| magazines, books and references | If you are self employed, the cost of these is tax deductible provided they are used wholly and exclusively for business purposes. If you are employed by a third party, it is very difficult to get tax relief as they must be bought "wholly, exclusively and necessarily" in the performance of the employment. |
| main residence | The place where you normally live and consider to be your home. You can only have one main residence for capital gains tax purposes. |
| maintenance | A payment made to a former spouse or child, following divorce or legal separation. Tax relief may be claimed by the payee while the amount may have to be included in the taxable income for the recipient. |
| maintenance and alimony payments | Amounts you pay under a legally binding agreement to a former spouse who is no longer living with you, or to or for your child. You may be able to claim tax relief for these payments. |
| maintenance and alimony received | Amounts you receive under a legally binding agreement from a former spouse who is no longer living with you, or from your parent if you are under the age of 21. You may have to pay tax on some or all of the amount you receive. |
| market value | The price which you can obtain for an asset if you sold it freely on the open market. |
| marriage | A man and woman legally living together as husband and wife. |
| married couple's allowance | An extra tax allowance you are entitled to if you are married. Withdrawn from 6 April 2000 except for certain circumstances for people over 65. |
| master/servant relationship | Means that you are told what your daily or weekly duties are. Often determines whether you are employed or self employed. |
| medical insurance | In return for a premium, you will receive prompt private medical attention. |
| mileage allowance | An allowance paid to you by your employer for travelling. It is based on the number of business miles you travel and is paid at a rate fixed by your employer. |
| millennium gift aid | One off payments of £100 or more made to certain registered charities that are participating in this scheme. The funds must be used for education projects or for the relief of poverty in third world countries. The charity reclaims the basic rate of tax you have deducted and you receive higher rate tax relief if you have sufficient income. (When first announced, millennium gift aid status for charities was pledged to run until 31 December 2000. However, later (in November 1999) the Government announced that from 6 April 2000 most charitable donations, even small ones, could be made net of basic rate tax and treated as tax-deductible. It seems therefore that the special status of millennium gift aid charities may not matter so much after 5 April 2000). |
| MIRAS | Acronym for Mortgage Interest Relief At Source. Abolished from 6 April 2000. |
| mixed business asset | An asset that has been used for both business and non business purposes. |
| mobile telephone | Any telephone not connected to a landline. It includes a car phone, whether or not it is fixed to the car, but does not include a cordless phone which is an extension of a landline. |
| money payments | Payments that are made in cash or equivalent. |
| money's worth | The cash value of something you receive - the amount for which you would sell it, not the loss to the person providing it. |
| mortgage | A long-term loan, which is secured on property, generally your main home. You receive 10% tax relief on the interest on loans used to purchase your home up to a value of £30,000. Tax relief is withdrawn from 6 April 2000. |
| motor vehicle expenses - self employed | When you are self employed, you can claim the business percentage of the total running costs of a vehicle against your business profits. Alternatively, you can keep a note of the business mileage and claim the equivalent of the Inland Revenue fixed profit car scheme rate against the profits. This is subject to stringent tests by the Inland Revenue. |
| motoring costs - the exact basis | The exact basis of calculating your motoring costs involves adding up the total motoring expenses incurred over the tax year (such as fuel, servicing, repairs and so on), and apportioning the costs between business and private use on the basis of mileage. |
| motoring costs - the simpler basis | The simpler basis of calculating your motoring costs allows you to use mileage rates published by the Inland Revenue, the Fixed Profit Car Scheme rates. The rate varies according to the cylinder capacity of your car and a higher rate is used for the first 4,000 business miles. |
