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Taxpayers not ready for Making Tax Digital
People are unprepared and unenthusiastic for Making Tax Digital (MTD), according to a survey commissioned by HMRC. Global market research group Ipsos recently released data suggesting “awareness of MTD in general, and MTD for income tax self-assessment (ITSA) specifically was low”. MTD ITSA will require people with annual business or property income above £10,000 to…
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Recovery loan scheme comes to an end
The Government’s flagship Covid business recovery scheme officially came to an end late last month (30 June). The recovery loan scheme opened to applications on 6 April 2021 to help businesses cope with trade lost to the Covid pandemic. The scheme offered £1.06 billion to small businesses through almost 6,200 facilities, with the latest figures…
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How does HMRC conduct reviews?
How to reduce penalties for accounting errors. HMRC recently announced new powers to investigate companies they suspect of evading taxes, so as a business owner, you might be worrying about what happens if your company comes under scrutiny. Even if you’ve played entirely by the rules, the stress of an investigation can be a lot…
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How do changes to NICs affect you?
Spring Statement changes come into effect. As you may have heard, there are changes happening to National Insurance contributions (NICs). From 6 July, the new thresholds will come into effect. But what does that mean for you? As a self-employed worker, you will already pay your National Insurance differently to that of an employee. But…
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National Insurance and dividend 1.25% uplift underway
The Government has at last increased National Insurance (NI) and dividend tax by 1.25 percentage points after months of anticipation. The 1.25% uplift came into effect on 6 April 2022 and will apply until April 2023, after which a separate health and social care levy will apply on peoples’ income at 1.25%. The Government said…
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New law to resolve Covid rent debt
The Government has set up an arbitration system to help resolve outstanding commercial rent debts as the general moratorium on commercial eviction ends. From 25 March, a legally binding arbitration process is available for eligible landlords and tenants who have not yet reached an agreement. The Government hopes this will resolve disputes about pandemic-related rent…
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IR35 reform landing period ends
Penalties now apply to businesses that make mistakes under new IR35 rules for the private sector. The Government extended the off-payroll working rules reform to the private sector in April 2021, but promised to be lenient on mistakes in the first year. The landing period has now ended, so employers caught within the reformed IR35…
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The importance of estate planning
We are all somewhat used to living with economic doom and gloom at present, from sky-high inflation rates to tax rises being splashed across the news headlines. But recent analysis from the Office of Budget Responsibility shows that you may also get stung harder after you are gone. They estimate that HMRC inheritance tax takings…
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A new approach to employee benefits
Balancing tax perks with desirability. Like most business owners, you have probably experienced the squeeze in recruitment and retention that has been prevalent for the last 12 months or so. It’s been so significant, it has even been dubbed “The Great Resignation”. According to research from Ipsos, 26% of British workers have thought about quitting…
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Government launches online sales tax public consultation
The Government has opened a public consultation into a new online sales tax (OST) to “rebalance” the taxation of online and in-store retail businesses. The Treasury published its consultation on 25 February 2022, seeking answers from stakeholders on 40 questions about how an OTS should work. If implemented, the Government would use an OST to…
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House of Lords raises concerns over IR35
The Economic Affairs’ Finance Sub-Committee of the House of Lords has written to the Government, listing key recommendations on off-payroll working rules known as IR35. IR35 legislation aims to prevent tax avoidance by workers who contract out their services through a personal limited company for tax purposes but enjoy the perks a regular employee would.…
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Economic forecasts dampen for 2022
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has revised its forecast for GDP growth in 2022, which is now expected to grow at half the rate as it did in 2021. GDP is now expected to grow in 2022 by 3.6%, revised down from 4.2% and compared to 7.5% growth in 2021. The downgrade largely reflects…
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Over one million individuals use extra time to file tax returns
More than one million individuals completed their self-assessment tax return by the extended deadline at the end of February 2022. HMRC estimates 11.3m of 12.2m of the taxpayers who had to file a self-assessment tax return for the 2020/21 tax year did so by 28 February 2022. Individuals and trusts required to submit a self-assessment…
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Personal tax changes for 2022/23
Tax changes kicking in from 6 April. By the time you’re reading this, the new tax year is either just about to start or has already started. Some of the changes have been public knowledge for months now and some of the rises have been anxiously awaited as the country continues to face a cost-of-living…
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Cashflow management strategies
You don’t have to spend long running a business before you realise how important cashflow is: the balance between money coming into your company and the money going out on a weekly or monthly basis. There’s not much in commerce more likely to give you sleepless nights if it goes awry than cashflow, as it’s…
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Spring Statement 2022
Spring loaded: crisis solutions or half-measures? Introduction Amid rising pressure to bring in significant relief measures to combat the current international emergency, Chancellor Rishi Sunak implied ahead of time that he could only do so much. Speaking at the weekend, he acknowledged concerns about price hikes and inflation, vowing to stand by people in the…
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Cryptoassets – how are they taxed in 2022
Cryptocurrencies continue to become more mainstream, and the taxman’s very aware of the gains investors have made in the last five or six years. Back in 2009, investors could snap up one Bitcoin for $1. Fast forward to January 2022 and it would cost $47,000 (£34,700) per Bitcoin – down from a November 2021 peak…
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How redundancy payments are taxed
We may only be three months into 2022 but plenty of big employers – both here in the UK and overseas – are making employees redundant for a myriad of reasons. OVO Energy is reportedly trying to control costs by cutting 1,700 jobs as gas market prices soar to record highs, Tesco is in the…
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Ditch NICs increase to free up funds for apprentices
The Treasury is being urged to consider a late U-turn on introducing the National Insurance contributions (NICs) increase next month to boost apprenticeships. All NICs rates will increase by 1.25% from April 2022 to help fund the development of the new health-and-social-care levy, which kicks in from April 2023. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)…
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HMRC eyes reform of stamp taxes and multiple dwellings
Changes to reform multiple dwellings relief and how stamp duty land tax is calculated on purchases of mixed-use properties could be in the pipeline. A 12-week consultation closed last month, after HMRC sought feedback on proposals to crack down on abuse by restricting homeowners from obtaining the relief. Multiple dwellings relief is available when at…
