If you are involved in planning the staff Christmas party for your firm don’t forget to consider the Income Tax and VAT consequences. Here’s a short reminder of the points you should add to your check list. The cost of an annual staff party or similar function is allowed as a deduction for tax purposes. However, the cost is only deductible...
Workplace pensions overhaul
The Government has announced changes that should standardise, and in most cases reduce, the charges made to administer funds on behalf of contributors. Draft regulations published in October confirm that charges to invest and manage the default funds of all qualifying schemes will be capped at 0.75% annually. Small differences in charges can have a major impact on a pension pot by...
Rent-a-room relief
If you let a room or rooms in your main home you will not pay any tax on rents received as long as the gross receipts do not exceed £4,250 in a tax year. This relief extends to owner occupiers and tenants who receive rent from letting furnished accommodation in their home. If your gross receipts are more than £4,250 you can...
National Minimum Wage
A reminder to business readers that the NMW rates increased from 1 October 2014; the new rates are: 21 and over £6.50 per hour 18 to 20 £5.13 per hour Under 18 £3.79 Apprentice rate £2.73 Don’t forget that HMRC oversees compliance with the NMW regulations. The types of workers who are not entitled to the minimum wage are: self-employed people running their own business company directors volunteers...
Tax Diary November/December 2014
1 November 2014 - Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 January 2014. 19 November 2014 - PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 November 2014. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 November 2014.) 19 November 2014 - Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 November...
Tax avoidance scheme users ordered to pay up
HM Revenue and Customs has sent notices to tax avoidance scheme users to pay over £250 million of disputed tax under the Accelerated Payments regime introduced in this year’s Finance Act. The Financial Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, told MPs scrutinising the National Insurance Contributions Bill that over 600 Accelerated Payment notices had been sent since late August. Despite recipients having...
Are your workers employed or self-employed
There can be savings, particularly for employers, if a worker can be paid as a self-employed person. This is particularly so in the construction industry where most workers are engaged by contractors as self-employed subcontractors. What many contractors fail to realise is that they are required to reach a judgement on a worker’s tax status based on a rigid framework determined...
Muras Matters: HMRC Credit Card Campaign
HMRC Credit Card Campaign Background HM Revenue & Customs (“HMRC”) have launched a new initiative, the ‘Credit Card Sales Campaign’ (“the Campaign”), aimed at taxpayers who have received income via a card payment and failed to notify their full tax liability to HMRC. The Campaign is aimed specifically at people who accept card payments for goods or services and haven’t declared the card...
What is the statutory minimum holiday entitlement?
Paid annual leave is a legal right that an employer must provide. Almost all workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday per year (known as statutory leave entitlement or annual leave). An employer can include bank holidays as part of statutory annual leave. Self-employed workers aren’t entitled to annual leave. Most workers who work a 5-day week must receive 28...
Pay when you are paid
Apart from the retail trade and internet traders most of us send an invoice when we provide our goods or services to customers and then wait for the period of credit to expire before we get paid. During this waiting time we still have our own bills and wages to pay so the working capital we have to accumulate to finance...