Independent news, explained properly
HMRC may send letters, emails or texts about the change until 11 January 2027. The special tax treatment for holiday lets ended in April 2025, so the 2025-26 return due by 31 January is the first under the new rules for many owners.
The letters can arrive from 9 November 2026 to 5 February 2027 and may be followed by a text reminder within two weeks. HMRC has listed the contact as genuine so recipients can tell it apart from scam messages.
New HMRC guidance sets out a separate route for serving personnel and their partners whose child's birth was registered abroad. The claim starts with a call, and a birth certificate or passport follows by post within 12 weeks.
The regulator says unfair or unclear terms in financial contracts cannot be enforced and customers may be owed redress. It has set out recent cases and how people can report a term they think is unfair.
HMRC has set new Save As You Earn rates, lifting the three-year bonus to 0.5 of a monthly payment and the five-year bonus to 1.5. Savers already in a scheme are not affected.
Employers can sign up to put benefits through payroll from the 2027-28 tax year, with living accommodation and loans now among the benefits the service accepts. Cars, vans, fuel and medical cover move to compulsory payrolling from 6 April 2027.
The government plans to let parents and carers deal with Child Trust Fund providers directly, instead of applying to the Court of Protection, when an 18-year-old cannot manage their own money. It estimates 63,000 to 126,000 young adults are affected.
The Department for Work and Pensions has opened a consultation on Guided Retirement, which closes on 21 December. Savers would still be free to choose a different option.
HMRC has published its guidance on the online return. It is due by the 7th of each month, with payment cleared by the 15th, and a nil return is needed even with nothing to declare.
The regulator polled 666 adults aged 18 to 40 and points people to an online tool for working out what sways their decisions.
The regulator's findings set out what it wants to see on fees, from payment reminders to limits on repeat charges, though they create no new requirements.
Most eligible borrowers earned less than the annual threshold but still had repayments taken from their pay. Last tax year £97.6m went back to 416,400 of them.
First-time buyers who use their Lifetime ISA on a home over the price cap now lose the government bonus but keep their own savings. A new First Time Buyer ISA will replace the product for new savers from April 2029.
Homeowners anywhere in the UK can now borrow at reduced or zero interest for heat pumps, solar panels and home batteries, applying through a lender rather than the government.
Link says the typical amount taken out on Saturday was the highest for any Saturday in its records, while retailers report jumps in sales of torches, radios and tinned food.
The policy paper covers biodiversity credits, water company spending and farming, and promises new standards so buyers and investors can trust what they are paying for.
Price data shows October's average is around 113p a litre before VAT, against about 55p last October. Households off the gas grid have no price cap to fall back on.
The online deadline for the 2025 to 2026 tax year is 31 January 2027, but paper returns must arrive by 31 October this year.
How UK credit reference agencies build a record of your borrowing, what lenders see when you apply, and the steps to take if something on it is wrong.
What Bank Rate is, who sets it and why it changes some mortgage payments within weeks while others are untouched for years.
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