Year End Tax Review 2009/2010 Contents Lead articles The year ahead... This year, next year Pension hit Employees Too much NIC NIC and pensions Company cars Tax-free benefits Business - General Time to incorporate? His and hers Family bonus Profit and loss Show me the money Can't pay, won't pay? Turning back the clock Business - VAT Standard VAT or flat VAT? VAT goes down - must come up? European revolution A good start for VAT Happy returns? Investments Top-up savings Rainy day money Capital Gains Gains favoured Splitting gains A place in the country Holiday lets end Families Family fortunes Where there's a Will Credits and debits Piggy banks Still trustworthy? Administration Penalty shoot-out Paperwork, paperwork Pay tax later Opportunity knocks again Charity Give and save Non-Domiciled People Home and away Interest Interesting times

Tax-free benefits The taxman usually wants a slice of any "benefits in kind" provided by an employer to employees - particularly if they are directors of their own limited company. But there are quite a few benefits that are tax-free by law, and so if your employer buys them for you, that's cheaper than paying you salary (with tax) for you to buy them yourself. There is a long list of possibilities, but here is a selection: pension contributions of up to £245,000 (in 2009/10) childcare vouchers of up to £55pw one mobile telephone where the employer owns the phone vans where the private use is restricted to home-to-work travel loan of a bicycle for commuting health checks for employees or members of the household 40p per mile mileage allowance for business use of your own car annual party costing up to £150 per person attending Action Point! Can you benefit from these?