IAB

🔸 Income tax update!
Over this and the next tax year, UK taxpayers face increasing rates of tax on investment income, frozen rates and allowances and a change in how allowances and reliefs can be used.

Personal allowance and income tax bands.
Personal allowances and rate bands in England and Wales were already frozen until the start of 2028–29, and the Autumn Budget 2025 extended that freeze until 2030–31. This means that by the time we reach the 2031–32 tax year, these will not have changed significantly for a decade. Therefore the allowance and tax bands remain as follows:
- personal allowance: £12,570;
- basic rate band: first £37,700 of taxable income;
- higher rate band: taxable income between £37,700 and £125,140
- additional rate: taxable income above £125,140.

📌 Read full news article by Croner here - https://www.iab.org.uk/iab-news/income-tax-update/

🔹Looking forward to the May 2026 IAB Coffee Morning this morning at 11AM! Remember to join us for the live session to receive your CPD certificate.

🖌️ Quarterly Tax Reporting: What accountants and their clients should expect. We’ve created a simple walkthrough following a typical client through their first full year under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. Meet Sam a freelancer who has just started his first tax year under MTD for Income Tax, with his accountant supporting him throughout the process.

Note: This example follows the 2026/27 tax year, which is the first year many self-employed individuals will begin quarterly reporting under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, while still completing a Self Assessment tax return for the previous 2025/26 tax year.

📍 Read full article by Coconut here - https://www.iab.org.uk/iab-news/quarterly-tax-reporting-what-accountants-and-their-clients-should-expect/

⭐ IAB CEO Sarah Palmer has written an article in the latest edition of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry magazine. The article is on Page 51, Sarah talks about how the IAB and LCCI are connected and the important values within education.

📌 Read full magazine here -https://www.londonbusinessmatters.co.uk/archive/2026-05/files/LBM-May-June-2026-Digital.pdf

Great first day at Accountex London catching up with lots of members! Day 2 is now underway.

Day 1 Accountex London is underway!
We are on Stand 275, come and say hi.

📌 Accountex London starts tomorrow, 13th May 2026!
A free visit to Accountex London means you'll get access to 240+ expert-led sessions over two days on 13-14 May at Excel London. The programme's now live and it's packed with content carefully curated to challenge, inspire, and help you tackle real industry challenges.

🌟 What’s in it for Bookkeepers?
- Bookkeepers’ Basecamp | A networking space just for bookkeepers on Stand 490.
- Bookkeepers’ Circle | New for 2026, hear from trailblazing bookkeepers, share experiences and learn from the best.
- Theatre 6 – Bookkeepers | A dedicated stage covering AI, growth and building resilience - real sessions, real speakers.
- 300+ exhibitors | Showcasing software and solutions built for bookkeepers, accountants and finance professionals.

🔹 IAB | We will be exhibiting on Stand 275 and we’d love you to come and say hi

📍 Get your ticket here - https://eventdata.uk/Forms/Form.aspx?FormRef=Acc56Visitor&TrackingCode=ACXLON711

💻 Q&A: Capital allowances on employee laptops.
My client has asked whether tax relief can be claimed if he buys a laptop for use in his employment. He is required by his employer to provide his own laptop for work.

Capital allowances may be due, in which case a 100% annual investment allowance could be claimed (CAA 2001, s.36(1) ):
‘36(1) Where the qualifying activity consists of an employment or office –
(a)expenditure on the provision of a mechanically propelled road vehicle, or a cycle, is not qualifying expenditure, and
(b)other expenditure is qualifying expenditure only if the plant or machinery is necessarily provided for use in the performance of the duties of the employment or office.’

📌 Note that the item in question must be necessarily provided. That is a tight requirement, and anything less will not suffice. The necessity seems to be implicit in your client’s circumstances as the employer requires it but knowing why that is so and what your client’s employment is would help.

👉 Read full article by Croner here - https://www.iab.org.uk/iab-news/qa-capital-allowances-on-employee-laptops/

⭐ IAB member benefit Fathom are hosting two panels at Accountex next week! The details of each session are listed below.

🔹 Day One Panel: Are You Comparing the Right Things? Benchmarking That Actually Helps - https://www.accountex.co.uk/london/sessions/are-you-comparing-the-right-things-benchmarking-that-actually-helps/

13 May · 14:20 · Theatre 2, FD Show 2
Most finance teams measure something—but are they measuring the right things? This session cuts through the noise of dashboards and KPIs to ask which comparisons actually lead to better decisions. A panel of working CFOs and finance leaders share how they rebuilt their benchmarking approach from the ground up: what they stopped tracking, what they replaced it with, and the unexpected metrics that ultimately changed how they run the business. Expect honest, practical takeaways for any finance leader who's ever sat through a report and thought "so what?"

🔸 Day Two Panel: The Intersection of the Human/AI Paradigm - https://www.accountex.co.uk/london/sessions/the-intersection-of-the-human-ai-paradigm/

14 May · 13:20–14:00 · Theatre 11, AI Stage
AI is already in the workflow—the question is how to use it well. This session moves past the hype and the anxiety to explore what it actually looks like when finance professionals integrate AI thoughtfully: where it improves accuracy, efficiency, and insight, and where human judgment, empathy, and trust remain irreplaceable. The panel draws on real experience to discuss how firms can evolve their skills, protect client relationships, and build a practice that's genuinely future-ready—without losing what makes them good at the job.

📍 Remember to book your ticket here and visit the IAB on stand 275 - https://eventdata.uk/Forms/Form.aspx?FormRef=Acc56Visitor&TrackingCode=ACXLON740

🖌️ Stronger Through Change. Insights from Sarah Palmer, CEO IAB. As we head into the May bank holiday weekend, it feels like the year is only just getting going. April has a way of doing that. It resets the clock for finance professionals, but it also brings everything into sharper focus. And this year, that focus comes with a fair amount of noise.

There is uncertainty in the wider market, ongoing cost pressures, and from conversations I’m having with colleagues across the globe, a consistent theme is emerging around shifting international markets and changing demand. Alongside that sits the growing conversation around AI and what that means for bookkeeping and accounting, and whether it will diminish the role of the bookkeeper.

🔹 It’s a conversation I recognise. I started my practice right in the middle of a financial crisis. Not long after that came the shift to cloud accounting, and then the introduction of outsourcing. Each time, there were questions about what it would mean for the role of the bookkeeper and where the value would sit. AI feels very similar.

There is a lot of noise around it, but what it is really doing is drawing a clearer line between those who are simply processing and those who truly understand the numbers behind the work. That is where the opportunity sits.

📍 Read full article by Sarah here - https://www.iab.org.uk/iab-news/stronger-through-change/