July news from Christina Clegg IFA

July news from Christina Clegg IFA

• The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has fined a Manchester debt management firm £300,000 for sending over 5 million spam text messages using illegal data. The firm KRA Consultancy weren’t even registered to provide debt counselling with the FCA.
• The amount of tax unpaid in the UK now stands at £59 billion. Up 12% on last year. The government says it will focus on collecting the unpaid tax by hiring an additional 8,000 tax officers. If you’ve ever tried to contact HMRC to query your tax bill or pay it, you might think that answering their phone would be a good place to start.
• They also intend to make reckless, untrue or false declarations for direct taxes a criminal offence. I already thought it was.
• Meanwhile HMRC confirmed that there are over 1,000 people awaiting prosecution for tax evasion last year. In 25/26 they collected £2 billion from tax investigations at an average of over £4 million per investigation. That some serious tax evasion which is clearly a big issue.
• The amount of invested assets in the UK are set to rise to £30 trillion by 2030. Today the figure is a mere £12 trillion. That means that invested assets are predicted to grow by almost 5% a year. According to accountants firm PWC.
• According to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) the number of higher rate tax payers could double by 2075 if nothing changes with tax bands. Today 7 million people pay higher rate tax.
• The amount of Inheritance Tax will also double according to the OBR forecasts.
• Lloyds Bank have announced that the Halifax brand will disappear from next year.
• The governments Financial Inclusion Strategy set up in 2025 has already been criticised for having no set targets for improvements in the financial lives of the 900,000 people without bank accounts, or the 13 million households with low financial resilience.
• HMRC has been targeting crypto investors through Capital Gains Tax (CGT) investigations. Last year they collected £266 million from their investigations, up 46% on the year before. The average tax collected per investigation was over £27,000. More serious tax evasion.
• The government is said to be considering raising the retirement age to 68 in 2037 rather than 2044 as currently planned. This would save them £6 billion a year in pension payments but would also mean that 5 million people would have to work an extra year before retiring.
• The number of higher rate tax payers is set to rise to 7.7 million people by 2026/27 as a result of tax thresholds remaining unchanged. The number paying income tax will also top 40 million.
• Finally, the number of over 65’s paying tax has now risen to over 10 million. But remember the government is very concerned about the cost of living and has lowered bus fares to £2 to help everyone.
• The economy also grew by 0.1% in May.
• HMRC is now owed almost £45 billion in unpaid taxes. How do people get away with it?
• But in the last three months over £2 billion in Inheritance Tax was collected.
• Inflation fell to 2.6% in June. Down 0.2% from April.
• The number of people using Claims Management Companies (CMC’s) to bring claims into the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has fallen dramatically. Down from 45% of claims last year to just 13% of claims this year. This is probably a direct result of the government introducing fees for CMC’s to bring claims.

What our customers have said about us

• Highly recommended – A big thank you to Mr Gill who gave us a Google review this month. He said, “highly recommended, couldn’t do enough for me, very professional, very impressed on my first visit”. We appreciate every review we get. That’s our 93^rd verified review on Google only 7 more to go until we reach 100.
• No nonsense service – Back in May we had a lovely review from Morgan who wanted advice about pension draw down. He was impressed by our no-nonsense service which we appreciated. He said “Once I had made the decision to draw down my pension as I was approaching 60, I did a Google search for financial advisors. Having picked 3 local companies and made enquiries, Christina Clegg Financial Planning Services was the only company to reply to me. Upon meeting Christina for my free consultation, I was greeted with a brew and a no-nonsense approach to the services offered. At the end of the meeting, I was confident I would move forward and put my trust in this company. Numerous meetings happened over the next couple of months explaining the process and more importantly, listening to my needs and building a plan that worked for me. I would have no hesitation in recommending Christina and her team to anybody looking for sound financial advice.”
• No hard sell – Mrs Tattersall was delighted that we always take the time to talk and explain financial situations. She said “The financial advice we have received from Christina and her team, is very professional and helpful, providing an excellent service and would recommend them to anyone.Four years on since we first visited Christina and her team, and we are delighted with the service and attention we receive. Always takes time to talk with us and explain financial situations. No hard sell and a lovely cup of coffee during our visits.”

 Get more information.

If you are looking for safe and trusted independent financial advice, then why not contact Christina today. We offer a free initial meeting to discuss your requirements and explain how our service works. You are under no obligation to use us after that if you don’t want to and we won’t pester you.

So why not call us today on 01282 614444 or e mail us enquiries@ccfps.co.uk or use our contact form online.

Or if you’d prefer to think about it some more, why not have a look at our Facebook page, our Vouched For page, or our Testimonials page to see what our customers think about us.