The latest Clay Shaw Butler Money Matters column from the Carmarthenshire Herald

The latest Clay Shaw Butler Money Matters column from the Carmarthenshire Herald.
By Mark Jones, director of Carmarthen-based Clay Shaw Butler chartered accountants and business consultants.

The taxman at HMRC has revealed that 10.39 million Self Assessment tax returns were completed ahead of the 31 January deadline.
This is more than 92% of the total returns expected, and 150,000 more than last year.
More than 89% of taxpayers (9.24 million) filed their return electronically.
An automatic £100 penalty applies to those who failed to file their return by 31 January 2016 midnight deadline.
HMRC have also revealed the top 10 worst tax return excuses for 2014.
They include:
'I had an argument with my wife and went to Italy for five years!'
Ruth Owen, HMRC Director General of Personal Tax, said:
“Untidy family members and hungry pets are very unlikely to be accepted as a legitimate excuse for completing your tax return late.
“We understand that life can be unpredictable and for those customers who have a genuine excuse for missing the 31 January deadline, such as the flooding, help is on hand.
“My advice would be to contact us through our helplines or online, as soon as possible.
“But for those who are trying to play the system, while the rest of us do the right thing, the message is clear: submit your tax return online by 31 January or face a fine.
“We're here to help people in genuine distress, but not to act as a free lender to people who can't meet their responsibilities to pay their tax.”
The deadline for sending 2014/15 tax returns to HMRC, and paying any tax owed, was 31 January 2016.
If you need help getting your tax affairs up to date please contact the team at Clay Shaw Butler.
PAYE is an issue which prompts a lot of questions from customers.
HMRC have announced that the relaxation which has permitted some employers with no more than nine employees to report their PAYE information for the tax month 'on or before' the last payday in the tax month, instead of 'on or before' each payday, is to be withdrawn from April 2016.
Guidance on the limited situations where pay details may be provided late can be found at www.gov.uk/running-payroll/fps-after-payday.
If you would like any help with payroll matters, then the team at Clay Shaw Butler will be happy to help.
In other news, the Government has announced that more than two million small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have used Business Tax Account (BTA) (previously known as ‘Your Tax Account’) which is an online service that’s being developed to meet business customers’ needs.
It’s part of the foundation for the Making Tax Easier for small businesses initiative.
BTA is the main point through which SMEs can access and use other digital services so they’re able to manage their tax affairs easily and quickly in a secure online space.
There’s a personalised homepage which provides an overview of all their tax records, a summary of current liabilities together with direct links to actions they need to take and transactions they need to complete.
HMRC have introduced BTA in stages and over a period of time to take into account the feedback given along the way.
If you haven’t already used BTA, then the next time you log onto the Portal you may see a new page that confirms you can now use the service.
All SMEs should be able to access BTA by March 2016.

You can find out more about money matters on the Clay Shaw Butler website (under our news for business section) -
http://www.clayshawbutler.com/news/latest-news-for-business
We have a strong and experienced team with great local knowledge all geared-up to helping you get the very best from your finances – whether that is as an individual or as a business.
We stay ahead of the game by putting great store by continual professional development for our staff.
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