We’ve had a lovely few days of weather and summer is around the corner. As the weather heats up this time around we talk about the hottest topic at the moment. By now you probably have heard everyone mention about General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

The regulation has been passed to protect an individual’s privacy. If you hold a person’s name, email address, address or contact details, you will now need their permission to hold these types of data. If you do not have permission, then you will have to delete the data you hold. This will be law by the end of this week (25^th May 2018) and there are fines that will be imposed for any sort of breach. If you are worried about GDPR you can read up about it here.

Here at Cross Accounting, we are currently password protecting documents containing sensitive information when sending internally and externally. Since the document has an individual’s data on this ensures we are complying with GDPR rules. All our clients will have their own unique password to open their documents. This ensures privacy in case it is sent to an unintended recipient or a breach in security from hackers. Encryption is the key to adhering to the regulations.

25^th May is when all this starts to kick off, there are companies that can help and provide training for GDPR but it is making sure you’re being responsible with the data you hold. People have the right to be forgotten, so any contacts that you do not have their permission, you cannot keep. If you take car in to applying security to your business, then your are ready to tackle GDPR.

1. Stamp duty will be cut for 98% of people who pay it 

only the highest value residential properties will pay more Under the old rules, you would have paid Stamp Duty Land Tax at a single rate on the entire property price. Now, you will only pay the rate of tax on the part of the property price within each tax band – like income tax. Under the old rules, if you bought a house for £185,000, you would have had to pay 1% tax on the full amount – a total of £1,850. Under the new rules you don’t start paying tax until the property price goes over £125,000, and then you only pay tax on the price of the property within the tax bands over that price. Under the new rules, you’ll pay nothing on £125,000 and 2% on the remaining £60,000. This works out as £1,200, a saving of £650. This will make the system fairer, and means stamp duty will be cut for 98% of people who pay it. Our stamp duty factsheet explains this policy in more detail. You can also access our infographic which gives some examples of how the new system will work.

2. The tax-free personal allowance is being increased by a further £100 in April 2015, to £10,600 The personal allowance

the amount you earn before you have to start paying income tax – will be increased again from £10,000 to £10,600 in 2015 to 2016. Typically, someone earning between £10,600 and £42,385 will be £825 better off by 2015-16 as a result of increases in the tax-free personal allowance since 2010. Even while making difficult decisions to fix the economy, since 2010, the government has cut income tax for 26.7 million taxpayers. Read the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement speech in full.

 3. Children will be exempt from tax on economy flights This will apply for under 12s on flights from 1 May 2015, and for under 16s from 1 March 2016 

saving an average family of four £26 on a flight to Europe and £142 on one to the US. The government expects these changes should be clear to consumers, and will consult on making sure that the tax is displayed on ticket prices.

4. Spouses will inherit their partner’s individual saving account (ISA) benefits after death

Currently, if someone passes away they can’t pass on their ISA to their spouse, even if they have saved the money together. 150,000 people a year lose out on the tax advantages of their partner’s ISA when their partner passes away. From 3 December 2014, if an ISA holder dies, they will be able to pass on their ISA benefits to their spouse or civil partner via an additional ISA allowance which they will be able to use from 6 April 2015. The surviving spouse or civil partner will be allowed to invest as much into their own ISA as their spouse used to have, in addition to their normal annual ISA limit.

5. Business rates will be cut and capped

with extra Help for the High Street To support small businesses in local communities, the ‘high street discount’ for around 300,000 shops, pubs, cafes and restaurants will go up from £1,000 to £1,500, from April 2015 to March 2016. This is in addition to doubling Small Business Rate Relief for a further year which means 380,000 of the smallest businesses will pay no rates at all. The government will also continue to cap the annual increase in business rates at 2% from April 2015 to March 2016 – this will benefit all businesses paying business rates. Finally, the government will extend the transitional arrangements for smaller properties that would otherwise face significant bill increases due to the ending of ‘transitional rate relief’. Access our infographic on full employment, and the government’s long term economic plan.

6. No more employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) on apprentices under 25

To make it cheaper to employ young people, from April 2016 employers will not have to pay National Insurance contributions (NICs) for all but the highest earning apprentices aged under 25. This is in addition to the announcement made at Autumn Statement last year that employers won’t have to pay NICs on under 21s from April 2015. These are part of the government’s wider ambition to have the highest employment rate in the G7.

7. Creative sector tax reliefs will be extended to children’s TV

Following on from the success of the film, high end TV, animation, video games and theatre tax reliefs, a new children’s TV tax relief will be introduced from April 2015. This will counteract a decline in investment in children’s TV in the last decade. Eligible companies will be able to claim 25% of qualifying production spending back through the relief. The government will also consult on introducing a new orchestra tax relief in April 2016.