Uncategorized / 56 posts found
Making Tax Digital – a reminder for VAT registered traders
From April 2019, certain self-employed businesses will be required to file VAT returns direct to their online personal tax accounts with HMRC. Eventually, all income and allowances will be kept in the digital account that HMRC are setting up to calculate your tax liabilities. HMRC are still hedging their bets, but it is unlikely that business accounts information will need to be uploaded before April 2020. How will this affect your tax affairs? It will shift the emphasis from reporting historical data on a tax return or VAT return, to uploading real-time data to your personal tax account. Banks, building [...]
GDPR – 75 days to go
A reminder that the General Data Protection Regulation is due to become law 25 May 2018. At the time of writing this blog, that’s 75 days to become compliant. Why should you take the GDPR seriously? Basically, because there are significant financial penalties for getting it wrong: fines of up to 4% of an organisation’s worldwide turnover. Which is why larger corporations are sitting up and taking notice of the GDPR; this new regulation places respect for the rights of an individual for privacy squarely at the feet of the UK business community. Aside from the penalties that may be [...]
Time to raid piggy banks?
From the 1 March 2018, the old-style £10 notes featuring Charles Darwin, ceased to be legal tender. A recent announcement by Companies House suggests the following actions: Time is ticking for the old paper £10 banknote. We’re advising all businesses to take ‘note’, as there’s just a few days left to spend your old ‘tenners’. Figures from the Bank of England suggest there’s still £2.2 billion of old paper £10 notes in circulation. But, from midnight on 1 March 2018, these old paper notes will stop being legal tender. This means that from this date, you’ll no longer be able [...]
£297,845 fine for making VAT payment one day late!
In a recent case considered by the courts a company was fined £297,845 for being one day late in paying their VAT. The case highlights the unpredictable, and seemingly harsh outcomes of HMRC’s VAT surcharging rules. If you pay your VAT on time, whether quarterly or monthly, and you make sure that you file your VAT returns in good time, before the filing deadlines, you need have no fear of incurring VAT surcharge liabilities. They only arise if you are a late filer or late payer. A key point to remember is that the VAT default surcharges increase each time [...]
Getting ready for GDPR
The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will replace the existing Data Protection Act (DPA), takes effect from 25 May 2018. UK organisations that process the personal data of EU residents need to ensure systems are in place by then to enable compliance with new requirements. The GDPR is more extensive in scope and application than the current DPA. The Regulation extends the data rights of individuals, and requires organisations to develop clear policies and procedures to protect personal data, and adopt appropriate technical and organisational measures. The GDPR introduces a number of key changes for organisations including: the [...]
Paying voluntary NICs
There are various reasons as to why gaps may arise in an individual's national insurance contributions (NIC) record, for example, because that person has been on low earnings for several years, they have been living abroad, or because they have been unemployed and have not been claiming benefits. In certain circumstances therefore, it may be possible, and beneficial, to pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) as this can safeguard entitlement to a future state retirement pension and certain other state benefits. Broadly, voluntary contributions may be paid for any tax year in which the individual is aged over [...]
SDLT on second homes
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is payable on the purchase of residential property in increasing portions of the property price above £125,000. Current rates of SDLT on individual and additional properties are as follows: Purchase price up to £125,000 - SDLT rate Zero; additional property rate 3% The next £125,000 (portion from £125,001 to £250,000) - SDLT rate 2%; additional property rate 5% The next £675,000 (portion from £250,000 to £925,000) - SDLT rate 5%; additional property rate 8% The next £575,000 (portion from £925,000 to £1.5m) - SDLT rate 10%; additional property rate 13% The remaining amount (portion above [...]
December 2016 Q&A
Q. My wife doesn't work. Can she transfer her unused personal tax allowance to me? A. Since April 2015, it has been possible for a spouse or civil partner who is not liable to income tax or not liable above the basic rate for a tax year, to transfer part of their personal allowance to their spouse or civil partner, provided that the recipient of the transfer is not liable to income tax above the basic rate. The transferor's personal allowance will be reduced by the same amount. For 2015/16 the amount that could be transferred was £1,060, rising to [...]
Help-to-Save
The Savings (Government Contributions) Bill is currently making its way through Parliament, having had its second reading in the House of Commons on 17 October 2016. Broadly, if enacted, the Bill will introduce two new schemes - the lifetime ISA and Help-to-Save - both of which are designed to support more people as they try to save for the future. Help-to-Save will target working families on the lowest incomes to help them build up their savings. The scheme will be open to some 3.5 million adults in receipt of Universal Credit with minimum weekly household earnings equivalent to 16 hours [...]
Lifetime ISA guidance updated
HM Treasury has updated its factsheet on the new Lifetime Individual Savings Account (ISA), which are expected to launch in April 2017. Key features of the new ISA include: Accounts may be opened by investors aged between 18 and 40. Savings invested in the account before age 50 will attract a government bonus of 25%. A maximum of £4,000 may be saved each year on which the 25% bonus will be paid. This equates to a maximum bonus of £1,000 a year. Some or all of the money can be used to buy a first home, or it can be [...]