by James Mason
13 May 2012
Your forum, your questions, your answers I have just been promoted and will be working in Australia for a few years. I won’t need to spend all of my net earnings and I am also likely to receive an inheritance in the UK while I’m away which will need investing. Will I still be able to make use of any UK tax-free vehicles such as an ISA and are there any tax issues I should be aware of when saving or investing while overseas. The fir...
> Read article
by James Mason
2 May 2012
The latest news from the world of business, accounting and tax I am in a reflective mood, I keep hearing the words of my late father. “It is always easier to find a way of saving a pound than it is to find a way of earning one”. Unarguably good advice if ever I heard it and staying on the theme of reflection I also keep hearing the words from the opening title sequence of the American 80’s television show Soap… “Confused? Not yet; yo...
> Read article
by James Mason
7 April 2012
Was it really a budget just for millionaires, let’s find out... The Budget to anyone involved in finance is like an Olympic sport is to athletes. There’s the build-up, the excitement, the anticipation, the one-on-one, the team spirit, the-them-and-us, the brothers-in-arms and of course the event itself. It starts around the end of the Pre-Budget Report. We spend the winter in training, building finger muscles for calculator speed, ben...
> Read article
by James Mason
7 April 2012
Investing in property has always been popular and here’s why… The age-old saying goes that “no one ever lost money in bricks and mortar” and whilst this may not be an absolute truth there is undoubtedly some long term security in property. According to Phil and Kirsty it’s all about where it is, and whilst this is of course largely true when it comes to residential property, for other areas of property investment there are other issue...
> Read article
by James Mason
7 April 2012
The latest new and views in the world of accounting and business… If a week is a long time in politics; then 24 hours in the life of an economy is an eternity. In one day alone last week we saw petrol hit a record high, Halifax raise the UK cost of mortgages (others will follow) and Moody’s downgrade Greece. The Post Office announced that stamps are going up (again) and Spain and Italy both missed their deficit targets. Germany’s reta...
> Read article
by James Mason
27 February 2012
March, and yes it’s Budget month; but let’s not dwell on it. Allegedly, temptation is the ruin of all men, and so in a month that sees the chancellor’s Budget, I am going to try and resist the incredible urge to speculate on what might be and what may come. Instead, I am using this week as an opportunity to focus the minds and ready the business diaries of the Brighton & Hove business community with the following key tax dates. Do...
> Read article
by James Mason
8 February 2012
More drama than Alien v. Predator, the UK National Debt reaches a staggering £1 trillion… Please bear with me. Ordinarily my remit is to write on micro subjects to better aid the understanding of business related, tax and financial issues for the local and wider business community; and I have said it before and I will say it again that this is not a political column and I am not an economist. However, I couldn’t resist the temptation ...
> Read article
by James Mason
22 January 2012
Fifth Element, February 2012 and this is the news… On a personal level 2011 had a huge amount going on. I did think on the basis that nothing continues forever (death, taxes, Peter Andre episodes aside) that 2012 would be calmer, quieter, less eventful and that we could deal with the Euro zone without much else t-boning the issue. Then Scotland gears up its intention to leave the Union. You have to smile. On the one hand we have Germany fighting...
> Read article
by James Mason
3 January 2012
A Fifth Element ‘Making-Sense-of-it’ special... A very happy New Year; it seems only appropriate to start with what were the closing headlines of 2011. The Autumn Statement, aka The Pre-Budget Report (PBR), is an interesting thing. Like Fry’s Turkish Delight, full of promise, but unless you’re a big fan, does it really deliver? More importantly, did last year’s PBR? Here are some of the highlights and my views on what took place and how things m...
> Read article
by James Mason
26 November 2011
This is Fifth Element, December 2011, and this is the news Sometimes it seems that the world of business and tax is a continually changing and constantly evolving series of complex problems and issues; principally because it is. To counter this, we hope that our ‘What’s Hot’ periodic updates will help with the necessity of keeping up to date; and on that note here’s our latest review. This is hot… Reasonable excuse The law says that the pen...
> Read article