The government has confirmed that they are to examine a number of different approaches to help encourage the self-employed to save for their retirement. The success of automatic enrolment for pension savings for the employed has helped highlight that pension savings for the self-employed are lagging behind those achieved for the employed.
More...HM Treasury has confirmed that the £1 coin will be going global. This announcement means that the UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies will be able to design and mint their own versions of the 12-sided £1 coin replacing the older coins. The coins are expected to feature images celebrating the heritage of these territories,
More...The Furnished Holiday Let (FHL) rules, allow holiday lettings of properties that meet certain conditions to be treated as a trade for some specific tax purposes. In order to qualify as a furnished holiday letting, the following criteria need to be met: The property must be let on a commercial basis with a view to the realisation of
More...A new one-stop service to register a company and register for tax at the same time has been used by more than 200,000 businesses since it was introduced. The introduction of the Streamlined Company Registration Service was announced as part of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 to help reduce administrative burdens and
More...There are special VAT rules that allow businesses to standard rate the supply of most non-residential and commercial land and buildings (known as the option to tax). This means that subsequent supplies by the person making the option to tax will be subject to VAT at the standard rate. The ability to convert the treatment of VAT exempt
More...The cash basis scheme helps sole traders and other unincorporated businesses benefit from a simpler way of managing their financial affairs. The scheme was extended to landlords from April 2017. The scheme is not open to limited companies and limited liability partnerships. The entry threshold for the cash basis scheme is £150,000 and you
More...HMRC has issued an updated version of their online guidance on Genuine HMRC contact and recognising phishing emails and texts. The guidance provides a current list of genuine messages from HMRC. This includes: email messages, text messages and telephone contacts from HMRC. The latest updates on the list include information on a research
More...A new press release by HMRC has highlighted that 2,616 taxpayers took the time to file their tax return online on Christmas Day with a further 8,465 taxpayers completing their tax returns on Boxing Day. More than 11 million taxpayers are expected to complete a 2017-18 self assessment tax return this year. Taxpayers are reminded that the
More...The 31 January 2019 is not just the final date for submission of your self assessment tax return but also an important date for payment of tax due. This is the final payment deadline for any remaining tax due for the 2017-18 tax year. In addition, the 31 January 2019 is also the payment date for any Capital Gains Tax due in relation to
More...When a new employee is added to the payroll it is the employers' responsibility to ensure they meet the employees’ rights and deduct the correct amount of tax from their salary. This includes any employees who are family members. It is possible to employ young people if they are 13 or over but there are special rules about how long they
More...The government published Finance (No.3) Bill 2017-19 on Wednesday, 7 November 2018. The Bill is so named as it is the third Finance Bill in the current special two-year session of Parliament. The Bill, colloquially known as Finance Bill 2018-19 will become Finance Act 2019 after Royal Assent is received which is expected in March 2019
More...There are special customs requirements for commercial goods or samples which are imported or exported by passengers in their accompanied baggage (hand carried). This is known as Merchandise In Baggage or MIB. MIB goods include the following: goods acquired for company use goods for sale spare parts trade samples whether or not
More...HMRC offers an online service to check a National Insurance record. In order to use the service you will need to have a Government Gateway account. If you don't have an account, you can apply to set one up online. By signing in to the 'Check your National Insurance record' service you will also activate your personal tax account if you
More...Capital Gains Tax (CGT) rollover relief is a valuable relief that allows for a delay in the payment of CGT on gains when you sell or dispose of certain assets and use all or part of the proceeds to buy new assets. The relief means that the tax on the gain of the old asset is postponed. The amount of the gain is effectively rolled over
More...Following the recent publication of its “Good Work Plan”, the government has now laid before Parliament three statutory instruments to implement certain aspects of that Plan. The Employment Rights (Employment Particulars and Paid Annual Leave) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 and the draft Employment Rights (Miscellaneous Amendments)
More...The government’s recently published “Good Work Plan” included a commitment to establish a naming and shaming scheme for those employers who fail to pay employment tribunal awards. Immediately following publication of the Good Work Plan, the government introduced the scheme and published guidance on how it operates. The names of employers,
More...New legislation comes into force from 6 April 2019 which requires all employers to provide an itemised payslip to all workers, i.e. not just to employees, and to show hours on payslips where the pay varies by the amount of time worked. The government has now published guidance to help employers with the new rules on showing the hours on
More...Any taxpayers that have ceased to be self-employed must advise HMRC of their change in status. There are a number of steps that must be followed if a taxpayer stops trading as a sole trader or if they are ending or leaving a business partnership. This is required so that HMRC can help to get the taxpayer's affairs in order. Taxpayers
More...A 'Check your State Pension age' tool is available at www.gov.uk/state-pension-age/y. The tool allows taxpayers to check the earliest age they can start receiving the State Pension. The State Pension age is based on a taxpayer’s gender and date of birth and is subject to change as the State Pension age increases. The tool can also be used
More...As well as filing accounts with Companies House, there is a requirement to check that the information Companies House stores 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 more cumbersome annual
More...The government has announced more than £2 billion in additional funding across 25 government departments to help with Brexit planning. This brings the total amount provided by the government for EU exit preparations since 2016 to £4.2 billion. The government has apparently been left with no choice but to step up no-deal Brexit
More...The Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) was permanently set at £200,000 for all qualifying expenditure on or after 1 January 2016. However, in the Budget earlier this year, the Chancellor announced a temporary increase in the allowance to £1 million for a 2-year period from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020. The AIA allows for 100% first
More...Employees that are pregnant are eligible to take up to 26 weeks of statutory maternity leave (known as ordinary maternity leave) plus an additional 26 weeks (known as additional maternity leave). This means that an employee can take up to a full year off once they give their employers the correct notice. All women employees are entitled
More...There is no requirement to report certain routine expenses to HMRC. The types of expenses and benefits covered are referred to as exemptions and have replaced dispensations which no longer apply. The business expenses and benefits that do not need to be reported (since April 2016) include: reimbursed costs to employees covering business
More...HMRC has published what appears to be the final online quarterly edition of VAT notes which includes a summary of recent changes to the VAT rules. HRMC has confirmed that from January 2019 'VAT Notes' will no longer be published online as VAT updates are published in real time on GOV.UK. The small number of businesses that are exempt from
More...1 January 2019 - Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 March 2018. 19 January 2019 - PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 January 2019. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 January 2019) 19 January 2019 - Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 January 2019. 19
More...Following the publication of its technical notice in September 2018 on “Data protection if there’s no Brexit deal”, the government has now published an online summary covering what amendments would be required to UK data protection law in the event of a no deal Brexit. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (EUWA) will retain the GDPR
More...A new Revenue and Customs Brief (6-2018) entitled VAT exemption for all domestic service charges has recently been published by HMRC. The brief explains changes to the Extra Statutory Concession (ESC) 3.18 VAT: exemption for all domestic service charges may be applied. The ESC was introduced in February 1994 to enable the same VAT
More...The introduction of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT is fast approaching. From April 2019, some 1 million businesses with a turnover above the VAT threshold (currently £85,000) will have to keep their records digitally (for VAT purposes only), and provide their VAT return information to HMRC through MTD compatible software. The
More...For high earning taxpayers, the personal allowance is gradually reduced by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income that exceeds £100,000 irrespective of age. Adjusted net income is total taxable income before any personal allowances, less certain tax reliefs such as trading losses and certain charitable donations and pension contributions.
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