If you own a small limited company your shares entitle you to draw a return on your shareholding – in common parlance these returns are called dividends. A company can only pay dividends if it has current or accumulated tax-paid reserves. For most smaller companies this will be described as reserves or retained profits on your company balance sheet. As these reserves...
Does your employer pay for your private petrol?
A reminder that you can avoid the hefty car fuel benefit charge if you drive a company car and your employer pays for your private fuel. One way to achieve this is to repay your company for the private petrol provided. Many employers have an arrangement with their company car drivers to obtain reimbursement of any private fuel provided. Usually, the employee...
Muras Matters: CT61 and Interest Paid By Companies
Background Certain types of interest and other payments made by UK companies are required to be paid net of income tax, with the tax deducted payable to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and reported using a CT61 quarterly return. This is in contrast to the position with banks and building societies where, since April 2016, interest has been paid gross. We have recently encountered a few...
Unclaimed estates
There is nothing more intriguing that the notion we may be due untold riches from undisclosed sources. For example, do you have any premium bonds, and did you notify the registrar the last time you moved to a new house? And did you know that the estates of deceased persons whose beneficiaries or family cannot be traced are held by the...
Do you have a December year end?
December is probably the second most popular trading year end for businesses; the most popular being the 31 March. Your end of year planning should include a review of your results – prior to your year end – so that there is an opportunity to make any advantageous changes. From our perspective, there is nothing quite so depressing as being made...
Muras Matters: VAT Reverse Charge for Building and Construction Services – Delayed until 2020
As featured in Muras Matters at the end of July, new VAT rules were due to be introduced for construction services with effect from 1 October 2019, requiring a VAT reverse charge on certain services to apply from that date. This would be a major change in the way VAT is collected in the industry. However, following concerns being raised within...
Construction industry VAT changes 1 October 2019
Just one month to go until the so-called “Domestic Reverse Charge” will apply to VAT registered traders who are also registered to use the Construction Industry Scheme. There has been an awful lot of commentary in the press claiming that from 1 October, building contractors will be lumbered with paying their sub-contractors’ VAT. Perhaps a brief summary of the reason for this...
Muras Matters: Company Cars Changes to Advisory Fuel Rates
This Bulletin is aimed at company car drivers (and their employers) who are not provided with fuel for private mileage HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have changed their advisory fuel rates for company cars with effect from 1 September 2019. The rates are intended to give guidance to employers about what is an acceptable fuel allowance to reimburse employees for use of fuel, without creating a tax or...
Tax-free annual party
If you are starting to look forward to the forthcoming end-of-year and Christmas celebrations, and we could all do with a bit of festive cheer, you may find the following article useful: it sets out the rules and regulations that qualify such events for a tax-free status: no benefits in kind, tax or NIC consequences. The cost of an annual staff...
Changes to contractor VAT from 1 October 2019
We have alerted building contractors and sub-contractors in previous newsletters of changes to the VAT rules from 1 October 2019. In a nut-shell, if you are subject to the Construction Industry Scheme and if you are registered for VAT, from the 1 October 2019 you may need to change the way you account for VAT on supplies between sub-contractors and their...