Startups / 36 posts found
New credit card payment fees take effect
Clients may be interested to know that HMRC have introduced a new schedule of fees, which apply from 1 April 2016, and replace the former 1.5% fee. The new rates vary depending on the type of card used and whether the card is a personal or corporate card. Broadly, the fees for paying using personal credit cards have been reduced and the rates for corporate credit cards have increased. The new rates can be found in the schedule to The Fees for Payment of Taxes, etc. By Credit Card Regulations 2016 (SI 2016/333). For personal credit cards, the fees are [...]
May 2016 Q&A
Q1. How do I work out my share of a capital gain? I owned a quarter share in a property that was sold in 2015. It was not my main residence at any time during my period of ownership. I am trying to work out my share of the capital gain arising on the property. Do I simply divide the purchase price, sale price, and any improvement costs by four to work out how much tax I will have to pay? A: Assuming that all the improvement costs and the sale proceeds relating to this property were 25% your responsibility, [...]
OTS recommends simplifications for small companies
The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has unveiled a package of recommendations aimed at making the tax system simpler and easier to use for small companies. The report, entitled Small company taxation review contains a mix of long range structural change ideas and simpler short term administrative improvements. The recommended administrative changes include: aligning filing and payment dates, e.g. VAT and PAYE, and annual returns and corporation tax; HMRC providing extra support at weekends and evenings when more small company owners deal with their tax affairs; stopping companies providing the same information to various government departments who instead should share [...]
National Living Wage starts in April
The government has recently launched its campaign to promote the introduction of the new national living wage (NLW), which will take effect from 1 April 2016. From that date workers in the UK aged over 25 earning the minimum rate of £6.70 per hour will see a 50p increase in their minimum hourly rate, which is set to rise to £7.20 per hour. The NLW will be enforced by HMRC alongside the national minimum wage (NMW), which they have enforced since its introduction in 1999. The NMW is the minimum pay per hour most workers are entitled to by law. [...]
Can you still clam the Employment Allowance?
The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has recently warned that Government plans to exclude one-person businesses from claiming the national insurance Employment Allowance (EA) from April 2016 will be too easy to dodge. The Institute says that the planned curbs are easily avoided, either by appointing another director, such as a spouse, civil partner, other family member or friend, and paying that person a token wage; or by arranging payments of earnings so that the worker is not a director when at least one of the payments is made. The CIOT suggests that the legislation should include a connected persons [...]
Making Tax Digital: PTA’s
As part of a £1.3bn investment to transform HMRC into one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world, HMRC have published a report and discussion paper setting out how new procedures for interacting with HMRC and paying tax will be implemented under the Making Tax Digital banner. It is intended that by April 2016, every individual and small business will have access to their own secure digital tax account that enables them to interact with HMRC digitally. By 2020, businesses and individual taxpayers will be able to register, file, pay and update their information at any time [...]
2016 Fuel & Van Benefit Rates
The Van Benefit and Car and Van Fuel Benefit Order 2015 (SI 2015/1979) comes into force on 31 December 2015 and takes effect for the tax year 2016-17 and subsequent tax years. The Order contains provisions for the following: the cash equivalent of the van benefit will rise from £3,150 to £3,170 for 2016-17; the van fuel benefit will increase from £594 to £598; and the cash equivalent of the benefit of fuel for a car is calculated by applying the 'appropriate percentage' (normally calculated by reference to the CO2 emissions of the car) to the figure in ITEPA 2003, [...]
HMRC continue with so-called modernisation strategy
The recent formal announcement that HMRC will be replacing local offices with thirteen large regional centres has served to alert the general public to what tax professionals and accountants have known for some time - that to meet government cost and performance targets, HMRC must cut back on frontline staff and take forward digital interactions with taxpayers and their advisers. The announcement comes at a time when HMRC are also facing criticism over customer service issues. In its report on HMRC's performance in 2014-15, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recently found that 'HMRC is still failing to [...]
Tax Planning
I don't expect Jimmy Carr saw the funny side when Prime Minister David Cameron denounced as immoral his use of a tax avoidance scheme that reportedly cut his tax bill to just 1%. He wasn't breaking the law and his use of the "K2" scheme had been fully disclosed to HMRC. But the tide of moral indignation swamped the cheeky chappy and forced him to admit a "terrible error of judgement." The scheme had been recommended by his financial advisor and that got me thinking about our role in advising clients on the best ways to manage their tax affairs. [...]
Top Tips – August 2011
This is a round-up of questions that have been raised by clients over the past few weeks. They are being posted here for general information, but please see the disclaimer at the end!!! if you want to discuss how any of these issues – or other tax and related business matters – may affect your business please get in touch (email here or telephone 01905 21411) for a free, no-obligation discussion. To sign up for our monthly Newsletter for Small Business visit our webpage here. Reducing the reporting of expenses and benefits Q: I've recently submitted forms P11D and P11D(b) [...]