Latest News
Dec 2018 – How to Avoid IR35
The tax avoidance rules known as IR35 have been in force since April 2000. They are designed to prevent employers and workers from reducing their tax and NIC bills by placing a company structure between the worker and the employer. Unfortunately, it is difficult for ...
Dec 2018 – VAT and the Construction Industry
HMRC has long seen the construction industry as an area where tax avoidance is rife. The construction industry scheme (CIS) was imposed as a means to prevent labourers dodging tax on cash-in-hand payments. The latest dodge concerns VAT charged by labour suppliers to their customers, ...
Nov 2018 – Tax Refund Claims
You don’t have to wait until the end of the tax year to reclaim any tax you have overpaid. It is now quite simple to do this through your online personal tax account (www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account). If you are still employed, your PAYE code should be adjusted ...
Nov 2018 – Tax Relief for Clothing
There is an overriding rule when claiming a deduction for the cost of clothing as a self-employed individual; the garment must be wholly and exclusively used for the purpose of your business. This is normally the sticking point with clothes – they are generally needed ...
Nov 2018 – VAT on Imports & Exports
When you import from, or export to, countries in the EU, you generally don’t have to worry about VAT or customs duties. That may change when the UK leaves the EU at 11pm on 29 March 2019. It’s possible that the UK will leave the ...
Nov 2018 – VAT MOSS is Changing
Businesses that sell digital services (eg, ebooks) to non-business customers in other EU countries need to account for the VAT due at the rate applicable in the country where the customer belongs. This rule currently applies to any amount of digital sales made, there is ...
Nov 2018 – Class 2 NIC is Not Abolished
Self-employed individuals pay two types of national insurance contributions (NIC); class 2 at a flat rate of £153.40 per year if annual profits are at least £6,205, and class 4 which is calculated as 9% of profits above £8,424, reducing to 2% of profits above ...
Nov 2018 – VAT Will Be Digital
The new making tax digital (MTD) rules will require most VAT-registered businesses to keep all their VAT data as digital records, and submit VAT returns to HMRC using MTD-compliant software. This will apply for VAT periods starting on and after 1 April 2019. In theory ...
Nov 2018 – VAT Option to Tax
If you have owned your commercial building for 20 years or more, you should review its VAT status. Such older buildings won’t have VAT attached to their sale or rent, unless the owner or leaseholder has opted to apply VAT, the so-called “option to tax” ...
Oct 2018 – Autumn Budget 2018
The tax-free Personal Allowance will rise to £12,500 - The Personal Allowance – the amount you earn before you have to start paying income tax– will increase by a further £650 in April 2019 to £12,500. This rise comes a year earlier than planned, and ...
Oct 2018 – Real Time Information – Late Filing Penalties
The intended purpose of real time information (RTI) reporting of payroll data is to update universal credit accounts with individuals’ actual pay within days of their pay date. RTI reporting also allows employees to view their latest tax position through their online personal tax accounts ...
Oct 2018 – Employers Can Now Reimburse Drivers of Electric Company Cars up to 4p per mile
Employees who drive electric company cars can feel short-changed, as they charge-up at home, but don’t get reimbursed for the power used on business journeys. Now employers can reimburse drivers of electric company cars up to 4p per mile for each business mile driven since ...
