Companies House filing deadlines and penalties

A reminder that you will have to pay penalties if you don’t file your accounts with Companies House by the appropriate filing deadline. Generally speaking, accounts will need to be filed nine months after a company’s financial year end. The penalties for private limited companies are set out below. The penalties apply after the expiry of the various periods listed (after...

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Cherie Blair leads failed High Court bid

The removal of mortgage interest relief from tax deductibles for the UK’s buy to let landlords is set to begin its remorseless impact on landlord’s cash flow from April 2017. For Steve Bolton and Chris Cooper, this tax change was step too far. They approached Cherie Blair QC, to argue for a judicial review of the legislation in the High Court. The...

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Muras Matters: VAT Flat Rate Scheme

VAT Flat Rate Scheme Background Smaller VAT registered businesses can join the Flat Rate scheme for VAT, if the turnover of the business does not exceed a £150,000 threshold. In the Flat Rate Scheme, in very broad terms, VAT is added to sales invoices in the usual way but a lower percentage is paid over to HMRC and this rate depends on...

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Are you paying rates on second homes or empty property

You may like to check out the following points. In many cases it would seem that local authorities have overall control over who can, or cannot, claim for reduced rates. Second homes You may pay less Council Tax for a property you own or rent that’s not your main home. Councils can give furnished second homes or holiday homes a discount of up...

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Football agent loses tax appeal

In a recent tax case, Jerome Anderson v HMRC, the First-Tier Tribunal denied a football agent relief for trading losses. The judges’ arguments centred on the issue of whether he was carrying on a trade, and if he was, was it on a commercial basis with a view to making profits? There is already legislation in place that restricts any relief...

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Claiming back pre-registration VAT

The good news is you can reclaim VAT added to certain expenditure that was paid out prior to your business registration for VAT. HMRC’s instructions on this issue confirm: There is a time limit for backdating claims for VAT paid before registration. From your date of registration, the time limit is: 4 years for goods you still have, or that were...

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Claiming back pre-trading costs

Generally speaking, any business expenditure that you make up to seven years before you actually start trading, is treated for tax purposes as if it was incurred on the first day of trading. This expenditure includes rent, rates, insurance, wages and other costs that you have had to pay. You can also claim capital allowances for qualifying assets. Again, they are treated...

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Tax and your home

If you use your home for business purposes, rent out parts of your home whilst you are still in residence or if you rent out your home while you are resident elsewhere, you may need to consider the tax consequences. This article covers some of the tax issues that you may need to consider: Use of home for business purposes If the...

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Tax Diary October/November 2016

1 October 2016 - Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 December 2015.   19 October 2016 - PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 October 2016. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 October 2016.)   19 October 2016 - Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 October...

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Incorporating a buy to let property business

Any buy to let landlord that presently claims a tax deduction for mortgage interest is likely to be adversely affected by changes in the tax rules from April 2017. In previous blogs we have pointed out that from April 2017, finance charges (including mortgage interest) will gradually be disallowed as a deduction when computing a buy to let landlords tax bill....

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