Latest news with #BBCPodcast
RTÉ News
02-07-2025
- RTÉ News
Ex-swim coach Gibney faces 79 charges over alleged abuse of four girls
Former Irish national and Olympic swimming coach George Gibney is facing 79 charges in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of four girls in the 1970s and 1980s, according to court documents filed in the United States. Mr Gibney was remanded in custody by a judge in Orlando and is due back in court next Friday week. The 77-year-old was arrested on foot of international arrest warrants seeking his extradition back to Ireland to face the charges of alleged historical sexual abuse. Legal documents filed in the US District Court show Mr Gibney is wanted to face 78 counts of indecently assaulting the four girls and one count of also attempting to rape one of them. Mr Gibney was the alleged victims' coach at the time, and they were aged between eight and 15 years old according to the documents filed with the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Mr Gibney appeared at a brief hearing yesterday before Judge Daniel Irick and was remanded in custody to appear again in court for a detention hearing on Friday week, the 11 July. He submitted a financial affidavit and was granted a public defender. The US documents also show that the Dublin District Court issued 79 warrants for Mr Gibney's arrest on 6 June 2023, one for each of the alleged offences. The Irish Embassy in Washington formally requested his extradition in October last year. The 300-page court filing also says all four alleged victims contacted the gardaí between 2020 and 2022, after the BBC Podcast "Where is George Gibney" was broadcast and that the complaints were made on 4 February, 2 August and 29 September in 2021, and 20 July 2022. The alleged victims were not part of the earlier case against Mr Gibney when in 1994 he secured a High Court injunction preventing the DPP proceeding against him.
Daily Mirror
18-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Martin Lewis winter fuel payment savings alert and says 'move it'
Personal finance expert said that people may be caught out by their savings interest and miss out on the payment Personal finance expert Martin Lewis has issued an alert to savers that having their money in the wrong accounts could push them over the threshold and make them miss out on the winter fuel payment. The cash which is aimed at helping some of the poorest people in the country have enough cash to put the heating on, has been reinstated for this year by Chancellor Rachel Reeves for around 9 million pensioners who missed out last year. However there's a cut off at £35,000 - anyone earning more won't get the winter fuel payment. Mr Lewis explained that this relates to taxable income - and although savings are exempt, any interest earned on savings is not. For basic rate taxpayers earning under £50,270 there is savings allowance of £1,000 tax free - which means you could have £20,000 in a 5 per cent savings account and it would be tax free. Anything above that counts towards your income, and one caller to Mr Lewis' BBC Podcast was worried this would push her over the limit meaning she won't get the winter fuel payment. Caller Elaine, said she is a state pensioner and also works part time. She reckoned she earns just under £35,000 but also gets savings interest and interest from her cash ISAs. She said: 'Will that be included in the total amount of income because if it does then it puts me over the £35,000 and I won't get it. Martin replied: 'The first thing to say is the means test will be based on your taxable income for the current year that is 2025-6. It is all of your earnings that are subject to income tax. So that is is any private pension income, any state pension income, any employment income, any savings interest outside of an ISA. The interest you get inside of an ISA doesn't count, the interest outside of an ISA does count. 'We don't yet know if Premium Bond wins count or not. I'm almost certain they don't count because they're not taxable income but I'm waiting to get that confirmed. 'While the Personal Savings Allowance is an amount you are allowed to earn of savings interest tax free - as a basic rate taxpayer you can earn £1,000 of interest outside an ISA tax-free - that interest still counts towards your tax-free earnings for winter fuel payment. 'So let me just do a really simple example: you earn £1,000 of interest inside an ISA. Doesn't count. You earn £500 of interest within your Personal Savings Allowance so you don't pay tax on it. That £500 does count towards the £35,000 a year threshold.' Mr Lewis said in Elaine's case, because she hasn't used her full cash ISA £20,000 limit, she could move her savings into the cash ISA, the interest wouldn't count and therefore she wouldn't be over the threshold and she would get the winter fuel payment. Elaine said: 'I'll do that then.' Mr Lewis said investment dividends outside an ISA count, carer's allowance, incapacity benefit and other taxable state benefits also count. READ MORE: Martin Lewis helped me reclaim £14,500 in council tax before a sting in the tail In terms of what doesn't count towards the £35,000 earnings amount Mr Lewis said it included the winter fuel payment itself, investment income or savings income inside ISAs, the tax free lump sum from a pension, capital gains, and non-taxable benefits like Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance Pension Credit and PIPS all don't count towards the £35,000 He added: 'If it's generally taxable, it counts, if it's generally not taxable, it doesn't count.'
Business Mayor
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Martin Lewis gives ISA £4,000 alert and says 'everyone should have one'
Martin Lewis has given parents a £4,000 warning and explained they could be missing out on a 'free' £1,000 if they don't take action now. Speaking on his BBC Podcast, the personal finance expert was asked a quiestion by a viewer of if they should take out a Lifetime ISA for their daughter. And Mr Lewis said that all parents could be missing out on a huge boost – and all they need to do to make sure they can get it is to open an account with just £1. Host Adrian Chiles said: 'We've got one more question from Sarah. 'I have an 18-year-old daughter should she get a help to buy ISA now?' Mr Lewis said: 'It's now called a Lifetime ISA and it is a slightly different product. Very simply if your daughter plans to buy a first time home and is pretty sure that she's going to do it and it's going to be a home that costs under £450,000 then putting money and saving money into a Lifetime ISA is really powerful because you can put up to £4,000 a year and the state will add 25 per cent on top.' Government information says that the Lifetime ISA to buy a first home or save for later life. The person must be 18 or over but under 40 to open a Lifetime ISA. The Treasury says: 'You can put in up to £4,000 each year, until you're 50. You must make your first payment into your ISA before you're 40. The government will add a 25% bonus to your savings, up to a maximum of £1,000 per year.' Mr Lewis explained: 'In other words if you max it out the state will give you £1,000 on top of the £4,000 every tax year until you buy. 'You need to have it open a year before you can buy a house. The key problem if you withdraw money from it for any other reason than buying a qualifying first time house, and qualifying means a house under £450,000, you're charged an effective penalty of 6.25 per cent. So the state will take some of your money if you withdraw it. Alternatively you could leave it there until you're aged 60 and just take the money out then and you won't pay a penalty. 'Lifetime ISAs are only for those aged 18-39. Go and do some reading on this, but in simple terms, if she's definitely going to buy a house in the next 5-10 years and you're in an area where it's very unlikely those prices would be above £450,000, I would absolutely be putting money in there; if you're not, I wouldn't be.' Even if the parent doesn't think that a house purchase is imminent Mr Lewis said it was worth taking action now: 'But one thing I would do, even if you think you're not going to do it, and I would advise every parent of an 18, 19, 20, 21 year old put £1 in a Lifetime ISA. Here's the reason why. To get the bonus you have to have had the account open for a year. 'So let's just suppose you put £1 in now and you don't think you're going to buy a house. In a year's time something's changed and you think you're going to buy a house. You could then put £4,000 in and then pretty quickly within a week or two you would get £1,000 bonus and you could use it because you've had it opened for over a year. Read More BofA Forecasts Stronger 2025 for Nordic Economies 'So everybody should have one opened. What's the risk of doing this? Well the top paying Lifetime ISA is 4.7 per cent but the risk is you'd lost 6.25 per cent. I personally think the risk of 6 and a quarter pence, which is all you're risking if you put £1 in, is worth it to have the facility there.' Withdrawing money from your Lifetime ISA You can withdraw money from your ISA if you're: buying your first home aged 60 or over terminally ill, with less than 12 months to live You'll pay a withdrawal charge of 25% if you withdraw cash or assets for any other reason (also known as making an unauthorised withdrawal). This recovers the government bonus you received on your original savings. For more information on Lifetime ISAs click here.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Martin Lewis gives savers £20,000 'limit' warning on tax payments
Martin Lewis has told people about a key threshold for savings and warned that above it people will start to pay tax. Appearing on his BBC Podcast, the personal finance expert was answering a question from a listener about paying tax on savings. Mr Lewis said firstly the tax wasn't on the savings themselves, rather the savings interest. But the Money Saving Expert founder explained that there were two thresholds - of £10,000 and £20,000 that people needed to be aware of depending on how much they earn. And he said there were ways of lessening the tax people might pay by using the right kinds of accounts. Show host Adrian Chiles said: 'Christina's fed up - she's sick of working hard getting taxed on income and then taxed on savings. How does that work? So frustrating.' READ MORE: Argos kettle that boils in 43 seconds reduced to £14 and 'keeps water hot' READ MORE: I made the 80p solution hailed 'best weed killer ever' and it completely cleared my drive Martin immediately pointed out one key issue: 'Well forgive me you are not taxed on savings. You do not pay tax on your savings. You pay tax on the interest earned on savings. And I know it is a fine difference but it is an important one. You put money in the bank or building society or wherever you do in a deposit savings account and you do not pay any tax on the money you put in, you only pay tax on the money you've earned. 'This is because it is treated like any other form of income although it does have special allowances and it's really important to actually focus on what those special allowances are.' Mr Lewis said that one key figure was £12,570 because this is the personal tax threshold for everyone: 'The first thing to say is everybody has £12,570 that they can earn from any source, whether earned income or savings interest, or anything else which you don't pay tax on - your normal standard tax-free personal allowance. 'In savings specifically you then have, if you're a basic 20 per cent rate taxpayer, £1,000 a year of interest you can earn from any savings source which you don't pay tax on. That's £1,000 of interest, not £1,000 in a savings account.' What it means is that in a good savings account people need to be wary of how much money is in there - with normal rate taxpayers being fine with £20,000 in savings: 'So at 5 per cent interest as a basic rate taxpayer you can put £20,000 in a savings account and it would be tax free because that would generate £1,000 of interest. 'As a higher 40 per cent rate taxpayer, you're allowed £500 of interest tax-free. So it would be £10,000 in there that would save you and you wouldn't pay interest if you have in the top 5% savings account. If you happen to be lucky enough to be a top 45 per cent rate taxpayer earning over £125,000 you don't get one of these,' Mr Lewis explained For low earners - or people entirely living off interest from savings there is another tax allowance. Mr Lewis explained: 'There is another savings allowance that is rarely spoken about. This is called the starting savings allowance. Now this is for low earners and it's quite complicated. 'So what it says is you can earn up to £5,000 on top of your £1,000 as a basic rate taxpayer of interest tax free as a low earner. If you have earned income under £12,570 which is the standard tax allowance you can earn £5,000 on top of that in savings in this starting savings allowance in savings interest which is untaxed. For every pound you earn above £12.570 you lose a pound of the £5,000. ' Mr Lewis explained it through an example of if you earned £13,570 you'd only get £4,000 for your starting savings allowance. He added: 'For people where all of their money was generated by savings interest they would have £12,570, their normal tax free allowance, they would have their £5,000 starting savings allowance and they would have their £1,000 savings allowance ads a basic rate taxpayer which means you can earn £18,570 tax free if all your money came from savings interest. And then you could have an ISA on top for £20,000 a year which would be tax free and you could put money into Premium Bonds, £50,000 of which would be tax free.' Mr Lewis said some people describe the tax on savings as 'double taxation' and added: 'Let's be technical, it's not - there are other things that are double taxation but you get taxed on the amount of money you earn on your income, and then you get taxed on the amount of money you earn on your savings. You do not get taxed on your savings.' To listen to the full podcast click here.
