

Alternative Quote Of The Day

“Last night, me and my girlfriend watched three DVDs back to back. Luckily, I was the one facing the telly. ”

Tim Vine

Buy Wine And Classic Cars

Both wine and classic cars attract special tax status as “wasting assets” with a predictable life of less than 50 years. This makes them exempt from capital gains tax (CGT) on any profits. However, HMRC’s definition of a wasting asset is getting tougher. The taxman’s latest manual said the exemption would clearly apply to cheap table wine, which may turn to vinegar within a relatively short period, but it might not apply to fine wines, because some can stay drinkable for far longer than 50 years, and also, sadly, does not apply to port and other fortified wines.

Classic cars are wasting assets only if they are being used as private vehicles, as their value will depreciate as mileage increases. Over 10 years, fine wines have risen in value by 142 per cent — more than jewellery (100 per cent) and watches (63 per cent), and dwarfing the FTSE 100’s 36.2 per cent return. Classic cars — defined by HMRC as any vehicle more than 15 years old and worth more than £15,000 — grew by 334 per cent over the same period. Investors can also turn to furniture, paintings and antiques, known as chattels, which attract extra CGT exemption of £6,000 on top of the standard £12,000.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL SPEAK YOUR MIND DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

www.streetwisenews.com/89p

A few weeks ago I was wandering through a shopping centre, when my attention was grabbed by the price tag on a mobile phone. It was over £20,000.  I have no idea who pays such a large amount for a soon to be obsolete item (people who haven’t worked very hard for the money, I’d imagine), but it does show there’s a market for an upgraded version of just about anything.

Atlanta Watercloset realised this when they launched their business, which aims to provide ‘exceptionally clean’ portable restrooms (toilets) for outdoor events.  If you’ve been to such an event, you’ll know that the competition provide the bare basics, but little more.  Atlanta Watecloset offer toilets with fresh water sinks, interior lighting, mirrors, coat-hooks, shelves and branded loo roll. The environment around the restrooms can be specially prepared with privacy shields, flowers and pathway lighting. The service is particularly popular at weddings, where nothing can be allowed to spoil the special day.

Whatever the product, some people will always be attracted to an upgrade – a premium offering over and above what’s provided by the standard product. If you find yourself competing fiercely with everyone else in your market, now could be a good time to look at whether there’s a market for an enhanced version of what you do at a premium price.

Quote Of The Day

“Aim higher in case you fall short.”

Suzanne Collins

Alternative Quote Of The Day

“I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn’t find any.”

Tommy Cooper

Second Hand Profits

Thanks to the likes of eBay, buying second hand or used goods has never been as popular (or easy), as it is today.  A lot of mainstream retailers are catching on to this now. You’ve been able to buy used books on Amazon for a long time now, but even primarily off-line businesses are getting in on the act.  My favourite retailer, Ikea, have now set up a system to facilitate customers disposing of their second-hand furniture.

At first glance this seems counter-intuitive, but there is a logic to it.  Having the option to buy used (and cheaper) second hand furniture will draw more people to the company website, as well as improving customer goodwill.  And of course, sometimes a customer needs to dispose of an old piece of furniture before they’re able to buy a new one.

Is there someway you could facilitate your customers disposing of the products they no longer need or want, and if there is, would it help or hinder your business?  It’s a question worth asking.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL GREASY FOODS DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

www.streetwisenews.com/89p