This month’s fantastic PQ magazine has been published and features my article on income tax trading losses that regularly comes up in the tax exams.

This is an area most students struggle with despite it being fairly logical.

The trading loss can be offset against the total income of either the current or the previous tax year so will result in an immediate tax savings.

The claim is an all or nothing claim and should not be made if the income is less than the personal allowance as this will result in the personal allowance being wasted. (If you don’t use you lose it, like your muscles!)

 The other important point to bear in mind is that maximum offset against non-trading income is restricted to the higher of £50,000 and income. This information is always provided in the tax rates.

Alternatively, the trading loss can be carried forward against future trading profits of the same trade. The disadvantage here is tax relief is given in the future.

I recommend you read the PQ article on sole trader losses carefully to fully master this important topic as I expect this important topic to come up in the June 2022 exams.

Why not get my condensed notes to learn all the technical areas efficiently so you can practice exam questions?

Get a head start before results come out. The books are relevant for all tax exams up to March 2023. You will also get lots of free additional resources. You can purchase these amazing fun innovative books using this website