Taking Stock - Top tax tips for those with large attics.
Who says dealing with all those high-net-worth individuals is enough to lift a tax accountant’s financial feet off the ground? Take KPMG personal financial services partner John Battersby. He started the year with a list of top ten tax tips for securing ‘a prosperous new millennium’. At number ten is John’s suggestion that you should search your attic. ‘The new year is always a good time for a clear out so check if you have any valuable assets which you could sell tax free for up to £7,100,’ he tells us. ‘I recently discovered an original Paddington Bear which was auctioned for charity and raised £140.’ But TS believes for most of us, venturing into our lofts would turn up little more than empty paint tins, some board games missing essential components, and a shoe box of old photographs. For numbers eight to two John lists more familiar measures like ISAs and ditching the company car. But top of John’s list is mortgages. He advises: ‘There will be no more mortgage tax relief from 6 April 2000 so this may be the time to repay your mortgage.’ If you are a partner at a firm which only a few weeks ago announced average partner pay of £391,000 this might be an option. The rest of us will just have to suffer. ?: