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VAT DEFERRAL

For VAT, the deferral will apply from 20 March 2020 until 30 June 2020. All UK businesses are eligible. How to access the scheme This is an automatic offer with no applications required. Businesses will not need to make a VAT payment during this period. Taxpayers will be given until the end of the 2020 to 2021 tax year to pay any liabilities that have accumulated during the deferral period. VAT refunds and reclaims will be paid by the government as normal. Customers who normally p...

MORTGAGE HOLIDAYS

I have received information from our internal mortgage broker on clients whom want to apply for a mortgage payment holiday. Most of the lenders now have a form on their websites to apply for one. This will save you trying to call to get through to speak to the lender.The choice is normally a payment holiday of 3 months and the interest is re-calculated and added to the loan – which will increase the payments slightly, or a 12 month interest only arrangement.I think the latter is better gi...

Companies To Receive 3-Month Extension Period To File Accounts During COVID-19

Companies House have made some announcements in conjunction with the government. We intend to carry on as normal with filiings wherever possible so this is mainly for your information.From today (25 March 2020), businesses will be able to apply for a 3-month extension for filing their accounts.This joint initiative between the government and Companies House will mean businesses can prioritise managing the impact of Coronavirus.There are approximately 4.3 million businesses on the Companies House...

A Checklist For Businesses Affected By COVID-19

These urgent actions apply to businesses and companies regardless of size.This is the guidance we are giving to the many businesses we are advising, many of whom are now working from home and wondering where to start. Last week’s announcement from the Chancellor set out a raft of measures to assist businesses which could make a vast difference to many businesses. Some of the detail which will enable you to access these packages is still to follow. There are, however, a number of actions t...

THE CORONAVIRUS BUSINESS INTERRUPTION LOAN SCHEME (CBILS) IS NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH PARTICIPATING LENDERS

CBILS is a new scheme, announced by The Chancellor at Budget 2020, that can provide facilities of up to £5m for smaller businesses across the UK who are experiencing lost or deferred revenues, leading to disruptions to their cashflow. CBILS supports a wide range of business finance products, including term loans, overdrafts, invoice finance and asset finance. The scheme provides the lender with a government-backed guarantee potentially enabling a ‘no’ credit decision from a lender to b...

VAT Payment Deferrals And COVID-19

On Friday 20 March the Chancellor announced that in a further bid to support businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government will allow businesses to defer from paying their VAT for 3 months....

COVID19 - Support For Business

Following a number of calls from client over the last few days. I have put together some guidance on the actions the government has taken to support businesses from the economic consequences of the Coronavirus. We will be sending updates to this as we get them and this may be on a daily basis.We do not normally issue newsletter daily but in these unprecedented times we felt it important to keep you fully informed.If you do not wish to receive these then please let me know and we will remove...

SMALL BUSINESS EMERGENCY ACTION PLAN

Not all businesses are going to survive the next three months. If your customers are in isolation and cannot get to you or you cannot deliver or they cannot pay you, there is the reality of reduced or no sales for the next three or so months and even beyond if the virus remains. The situation we face is one we cannot change we must accept that and it’s the same for everyone - we know because our business depends on your success. What you can do is stay healthy and ensure your loved o...

GUIDANCE FOR OUR CLIENTS - CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)

In these uncertain times we wanted to reach out to all our clients to let you know we are here to offer support and guidance over the next few months.Health and wellbeing are the most important things right now and so we have made the decision that our people will be working remotely from 23rd March 2020.We will continue to complete your accounts, VAT, payroll and tax returns in a timely manner.If you and your people are working remotely and / or struggling to keep your records straight then ple...

Engaging With The COVID Economy

Please see out update below on COVID-19. Important Note:From today 18th March 2020 we will be working remotely from home as our main office is temporarily closed. All planned face toface meeting will be cancelled and we will will be conducting these either through Skype, MS Teams or Zoom meetings. If you have any question then please let me know. If you cannot get hold of us on the phone then please either call me on 07779 565565 or 01628 260300 The COVID-19 virus is reaching epidemic proportion...

Employer Factsheet on Coronavirus

With the number of UK coronavirus cases rising day by day, you’ve probably got a lot of questions about how the outbreak will impact your business and what you can do as an employer.Now that the coronavirus outbreak has been labelled a pandemic by the World Health Organization, you’ve probably got a lot of questions about how it will impact your business and what you can do as an employer. Here we answer some of your complex HR questions… Q. One of my employees is returning from an af...

HAVE YOU DECLARED ALL OF YOUR CREDIT CARD SALES?

Where credit card sales have been omitted from business takings, HMRC are encouraging taxpayers to come forward and make a disclosure of the income that has been omitted to avoid incurring interest and penalties on top of the unpaid tax. As you may be aware HMRC now receive information from third parties such as banks and credit card companies and will then match that data with business accounts, and will then open detailed enquiries if the figures appear to be inconsistent. They can go back u...

SPLITTING THE INCOME OF MARRIED COUPLES

Where a married couple hold savings accounts and other investments in joint names, the income from those investments is split 50:50 for tax purposes, unless there is an election to allocate the income in accordance with their beneficial interests. This is particularly important where the couples' marginal tax rates are different now that there are different personal savings allowances. Where the husband pays tax at 40% and the wife is only a 20% basic rate taxpayer, there can be significant tax...

CHRISTMAS IS COMING! - NEW RULES FOR GIFTS TO STAFF

From 6 April 2016 new rules were introduced to allow employers to provide their directors and employees with certain "trivial" benefits in kind, tax-free. The new rules are a simplification measure so that certain benefits in kind will not need to be reported to HMRC, as well as being tax free for the employee. There are of course a number of conditions that need to be satisfied to qualify for the exemption . CONDITIONS FOR THE EXEMPTION TO APPLY: the cost of providing the benefit does not ...

VAT Implications of Employee Mileage Claims

Note that where employers reimburse their employees 45p per mile for using their own cars they are able to reclaim input VAT based on the amounts shown in the table. In the case of a 1600cc diesel car that would be 1.5 pence per mile. (9p x 20/120). Such a claim needs to be supported by a receipt from the filling station. ...

PAYING 20% INSTEAD OF 28% ON THE SALE OF PROPERTY

The latest Finance Act has retained the 28% CGT rate for sales of residential property, whereas the general rate was reduced to 20% for higher rate taxpayers. It has been suggested that it is possible to reduce the rate from 28% to 20% by deferring the gain temporarily into qualifying EIS company shares. The tax planning opportunity arises because reinvesting the property gain in Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) company shares defers the gain until the shares are sold when the gain com...

Changes to Farmers Averaging

From 2016/17 onwards farmers now have the option to smooth out their profits over two or five tax years as the result of a change in Finance Act 2016. Farmers' and market gardeners' profits often fluctuate wildly from one year to the next and the tax rules for many years have allowed them to average their profits in order to smooth out those fluctuations. It is expected that there could be even greater fluctuations as the result of changes to subsidies and support payments following Bri...

REPORTING TO HMRC EVERY QUARTER TO GO AHEAD IN 2018

The Government and HMRC remain committed to the "Making Tax Digital" project with more information being sent online to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by employers, pension funds, banks and other institutions. The next big step will be the introduction of quarterly reporting of income and expenditure by businesses and landlords from 2018. HMRC are currently consulting on a number of proposals to make radical changes to facilitate the introduction of the new regime. We accountants have serious c...

Guidance for Employers

HMRC have issued their latest guidance to employers in the August edition of the Employer Bulletin. This publication, which is issued every two months, includes articles on: expenses and benefits in kind consultations HMRC Toolkits – helping to reduce errors Automatic penalties for late intermediary returns the Apprenticeship Levy and apprentices guidance on paying HMRC student loan deductions Automatic enrolment update National insurance contributions for employees over State Pensi...

Advisory fuel rates for company cars

New company car advisory fuel rates have been published which take effect from 1 September 2016. The guidance states: 'You can use the previous rates for up to one month from the date the new rates apply'. The rates only apply to employees using a company car. The advisory fuel rates for journeys undertaken on or after 1 September 2016 are: Engine size Petrol 1400cc or less 11p 1401cc - 2000cc 13p Over 2000cc 20p Engine size...

Government urged to delay the launch of Lifetime ISA

The government is being urged by both pension providers and banks to delay the April 2017 launch of the new Lifetime ISA as they are warning that they will not be ready to offer the savings product by this time. A new Lifetime ISA introduces a new type of savings account for adults under the age of 40. Individuals will be able to contribute up to £4,000 per year and receive a 25% bonus from the government. Funds, including the government bonus, can be used to buy a first home at any time from ...

Complain to HMRC - online

HMRC have always had complaints procedures and have extended these to now include an online form which can be used to make complaints about your self-assessment and PAYE. The guidance also includes other ways to complain. If you would like help with PAYE or self assessment issues please contact us. Internet link: GOV.UK guidance ...

HMRC genuine and phishing/bogus emails and calls

HMRC have issued an update of their guidance on how to recognise genuine HMRC contact be it via email or text. They have also issued a warning regarding two telephone scams that they are aware of. The details of the two phone scams are as follows: Taxpayers receive telephone calls claiming to be from HMRC requesting personal information in order to receive a tax refund, or to demand money for an unpaid tax bill. A recorded message is left, allegedly from HMRC, advising 'that HMRC are bring...

Accounting standards and the tax implications of new UK GAAP

HMRC have updated their guidance on the tax implications of changes to the 'generally accepted accounting practice' used to prepare financial statements as many UK companies will be required to apply one of the EU-endorsed IFRS, FRS 101 or FRS 102 over the next few years. HMRC have stated that the purpose of these two papers is to assist companies who are thinking of choosing or have already chosen to apply either FRS 101 or FRS 102. The guidance includes an overview of the key accounting chang...

Government propose new sanctions for tax avoidance

The government has announced new proposals for sanctions for 'enablers and users of tax avoidance which is defeated by HMRC'. The consultation proposes a new penalty for those who enable tax avoidance and changes to the existing penalty legislation which applies to those who use avoidance. The proposals are to introduce 'sanctions for those who design, market or facilitate the use of tax avoidance arrangements which are defeated by HMRC and to change the way the existing penalty regime works f...