31/05/2017 by Pete Bird
Newsletter June 2017
Saving for your first home
Your Lifetime ISA savings and the bonus can be used towards buying your first home, worth up to £450,000, without incurring a withdrawal charge. You must be buying your home with a mortgage. You must use a conveyancer or solicitor to act for you in the purchase, and the funds must be paid direct to them by your Lifetime ISA provider.
If you're buying with another first time buyer, and you each have a Lifetime ISA, you can both use your government bonus. You can also buy a house with someone who isn't a first time buyer but they will not be able to use their Lifetime ISA without incurring a withdrawal charge.
Your Lifetime ISA must have been opened for at least 12 months before you can withdraw funds from it to buy your first home.
If you have a Help to Buy ISA, you can transfer those savings into your Lifetime ISA or you can continue to save into both - but you'll only be able to use the government bonus from one to buy your first home. You can transfer the balance in your Help to Buy ISA into your Lifetime ISA at any time if the amount is not more than £4,000.
In 2017/18 only, you can transfer the total balance of your Help to Buy ISA, as it stands on 5 April 2017, into your Lifetime ISA without affecting the £4,000 limit.
PAYE Coding Changes Through Personal Tax Accounts
HMRC has issued a briefing note outlining how, from the end of May, it will start to use real time PAYE information already held within its systems to calculate in-year whether individuals are paying the correct amount of tax. Where a change of tax code is necessary, HMRC will send a tax code change notice explaining the change and encouraging the taxpayer to use their online personal tax account.
For those unable or unwilling to use the online personal tax account, HMRC will continue to provide telephone support and home visits where appropriate.