Archive for the ‘HMRC’ Category

Reduction in corporation tax rate

Monday, April 11th, 2016

The main rate of corporation tax is currently 20% and this rate will continue for the Financial Year beginning on 1 April 2016. In the following years the rate of tax will fall as follows:

  • 19% for the Financial Years beginning on 1 April 2017, 1 April 2018 and 1 April 2019.
  • 17% for the Financial Year beginning on 1 April 2020.

The 17% rate from April 2020 is a reduction of 1% from the rate previously announced by the Chancellor in his Summer Budget in 2015.

CBI Director-General, Carolyn Fairbairn, said:

‘The reduction in the headline Corporation Tax rate sends out a strong signal that the UK is open for global business investment, and reforms to Interest Deductibility are rightly in line with the international consensus.’

Personal allowances and tax bands

Monday, April 11th, 2016

For those born after 5 April 1938 the personal allowance is currently £10,600. Those born before 6 April 1938 have a slightly higher allowance. Legislation has already been enacted to increase the personal allowance to £11,000 in 2016/17. From 2016/17 onwards one personal allowance will apply regardless of age.

Not everyone has the benefit of the full personal allowance. There is a reduction in the personal allowance for those with ‘adjusted net income’ over £100,000 which is £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000. So for 2015/16 there is no personal allowance where adjusted net income exceeds £121,200 (£122,000 for 2016/17).

Tax bands and rates

The basic rate of tax is currently 20%. The band of income taxable at this rate is £31,785 so that the threshold at which the 40% band applies is £42,385 for those who are entitled to the full basic personal allowance.

Legislation has already been enacted to increase the basic rate limit to £32,000 for 2016/17. The higher rate threshold will therefore rise to £43,000 in 2016/17 for those entitled to the full personal allowance.

The additional rate of tax of 45% remains payable on taxable income above £150,000.

Tax bands and personal allowance for 2017/18

The Chancellor has announced that the personal allowance will be increased to £11,500 and the basic rate limit increased to £33,500 for 2017/18. The higher rate threshold will therefore rise to £45,000 for those entitled to the full personal allowance.

Benefits and expenses – bespoke scale rates

Wednesday, March 9th, 2016

From 6 April 2016 there are a lot of changes to the way in which benefits and expenses are reported to HMRC.

HMRC have set out the maximum tax and NICs free allowances that can be paid by employers to employees for subsistence. Subject to qualifying conditions, the amounts are set out below:

 

Minimum journey time Maximum amount of meal allowance
5 hours £5
10 hours £10
15 hours £25

 

Where a meal allowance of £5 or £10 is paid and the qualifying journey in respect of which it is paid lasts beyond 8pm a supplementary rate of £10 can be paid.

Employers may choose to reimburse employees for the actual costs incurred. However where employers wish to use bespoke rates other than those set out above, they will need to apply for approval from HMRC for bespoke rates.

HMRC have issued an online application form to allow employers to request approval for these bespoke amounts. This should state the rate that the employer wishes to pay and also needs to demonstrate that the amount is a reasonable estimate of the amount of expenses actually incurred by the employees.

To establish these amounts, HMRC have confirmed that the employer should carry out a sampling exercise to verify the actual expenses incurred by employees. We would be happy to advise you on the sampling which would need to be carried out for your business.

In addition, employers will need to have a checking system in place which ensures that the payments or reimbursements are only make on occasions where the employee would be entitled to a deduction from their earnings and that the employees have actually incurred and paid the amounts.

Once approval has been given by HMRC, they will issue an approval notice which sets out the date from which the approval is given and what expenses are covered. It will also state the date when the approval notice ends which will be no later than five years from the start date.

Please do get in touch if you would like help with benefits and expense reporting or agreeing Bespoke rates.

Internet links:

GOV.UK

HMRC

Don’t get caught out with Auto Enrolment

Wednesday, March 9th, 2016

Up to 500,000 small and micro employers are due to stage in 2016, with 87,000 filing Declarations of Compliance in January 2016.

The Pension Regulator has issued nearly fifteen hundred £400 fines, during the period October to December 2015. The Regulator has issued the following statement:

“Our research shows that most employers want to do the right thing by their staff but that smaller employers are more likely to leave things to the last minute. They therefore need a “nudge” to encourage them to meet their duties.

A minority still don’t comply after receiving a notice of non-compliance, but many do after receiving a fixed penalty of £400. As we deal with smaller employers, it is expected there will be more who, despite the message to prepare early, leave it too late or don’t act at all. We take this very seriously….”

The Regulator tells us that one of the main reasons for failure to comply is that employers felt that their advisor (us the Accountants) should have known to complete the information on their behalf.

Don’t get caught out…

This is one of the reasons why we have teamed up with local pensions specialists Richard Jacobs to hold a number of Auto Enrolment workshops that aim to introduce Auto Enrolment to local employers.

Click here to learn more and to book onto our next workshop on the 17th March

 

 

 

March is here which means your year end is fast approaching….

Tuesday, March 1st, 2016

If your company has a 31 March year end, you only have a few weeks to consider available planning options that may save you tax for the current financial year 2015-16. There are also a number of practical matters that should be considered. They include:

Directors

• Are there any monies owed to the company by directors?
• If the amounts owed exceed £10,000 has interest been charged on any balances owing? If not, beneficial interest will need to be declared on form P11D for 2015-16.

Dividends

• Is the correct paperwork in place: dividend vouchers and board minutes?
• Have dividends been paid out of distributable reserves?
• Have all dividends voted been paid or credited to a loan account?

• Are you prepared for the Dividend Changes coming? Click here to learn more

Salaries

• Were any outstanding salaries or bonuses claimed in the 2014-15 accounts paid within 9 months of the year end? If not, the deduction for corporation tax will be disallowed.
• Have bonuses been considered for 2015-16? Would it be prudent to defer voting bonuses to assist with personal tax planning issues? For example, reducing taxable income for 2015-16 may save tax allowances if the intended bonus increased total income above the critical £100,000 ceiling.

Company car users

• Have steps been taken to recover the full cost of any private fuel paid to company car users during 2015-16? This needs to be completed by 5 April 2016 to avoid possibly significant car fuel benefit charges for the employee and NIC Class 1a contributions for the company.

Pension contributions

• Make sure that any company contributions for 2015-16 clear the company bank account before the yearend.

Deferring significant costs or fixed asset investment

• Consider deferring or bringing forward, significant revenue costs (for example allowable repairs to plant or other equipment).
• Consider deferring or bringing forward, significant capital costs (for example equipment or commercial vehicles).

Losses

• Consider tax strategies to take advantage of past or current year losses.

 

Get In Touch

This list is by no means conclusive, but if there is anything that you’d like to discuss further then do not hesitate to contact us on 01782 566101 if you would like to set-up a planning meeting.

The sooner the better – the clock is ticking…

Key Tax Dates – March and April

Tuesday, March 1st, 2016

Here are some key dates to be aware of for March:

1 March  – Corporation tax for year to 31/5/15

16 March – Annual Budget to be announced.

19 March  – PAYE & NIC deductions, and CIS return and tax, for month to 5/3/16 (due 22 March if you pay electronically)

1 April  – Corporation tax for year to 30/6/15

5 April  – End of 2015/16 tax year, many tax actions need to be taken by this date (see above).

19 April  – PAYE & NIC deductions, and CIS return and tax, for month to 5/4/16 (due 22 April if you pay electronically)

HMRC reveal tax return statistics and worst excuses

Wednesday, February 10th, 2016

HMRC have revealed that 10.39 million Self Assessment tax returns were completed ahead of the 31 January deadline which is more than 92% of the total returns expected, and 150,000 more than last year.

More than 89% of taxpayers (9.24 million) filed their return electronically.

However the ten worst excuses for missing the 31 January Self Assessment deadline for 2013 to 14 have been revealed by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

From broken kitchen appliances, hungry pets and arguments that last five years – some people will stop at nothing to pass the blame for their tardy timekeeping. Some of the excuses submitted included:

  1. My tax papers were left in the shed and the rat ate them
  2. I’m not a paperwork orientated person – I always relied on my sister to complete my returns but we have now fallen out
  3. My accountant has been ill
  4. My dog ate my tax return
  5. I will be abroad on deadline day with no internet access so will be unable to file
  6. My laptop broke, so did my washing machine
  7. My niece had moved in – she made the house so untidy I could not find my log in details to complete my return online
  8. My husband ran over my laptop
  9. I had an argument with my wife and went to Italy for 5 years
  10. I had a cold which took a long time to go

The excuses were all used in unsuccessful appeals against HMRC penalties for late returns.

 

An automatic £100 penalty applies to those failing to file their return by 31 January 2016 midnight deadline

Workplace Pensions and Auto Enrolment

Monday, February 1st, 2016

A workplace pension is a way of saving for your retirement that’s arranged by your employer.

Up until recently not all employers had to offer ‘work place pensions’, however the law on workplace pensions has changed and every employer with at least one member of staff now has new duties; they must automatically enrol workers into a workplace pension scheme and contribute to it if they meet the following criteria:

  • are aged between 22 and State Pension age
  • earn more than £10,000 a year
  • work in the UK

This is called ‘automatic enrolment’.

It’s called ‘automatic enrolment’ because it is automatic for staff – they don’t have to do anything to be enrolled into a pension scheme, but it is not automatic for employers.

Click here for some:Auto Enrolment Key Facts

Does automatic enrolment apply to you?

All employers will need to work out if automatic enrolment applies to them. However if you are an employer and have at least one member of staff who is paid via a PAYE scheme, then yes automatic enrolment duties apply to you.

What is Auto Enrolment?

You will now have to set up and offer a workplace pension to your employees. However do not panic if you haven’t already done this, you may not need to just yet.

When this law was introduced the Pensions Regulator rolled it out using a phased approached, called Staging Dates.

An employer’s staging date is determined by the number of people in the largest PAYE scheme that they use, based on the data from HM Revenue and Customs held by them on 1 April 2012.

How do you check your staging date?

The Pensions Regulator offer a staging date calculator to check  All you will need is your PAYE reference.

Click here for some additional information on the stages of setting up:Auo Enrolment

Getting the help that you need.

As Accountants it is our role to support and inform our clients about Auto Enrolment. As there is also an implication on any payroll services, where applicable we are also obligated to offer support in this area.
Jacobs Logo

To support our clients with understanding the options for them, we have teamed up with local pension and investment specialists Richard Jacobs, and have worked together to offer a short workshops on the topic.

To learn more about Auto Enrolment here are some Key Facts

 

We want to extend our support to other businesses in and around our area by inviting any employers who have not yet set up their workplace pensions along to one of our workshops.

Our workshop is designed to:

  • Provide you with an overview of what you need to know about Auto Enrolment and covers:
    • What is it.
    • Why you need to do it
    • How much it will cost you.
    • Which pension schemes are available.
  • Give you an overview of how Auto Enrolment will impact you from a payroll perspective
  • Give you an opportunity to discuss your requirements in more detail

 

Book your place

 

 

 

 

This short workshop is purely to offer and advice and make you aware of what you need to know. Whilst there will be opportunity to discuss your business at the workshop with both the Slaters and Jacobs teams, a full detailed discussion would need to take place individually.
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References:

https://www.gov.uk/workplace-pensions/about-workplace-pensions

https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/automatic-enrolment-guide-for-business-advisers.aspx

National Living Wage – employers advised to get ready

Monday, January 18th, 2016

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is advising employers to begin preparing for the introduction of the National Living Wage (NLW) which comes into effect from 1 April 2016. The rate is £7.20 an hour and applies to employees aged 25 and over.

Businesses are being advised to prepare early for the changes on 1 April 2016, when the new wage will become law, and make sure they follow these 4 simple steps:

  • know the correct rate of pay – £7.20 per hour for staff aged 25 and over
  • find out which staff are eligible for the new rate
  • update the company payroll in time for 1 April 2016
  • communicate the changes to staff as soon as possible.

Business Minister Nick Boles said:

‘The government’s new National Living Wage will provide a direct boost to over two-and-a-half million workers in the UK – rewarding and providing security for working people.’

‘I am urging businesses to get ready now to pay the new £7.20 rate from 1 April 2016. With just under 4 months left, there are some easy steps employers can take to make sure they are ready.’

‘By taking these measures, companies will be able to properly reward their staff and avoid falling foul of the law when it takes effect.’

Please contact us if you would like help with payroll matters.

 

 

 

Autumn Statement Summary

Tuesday, December 1st, 2015

Tax Credit U-Turn

In the Summer Budget the Chancellor proposed cutting the rates and thresholds for working and child tax credits. This would have reduced the income of many low-paid families significantly. The House of Lords blocked the legislation which was to have introduced this change.

The Chancellor has now announced that the rates and thresholds for tax credits will be frozen for 2016/17 at the 2015/16 levels. There is one exception – the disregard of rising income is to be brought in line with the disregard for falling income. Both will be set at £2,500 for 2016/17.

The Government is also proposing to review the rules concerning making single or joint claims for tax credits as this is an area where claimants are easily confused and many mistakes are made.

Property Investors hit with stamp duty and land tax increases

In the Summer Budget the Chancellor announced a restriction on the deductibility of interest from rental income for individual landlords of residential property. This restriction will be phased in from 2017/18 to 2020/21, and it may make letting uneconomic for landlords whose businesses are relatively highly geared. The latest attack on property investors is a proposed 3% increase in Stamp Duty Land Tax.

Landlords who can buy properties to let without a mortgage are not affected by the interest restriction. To discourage such cash-rich individuals from purchasing multiple properties to let or to hold as second homes, particularly in holiday areas like Cornwall, an additional SLDT charge of 3% will be payable by individual purchasers of residential properties worth over £40,000 from 1 April 2016. This supplemental SDLT charge won’t be payable by corporate purchasers (15 properties or more) or by funds such as Real Estate Investment Trust (REITS). The proposed rates are:

Purchase price SDLT rate,  cumulative
Up to £125,000 3%                      £3,750
£125,000 – £250,000 5%                    £10,000
£250,000 – £925,000 8%                    £64,000
£925,000 – £1,500,000 13%                £138,750
£1,500,001 and over 15%

SDLT is currently payable within 30 days of the completion of the purchase and the SDLT return must be filed within the same period. The Government is proposing to reduce the payment and filing period to just 14 days from the completion date of the sale, sometime in 2017/18.

Capital Gains Tax changes

CGT is normally payable by individuals by 31 January after the end of the tax year in which the gain arose. This gives the taxpayer between 10 and 22 months from receipt of the proceeds to calculate the tax due and pay it over to HMRC. From 6 April 2015 non-resident taxpayers have had a shorter time frame in which to report the sale of UK residential property and pay the tax due – only 30 days from the completion of the disposal. HMRC now propose to extend the 30 day reporting and CGT payment deadline to all UK taxpayers who make taxable gains when selling residential properties for disposals on or after 6 April 2019.

ISA Limits for 2016/2017 to stay the same

The annual limit for savings in an ISA has been frozen at £15,240 for 2016/17. The Junior ISAs limit has been frozen at £4,080.

Car and Fuel benefit charges

Diesel company cars currently carry a 3% supplement on the percentage of list price used to calculate the taxable benefit. This diesel supplement was to be removed from 6 April 2016, but it will now stay in place until 2020/21.

Employees and directors with company cars, and who also have some or all of their private fuel paid for by their employers, are subject to the fuel benefit charge – determined by multiplying a notional list price by the appropriate percentage for the car, based on its CO2 emissions. The car fuel notional list price will increase from £22,100 to £22,200 with effect from 6 April 2016. For a company car emitting between 111 to 115g CO2 per km, the scale charge would be 20% of £22,200 and this would result in taxable fuel benefit of £4,440 and £1,776 income tax for a 40% taxpayer. At 11p per mile the employee would need to drive 16,145 private miles to make having private fuel paid for worthwhile.

Private use of company vans

Where employees are provided with a company van, the taxable benefit increases from £3,150 to £3,170 for 2016/17 and there will be an additional taxable benefit of £598 where private fuel is provided by their employer.

Note that this charge does not apply to all company van drivers, only those who use the van for private journeys.

Company Car advisory fuel rates

Not part of the Autumn Statement, but you need to know that some of the rates are reduced from 1 December 2015 (previous rates are shown in brackets where there was a change):

engine size petrol diesel LPG
1,400 cc or less 11p 7p
1,600 cc or less 9p
1,401cc to 2,000cc 13p (14p) 9p
1,601cc to 2,000cc 11p
over 2,000cc 20p (21p) 13p 13p (14p)

National Insurance Rates frozen for 2016/2017

There will be no increase in the rates of national contributions (NICs) for employers, employees nor the Class 4 rate for the self-employed for 2016/17, although the Upper Earnings Limit for employee contributions and Upper Profits Limit for Class 4 contributions will be increased to £43,000, in line with the higher rate tax threshold.

Employees’ contributions will be payable at 12% on earnings between £155 per week and £827 per week and 13.8% employers contributions will start at £156 per week. The employment allowance increases to £3,000 for 2016/17 and will continue to be deductible from employers’ NIC, although it will no longer be available to one man companies.

Apprenticeship levy from 2017

A new apprenticeship levy will be introduced from 6 April 2017. Although all employers will be required to pay this new levy, set at 0.5% of their annual payroll cost, each employer will also have an annual credit equivalent to £15,000 to set against the levy, which means only the largest employers with payrolls of £3 million or more will actually pay the levy. Based on an average salary, this means that only employers with more than around 100 to 120 employees will be affected. It is not clear at this stage as to what is meant by payroll.

Employers who take on apprentices will receive vouchers funded by the apprenticeship levy to set against the cost of those apprentices.

Announcements for businesses

Support for smaller businesses

The Chancellor reported that the UK’s small and medium sized enterprises now employ 15.6 million people, up from 13.7 million in 2010. Over the last two years the number of small businesses employing someone other than the owner has grown by 100,000.

The government understands that small businesses need tailored support. Already, Start-Up Loans have provided £180 million of funding to 33,600 entrepreneurs and in the last Parliament, the government cut the cumulative burden of regulation by over £10 billion.

Other support for smaller businesses that have previously been announced include:

  • From April 2016 the Employment Allowance will rise to £3,000, benefiting over 1 million employers, and helping many businesses take on their first employee.
  • The cancellation of the planned September 2015 fuel duty increase means a small business with a van will have saved £1,357 by the end of 2015-16 compared to plans inherited by the government at the start of the last Parliament.
  • The government will meet its commitment to 75,000 Start-Up Loans by the end of this Parliament.

 

Small business rate relief

English firms can claim the small business rates relief if they only use one property and its rateable value is less than £12,000. This relief was due to end on 31 March 2016.

The Chancellor has announced today that the relief will be extended for a further year. Businesses will now get 100% relief until 31 March 2017 for properties with a rateable value of £6,000 or less. This means you won’t pay business rates on properties with a rateable value of £6,000 or less.

The rate of relief will gradually decrease from 100% to 0% for properties with a rateable value between £6,001 and £12,000.

Car benefit diesel supplement

The 3% supplement added to the benefit in kind charge for drivers of diesel powered company cars is to continue beyond April 2016 and will now cease to apply from April 2021.

Announcements for home owners

London help to buy loan scheme

The present help to buy loan scheme that applies across the UK, provides a 20% contribution from government, requires a 5% deposit from the buyer, with the balance funded by a 75% mortgage.

As house prices are running at much higher levels in London, from early 2016 qualifying buyers in London will still need to find a 5% deposit, but government will contribute up to 40% with the required mortgage funding dropped to 55%.

These government equity loans will now be available until 2021.

Help to buy shared ownership scheme to be extended

Shared ownership allows families in England, on lower incomes, to buy an interest in their home and rent the rest. People can buy between 25% and 75% of a home in this way.

The rent charge won’t be more than 3% of the non-purchased part of the property.

The qualifying income limits are to be changed. Current restrictions will be lifted from April 2016. Anyone who has a household income of less than £80,000 outside London, or less than £90,000 inside London, will be able to participate.

First time buyers’ starter homes discount

200,000 new homes are to be designated Starter Homes and developers will be able to offer them to first time buyers aged under 40 at a 20% discount.

Stamp duty increase for second homes and buy-to-lets

From 1 April 2016, individuals buying a second home or a buy-to-let property will face an extra 3% stamp duty charge above the current stamp duty land tax rates.

Housing Association tenants

Rights to buy to be extended to Housing Association tenants during 2016. Potentially, this could give 1.3 million households the opportunity to buy their own home.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on sale of residential property

From 2019, the government intends to require a payment on account, within 30 days of a sale, of any CGT due on the disposal of a residential property.

This will not apply where no CGT is payable, for example if covered by Private Residence Relief.

Announcements for individuals

Tax credits

As announced in the introduction to this statement the intended reduction in tax credits next year has been withdrawn. For 2016-17:

  • The rate at which a claimant’s award is reduced over the income threshold, will remain at 41% of gross income.
  • The income threshold will remain at £6,420.
  • The income threshold for child tax only claimants will remain at £16,105.
  • The income disregard will reduce from £5,000 to £2,500.

As the other elements that make up the payment of tax credits are also unchanged claimants should find their benefits from this source unchanged from April 2016, unless their personal circumstances or income levels have changed.

The Chancellor did comment that tax credits are being phased out in any event and replaced by universal credits.

Basic state pension increase announced

From April 2016, the basic weekly state pension will increase to £119.30, an increase of £3.35.

Part-time rail season tickets and money back…

Two new features to be introduced:

  1. Commuters will be able to buy part-time season tickets on selected routes, and
  2. Commuters will be able to claim money back if a train is more than 15 minutes late.

VAT raised on sales of women’s sanitary products

The UK is unable to zero rate VAT on these products under existing EU rules. Whilst representations are being made the Chancellor is to redirect the VAT revenue raised to selected women’s charities.

George Osborne said:

“300,000 people have signed a petition arguing that no VAT should be charged on sanitary products. We already charge the lowest 5% rate allowable under European law and we’re committed to getting the EU rules changed.

Until that happens, I’m going to use the £15 million a year raised from the Tampon Tax to fund women’s health and support charities. The first £5 million will be distributed between the Eve Appeal, SafeLives, Women’s Aid, and The Haven – and I invite bids from other such good causes.”

Warm home discount scheme extended

The present £140 discount from electricity bills for certain low income households is to be extended and can be claimed from suppliers to 2020-21.

Minor whiplash claims to be curtailed

In an attempt to curtail exaggerated whiplash claims the government is ending the right to claim cash compensation.

More injuries will be able to go to the small claims court as the upper limit is to be increased from £1,000 to £5,000.

This may reduce the cost of insurance for motorists – estimated falls of £40 to £50 a year can be expected.