susannah

@Outlook do you have a UK based telephone support team , we are having issues but keep having to wait for your LA based team to start work before we can get help

@SimonCalder At Alicante last week we all had to use the machines & our passport was scanned, but as I’d entered before mine said go straight to passport control. Hopefully as more people get this message & don’t have to go through the whole registration process the queues will get shorter

EU entry-exit system. The whole digital borders plan is due to be complete within weeks: 9 April 2026. But confusion abounds, eg: “I’ve registered on a previous trip. Am I fast-tracked next time?” (No) “Can I register my biometrics in advance?” (No) More🔽 independent.co.uk/travel/news-an…

@rosierevenant @CutMyTaxUK Yes you’re allowed to pay the first instalment which I believe is 10%, so you can at least get probate & sell but you’re charged interest on the remainder. At the very least this should be changed now that more people are impacted especially once leftover pension is included

@susannahj55 @CutMyTaxUK Whaaaaaat! Is this serious?

Very soon the average UK house price will exceed the inheritance tax threshold of £325k, which has remained unchanged by both Labour & Conservative parties since April 2009 & will stayed fixed at that level at least until 2030 thanks to Labour. The death tax is already Britain's most hated tax & as more & more people are forced to pay it the groundswell to scrap it entirely will grow to a huge size.

@SimonCalder We flew to Salzburg Xmas & were bused to a separate building full of scanners, no Q system just pick one at random, a whole plane rushing to a scanner with the shortest Q, it felt like Squid Games! Most people were rejected & had to go to the traditional passport desk anyway.

Travel to Europe 2026 – and beyond. Updated guide to changes. 1 EU entry-exit system is being rolled out, with fingerprinting and facial biometrics. No need to prepare anything in advance. 2 Etias "euro-visa" will start in "last quarter of 2026", EU says. independent.co.uk/travel/news-an…

@itvpeston @Peston @rachelreeves If she actually understands how a family business is valued for IHT & the implications for a business.

We’re passing you the mic 🎙️ @Peston is interviewing Chancellor @RachelReeves on our first show back. What do you want answered? ⁉️ Drop your questions below and be sure to join us tomorrow ⬇️ 🔴 9PM LIVE X & YouTube 📺 1045PM ITV1 #Peston

@MerryAlbright @bleating_lamb We’ve a family elec biz & after 21 yrs if our sons weren’t involved we’d close. We’ve trained apprentices, put employees through biz degrees,paid all our taxes. Higher tax short term can be dealt with but their policies esp IHT seem to be deliberately undermining biz.

We (family owned construction co.) have all the unsustainable Labour burdens: BPR IHT, hiked business rates, National Insurance & min wage (we employ 100 people) CGT, inflation, terrible trading conditions, planning issues, nutrient neutrality/mitigation etc What is the point?

@griffitha After over 20 yrs of running a business & before that working in the city, I can’t remember a government so anti business, I didn’t agree with all their policies but at least I felt the previous labour government understood business. This feels deliberate

This is just the tip of an iceberg which is tearing through the hull of British business. The Chancellors shocking hikes in business rates are the last straw for many, coming on top of higher employment costs, more socialist red tape and low consumer confidence. For every big chain you read about, think of the dozens of small and micro businesses which quietly fold.

@StuartMaggs So true and you’re assuming there’s a 30 year gap, it’s possible a son / daughter could die a few years after his father/ mother and the company has to find double that amount

The financial implications of the changes to IHT, even accounting for the recent U-turn, are nonsensical. Family businesses are often the key focus of a family's assets, employing people, creating jobs, paying taxes, and growing across generations. If it is worth more than £2.5m (£5m for couples) it needs to plan to lose 20% of its value above that amount to the Treasury every generation. If a business needs to plan to provide cash to its owners of 20% of its value at an unpredictable point every 30 years or so, it has to build up huge reserves, be cautious about growth and shy away from opportunities that stretch it. If a business has just taken out significant borrowing to finance growth and the owner dies, the inheritance tax could collapse the business costing the jobs of everyone employed. Our tax system should welcome, support, and encourage entrepreneurs, not hang a sword of Damocles above their heads. The 10 year payment regime doesn't change the underlying principle. A tax system that destroys viable businesses isn't fairer, it's short-sighted. Imagine having to explain to your employees that because your father or mother died, they've got a new employer now as you've had to sell, or worse, it all collapses and they lose their jobs. Tax people when they sell businesses, not when owners die.

@Ryanair hey Ryanair what’s happened to the luggage on flight FR730 Stansted to Vienna most of the flights luggage hasn’t arrived. Any idea when it will arrive?

@ShepherdWales Not just farms but family businesses too. We spent around 4K on extra legal & accountancy advice & have been spending nearly 1K a month on relevant life insurance which we took out as knew in our 60s the cost & risk of illness would only increase increase.

🧵I have created a thread of some of Starmer’s statements pre this U-turn that were either a lie when he said them or he failed to bother to listen for 14 months. If you have more - add them. 🚨How many farm businesses stopped investing in their farms during those 14months? 🚨How many rural businesses reliant on farm investment laid off workers, lost revenue, during those 14 months? 🚨How many farms have spent money on lawyers, solicitors and land agents during the past 14 months rather than growing the farm and producing food? 🚨How many farms decided to just sell up and be done with it during those 14 months? 💔How many elderly farmers refused life saving treatment during those 14 months? 💔How many elderly farmers took their own lives during those 14 months? As the saying goes: Better late than never but that is of no consolation to those who have already suffered. The struggle continues for those above the new threshold - dairy farms likely to be above and we are losing them at an alarming rate. We will not stop until this growth bashing policy - for all family businesses and the U.K. as a whole - is scrapped. 💪👍 Merry Christmas Everyone 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

@TWBFarms Family businesses such as mine owe the farmers a massive thank you for driving this & keeping up the pressure, I think we’ll all sleep sounder this Christmas

It’s important to be honest about how and why these amendments have happened. They are not the result of any single organisation or a last-minute negotiation. They are the result of farming becoming one of the most prominent political and media stories of the past 18 months. That visibility began with the Westminster protest on 19 November by over 50,000 individual farmers, an action that was not universally supported at the time and was actively discouraged in some quarters. However, it proved to be a turning point. The media response exposed the level of public support British farming still has, and once that support became visible, political access followed. Since then, an enormous amount of effort has gone into keeping farming in the public eye. From the bread wheat strike to the numerous tractor protests in London, and many other actions in between, no single event delivered change on its own. But collectively they sustained momentum and, crucially, protected public goodwill. That public support is what ultimately shifted the political landscape. Politicians respond to pressure when it is backed by voters – that is simply how change happens. For that reason, no individual or organisation should seek to retrospectively “own” what has been achieved so far. This has been a genuinely collective effort across the industry, involving many people, many approaches, and at times uncomfortable conversations. It’s also important to be clear that this is not the end. Some of us were aware that movement on this issue was coming, and the hope now is that further changes will follow. In particular, there remains a serious and unresolved problem for older farmers, where the current system creates a perverse incentive to die rather than plan – or to refuse treatment for terminal illness in order to avoid devastating tax consequences. Addressing that, potentially through a form of hold-over relief, would remove one of the most damaging and inhumane incentives in the current system and allow families to plan with dignity. The real credit however lies with the wider farming community, which has largely conducted itself professionally and constructively, and in doing so earned the public backing that has genuinely moved the dial @agricontract @loosecollie @wheat_daddy @TheFarmingForum 👍

@LibraGenXer @griffitha Farmers have done a fantastic job fighting this but media has been largely silent about the effect on fam biz, I guess as we are a diverse group. The IHT is calculated on a commercial valuation which could be 5X actual value & paid on taxed income. So effectively 200% of co value

@susannahj55 @griffitha I’m only now learning this affected family business as well as farms yet the opposition parties have only protested about the farmers. It’s opened my eyes.

This partial U turn is welcome but applying inheritance tax to family businesses remains wrong and raising the threshold merely disincentivizes growth and success. The rationale response by a family business will be to simply not make that extra hire or open another venue.

@ianeditz Not if you have an electrical business & have been worried sick for over a year

Rhetorical question

@Adeg17267926 @DanNeidle Thank you this is a massive relief to our family electrical business

@susannahj55 @DanNeidle Yes also includes business property relief so you can now get up to £5 million of relief for married owners.

@StevenJGPerez @BBCNews Do we definitely know this apply to all family businesses not just farming, msm seems to just be referring to farming

My interview on ⁦@BBCNews⁩ this morning as the changes to IHT were announced. This will help small married farmers and businesses, but will make little difference to the biggest employers and businesses in the UK that will get snapped up by foreign investors and corporati

@StuartMaggs Let’s hope so ! thank you for replying

@susannahj55 I think so. There is some confusion, but the initial announcements refers not just to agriculture, but to all family businesses (BPR) as well as agriculture (APR). So it should be both.

The increase in APR/BPR allowance are welcome, but they do not take everyone to safety. There are many people who will still need good advice, and urgently. They include: - Unmarried/divorced people with farms/businesses worth over £2.5m and other assets above £325k. - Married couples or widows/widowers with farms/businesses worth over £5m and other assets above £650k. - People in second marriages who want the farm to go down the family line. - People looking at putting businesses or shares into trust For some, the planning you have already done may need to be adapted or altered. There is some time to do this, but not much. Many people will be out of the office until 5th January, and very busy thereafter. Contact your advisors now, recognising that thousands of people like you need their help and they will be struggling with workloads.