Summer 2009 Newsletter Content Pot and kettle No more stealth Pensions hit A place in the sun Ready or not... Nice motor Making allowances Good times, bad times Tax-free checkup Three square meals Funny question Dividend rules OK? Too good to be true? Pay my friend Early EIS Mind the halfpennies Just the ticket Flat rate changes Foreign Service This year, next year Partial exemption Penalties Compliance checks Under their eye Howzat? Know your rights Discipline Don't be mean Redundancy Two sorts of absence Warranties

Early EIS If you invest in Enterprise Investment Scheme companies you can claim 20% income tax relief on your investment. If you put your money into Venture Capital Trusts you can get 30% back. That makes the investment cheaper, but if you have to wait until 31 January following the end of the tax year to reduce a tax payment, it doesn't help your cash flow. For some years, it's been possible to claim relief for up to £50,000 of EIS investments in the previous year - so you could get your relief 12 months earlier. The problem was that you could only do this with half the amount you invested in the first half of the tax year - so £50,000 invested before 5 October 2008 could save you £5,000 on 31 January 2009 and £5,000 on 31 January 2010. The Budget relaxed this rule. You can now claim the whole of the income tax relief on an EIS investment in the previous tax year, whenever in the year you make it, up to the annual limit of £500,000. That's a helpful change, and it's a reminder that this scheme is worth looking at if you are raising money for a small company. If you might be interested, we can help.