News
HMRC helpline changes on hold
27/03/2024
HMRC has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown on plans to close the Self-Assessment, VAT and PAYE helplines from early April until September this year. HMRC has now confirmed that these helpline changes have been abandoned following feedback from many concerned stakeholders, including MPs, accountants and members of the public. This
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Assistance with debt management
27/03/2024
Earlier this month, saw the 10th anniversary of the StepChange Debt Charity’s annual Debt Awareness Week. This is designed to shine a spotlight on the causes of problem debt.
The focus on this year's campaign is looking at the main barriers to getting debt advice. This includes understanding that many people can take too long to get the
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What are the off-payroll working rules?
27/03/2024
The rules for individuals providing services via an intermediary such as a personal service company (PSC) are complex. The rules apply if the worker who provides services to a client through their own intermediary would have been an employee if they were providing their services directly to that client.
The off-payroll working rules
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HMRC to accept service of legal proceedings by email
27/03/2024
HMRC has issued an updated ‘news story’ to confirm that, where possible, new legal proceedings and pre-action letters can be served on the department using email instead of post. This measure was originally introduced in April 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The update confirms that this is a permanent change and not just
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Rent a Room Scheme – another income stream
27/03/2024
The rent-a-room scheme is a set of special rules designed to help homeowners who rent-a-room in their home to create a valuable tax free income stream. If you are using this scheme, you should ensure that rents received from lodgers during the current tax year do no exceed £7,500. The tax exemption is automatic if you earn less than
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Entitlement to carer’s allowance
27/03/2024
Carer’s credit is a National Insurance credit that can help carers to fill gaps in their National Insurance record. Carers who don’t qualify for Carer’s Allowance may qualify for Carer’s Credit. This may also help carers increase their State Pension entitlement.
The Carer’s Credit is available to qualifying applicants caring for one or
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We are unpaid tax collectors
26/03/2024
Clients often refer to the VAT added to supplier invoices as if it were a cost to their business regardless of their VAT position.
This is true if you are not registered for VAT, you do not have to add VAT to your sales and you cannot recover any VAT you pay on purchases. Under these circumstances, VAT is a cost.
If you are registered
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Time to rethink the credit you offer your customers
26/03/2024
Most business owners are driven by sales targets and to meet these targets they may be tempted to offer extended payment terms.
For example, if your business grants a customer time to pay - say 60 days - after the services or goods supplied have been delivered, effectively, your money stays in their bank account for 60 days.
Further, if
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Tax-free child care
21/03/2024
HMRC is reminding parents that they may be eligible for Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) to help pay for school holiday childcare costs.
The TFC scheme can help parents of children aged up to 11 years old (17 for those with certain disabilities). The TFC scheme helps support working families with their childcare costs. There are many registered
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Invest and save tax
21/03/2024
The Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) is a generous tax relief that allows for the total amount of qualifying expenditure on plant and machinery to be deducted from your profits before tax.
The AIA can be claimed by an individual, partnership or company carrying on a trade, profession or vocation, a UK non-residential property business
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Check your National Insurance record
21/03/2024
There is an online service available on HMRC to check your National Insurance Contributions (NIC) record online. The service is available at https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record
In order to use this service, you will need to have a Government Gateway account. If you do not have an account, you can apply to set one up
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Workplace pension responsibilities
21/03/2024
Automatic enrolment for workplace pensions has helped many employees make provision for their retirement, with employers and government also contributing to make a larger pension pot.
The law states that employers must automatically enrol workers into a workplace pension if they are aged between 22 and State Pension Age, earning more
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Declare a beneficial interests in joint property
21/03/2024
The usual tax position for couples who live together with their spouse or civil partners is that property income held in joint names is divided 50:50. This is regardless of the actual ownership structure. However, where there is unequal ownership and the couple want the income taxed on that basis a notification must be sent to HMRC
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What a tax code means
21/03/2024
The letters in your tax code signify your entitlement (or not) to the annual tax free personal allowance. The tax codes are updated periodically and help employer’s work out how much tax to deduct from an employee’s pay packet.
The basic personal allowance for the current (and next) tax year is £12,570. The corresponding tax code for an
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Customs Declaration Service open for business
19/03/2024
All businesses can now move their export declarations to the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), HMRC has confirmed.
Businesses who have yet to move their export declarations to CDS will have a transition period to move across, until 4 June 2024. After this date, customs declarations cannot be submitted through the Customs Handling of
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Apprenticeships boost
19/03/2024
From the start of April 2024, the government will increase the amount of funding that employers who are paying the apprenticeship levy can pass onto other businesses. Apprenticeships can currently be funded by a levy paying employer transferring up to 25% of their unused levy to a different employer.
Under the new measures, large
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Tax Diary April/May 2024
14/03/2024
1 April 2024 - Due date for corporation tax due for the year ended 30 June 2023.
19 April 2024 - PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 April 2024. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 April 2024).
19 April 2024 - Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 April 2024.
19 April 2024 -
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Company confirmation statement changes
14/03/2024
As well as filing accounts with Companies House, there is an important requirement to check that the information Companies House has about your company is correct every year. This is facilitated by the filing of an annual company confirmation statement. Companies House can prosecute a company and its officers for failing to file a
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