One of the more insidious effects of the coronavirus outbreak is its unpredictability. Businesses need to plan. To achieve this there needs to be an underlying, stable economic platform. Lockdown - whether locally or nationally applied - removes the certainty required to achieve planned results. For example, the recent attempts to relax
More...One of the consequences of recession, such as the present downturn in activity caused by the Coronavirus outbreak, is the likelihood that many will face redundancy as employers try to manage the process. In the past, this shake out process seems to reawaken dreams of not placing all your income eggs in one basket and instead, dusting-off
More...Most employers and employees are aware of the additional costs of providing company cars and the tax implications they create. However, for many employees the lure of having a company car means that this remains a very popular option. There are some circumstances where it can be possible to offer employees car benefits that are exempt
More...Under standard VAT accounting, you pay VAT on your sales regardless of whether your customer has paid you. Under the Cash Accounting Scheme, VAT does not need to be paid over until your customer has paid your invoice. Your business can enter this scheme provided your estimated VAT taxable turnover for the next VAT year is not more than
More...If your income is expected to exceed £100,000 for the first time, we would like to remind you of the effect this can have on your personal allowance and marginal tax rate. If you earn over £100,000 in any tax year your personal allowance is gradually reduced by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income over £100,000 irrespective of age.
More...The Capital Gains Tax (CGT) reporting and payment date for UK residents that sell certain residential property changed from 6 April 2020. This change meant that any CGT due on the sale of a residential property needs to be reported and a payment on account of any CGT due made within 30 days of the completion of the transaction. In
More...Calculating the adjusted net income amount is necessary if any of the following apply: A taxpayer is liable to an income-related reduction to the personal allowance when their adjusted net income is over £100,000 (regardless of their date of birth); A taxpayer that is liable to the high income child benefit charge where they have an
More...The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) was extended for a second and final three-month period from 1 June to 31 August 2020. The maximum grant available for the three-months is £6,570 (Previous quarter £7,500) paid in a single instalment. The application process for the SEISS extension will open from 17 August. Claims for the
More...In many circumstances it can be beneficial for taxpayers to make voluntary Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) to increase their entitlement to benefits, including the State or New State Pension if they are self-employed. Taxpayers might want to consider making voluntary NICs because: They are close to State Pension age
More...New credit card fees for paying HMRC are to be introduced from 1 November 2020. These changes will mean that HMRC will be able to charge anyone using a business debit card a fee for making certain payments. The fee for using a business debit card from 1 November 2020 is difficult to calculate but is essentially comprised of three
More...The government has published further guidance on how the forthcoming Job Retention Bonus Scheme will operate. The scheme will enable eligible employers to claim £1,000 for each eligible employee in respect of whom they have previously made a valid claim under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and who remains in continuous
More...Over the past few months, HMRC has unveiled a package of measures to accelerate the growth of the UK's customs intermediary sector. These announcements included £50 million of new funding to support businesses with recruitment, training and supplying IT equipment to handle customs declarations as the transition period comes to an end on
More...£20 million worth of new government grants have been released to help small and medium sized businesses across England recover from the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic. These grants will provide businesses between £1,000 and £5,000 to help them access new technology and other equipment as well as professional, legal, financial or
More...The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a COVID-19 taskforce back in March 2020 to identify any commercial practices that adversely affect consumers and to consider appropriate responses to help businesses comply with the law and protect consumers' rights. One of the areas where the CMA received reports of unfair practices
More...Vehicle owners with a MOT expiry date between 30 March 2020 and 31 July 2020 were given a 6 month extension. This measure was designed to help motorists as the Coronavirus pandemic began to take hold. Mandatory MOT tests for car, motorcycle and van owners in England, Scotland and Wales were reintroduced from 1 August 2020. This means that
More...Lockdown changes - in England - that were due to come into effect on 1 August 2020, have been delayed until at least 15 August. The last-minute announcement by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, followed worries of a rise in COVID cases and means that casinos, bowling alleys and ice skating rinks will remain closed in England for the time
More...The government has announced that more small businesses will benefit from the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). Under the scheme, borrowers can apply for up to £5 million in finance in the form of loans, overdrafts, invoice finance, and/or asset finance. The government will guarantee lenders 80% of the loan value, as
More...The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has ended its 'interrupted days' provisions and is now working to its usual deadlines. The IPO introduced extended deadlines, known as interrupted days, on 24 March 2020 as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak. An 'interrupted day' is defined as a day in which the normal course of business at the IPO
More...A new £500 million scheme to kickstart film and television production struggling to secure insurance for COVID-related costs has been launched. This scheme will help TV and film productions that have been halted or delayed by a lack of insurance to get back up and running. The funding will be available to all productions made by companies
More...There are businesses that have benefitted from the current COVID disruption. Particularly, those that can deliver goods and services online. There are far more that have not benefitted. Before COVID-19 reared its disruptive head businesses were exhorted to make profits. This was the way most firms created surplus cash-flow and value in
More...Unless the Chancellor comes up with replacement funding for the furlough scheme, and there is no sign that this will happen, those businesses that have maintained their workforce by furloughing staff will face difficult choices when the present Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme closes down at the end of October. Do we keep staff on in the
More...The government has unveiled an important new law that will protect furloughed workers who are made redundant. This will ensure that any employee who was furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) will receive their full basic statutory redundancy entitlement. This amount will be based on their normal wages, rather than
More...The government has published draft clauses for insertion into a new Finance Bill 2020-21, to be introduced into Parliament in the Autumn. These include changes which will affect employers who make termination payments. The part of a termination payment which is treated as being a payment in respect of the employee’s notice period and
More...Many will remember the empty shelves in supermarkets when lock-down commenced March 2020. In particular, the absence of toilet rolls… Compare this with supplies of TVs and other luxury goods where there was no noticeable absence of supply. These examples point to a basic economic theory; that a product with few substitutes (toilet
More...The government has launched a new scheme - open to anyone in England - with a bike in need of repair. The Fix your Bike Voucher Scheme is a new initiative that has been championed by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to help fix old bikes by offering a £50 bike repair voucher towards the total cost of repairs needed. The scheme hopes to
More...The government has confirmed that the next business rates revaluation in England will be postponed until April 2023. The government has previously announced that the revaluation that was due in 2021 would be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic but no date had been announced. The revaluation in April 2023 will be based on property
More...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. The confirmation statement was introduced in June 2016 and replaced the annual return.
More...The Brexit transition period is due to end 31 December 2020. The UK and EU have agreed there will not be any further extensions, although with the COVID-19 outbreak nothing appears certain. As things currently stand, no formal trade deal has been reached with the EU. Consequently, it seems likely that the process for exporting goods to
More...HMRC’s annual reconciliation of PAYE for the tax year 2019-20 is well under way. HMRC uses salary and pension information to calculate if you have paid the correct amount of tax. The calculation is usually generated automatically by HMRC’s computer systems on what is known as a P800 form. P800 forms are sent out from the end of the tax
More...HMRC has published a series of a consultations together with details of proposed legislative changes to existing anti-avoidance regimes to strengthen HMRC’s ability to further clamp down on the market for tax avoidance. The proposals include: ensuring HMRC can effectively issue stop notices to promoters, under the Promoters of Tax
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