HMRC’s free tax app is available to download from the App Store for iOS and from the Google Play Store for Android. The latest version of the app includes updated functionality. The app can be used to see: your tax code and National Insurance number; your income and benefits; your income from work in the previous 5 years; how much
More...Employers that take on a new employee need to work out which tax code and starter declaration to use in their payroll software. Incorrect tax codes can lead to a new employee paying more tax than is due. Employers will require certain information from their new employee in order to ensure that the correct tax code and starter declaration
More...HMRC has, for many years, looked to target businesses that deliberately undertake electronic sales suppression (ESS). ESS happens where a business deliberately manipulates its electronic sales records in order to hide or reduce the value of individual transactions. This type of fraud is hard to spot as it tries to reduce the recorded
More...The tax treatment of termination payments has changed significantly over recent years. The changes have aligned the rules for tax and secondary National Insurance contributions (employer (NICs)) by making an employer liable to pay NICs on termination payments they make to their employees. HMRC has announced that it is aligning its
More...VAT retail schemes are a special set of schemes used by retail businesses to account for VAT. The schemes are used by businesses that sell a significant amount of low value and/or small quantity items to the public with different VAT liabilities. The use of the schemes can save businesses a significant amount of time in calculating the
More...There are special procedures for moving goods in and out of Northern Ireland. Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, all Northern Ireland businesses continue to have access to the whole UK market. There is specific guidance published by HMRC that should be followed for goods that are received into Northern Ireland from a supplier in the
More...New legislation, including three Government backed cross party Acts, came into force from 6 April 2024. Pregnant women and new parents will now receive special treatment in a redundancy situation, as a suite of new laws are introduced - delivering the Government’s plan to support families and back hardworking Brits. New laws will
More...When most business owners refer to business profits, they are likely to mean the difference between sales and costs, and more concisely, that sales exceed costs. However, the word “profits” can prove to be a moveable feast as HMRC, banks and traders will likely have a different interpretation. For example, do costs
More...In the recent Spring Budget, the VAT registration threshold was raised to £90,000 (previously £85,000) which means that smaller businesses that did not want to register for VAT, now have an additional £5,000 of turnover they can make each year without needing to register for VAT. Obviously, if you sell goods or services to other
More...In a recent press release the government confirmed the following policies to support household incomes from 1 April 2024. The National Living Wage has officially risen from £10.42 an hour to £11.44. This marks a £1,800 annual boost to full-time workers’ pay packets. This means nobody over 21 will earn less than two-thirds of the
More...The letters in an employee’s tax code signify their entitlement (or not) to the annual tax free personal allowance. The tax codes are updated annually and help employer’s work out how much tax to deduct from an employee’s pay packet. The basic personal allowance for the tax year starting 6 April 2024 is £12,570 and the tax code for an
More...You can usually claim tax relief on private pension contributions worth up to 100% of your annual earnings, subject to the overriding limits. Tax relief is paid on pension contributions at the highest rate of income tax paid. This means that if you are: A basic rate taxpayer, you get 20% pension tax relief. A higher rate taxpayer,
More...If you are an employee who is working from home, you may be able to claim tax relief for part of your household bills that are related to your work. If your expenses or allowances are not paid by your employer, you can claim tax relief directly from HMRC. You can claim tax relief if you have to work from home, for example
More...HMRC must be informed when a non-trading or dormant company starts trading and becomes active for Corporation Tax purposes. Companies can use HMRC Online Services to supply the relevant information. When a company has previously traded and then stops it would normally be considered as dormant. A company can stay dormant indefinitely,
More...HMRC has a useful online tool to help UK business owners check how to import or export goods. This online tool can be used by businesses, the self-employed and agents acting on behalf of a business. Using the online tool you can obtain information on: the commodity codes (reference numbers) you need to classify goods for import and
More...If you use your own vehicle for business journeys you may be able to claim a tax-free allowance from your employer known as a Mileage Allowance Payment or MAP. The allowance is paid when employees use their own car, van, motorcycle or bike for work purposes. It is important to note that this tax-free allowance is not available for
More...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
More...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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