Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

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. In last week’s Money Matters, we stressed the importance of sticking to deadlines – particularly when it comes to tax matters. Keeping a regular, updated calendar of key taxation dates is very important on a business and a personal level when it comes of money management At Clay Shaw Butler, we have an online calendar of upcoming key taxation dates on our website. But, in case you don’t have access to that, here are a few helpful dates for the rest of the year . . . October 2017 Thursday October 19 PAYE quarterly payments are due for small employers for the pay periods 6th July 2017 to 5th October 2017. This deadline is relevant to small employers only. As a small employer with income tax, national insurance and student loan deductions of less than £1,500 a month you are required to make payment ...

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. HMRC have made available a telephone helpline (0800 904 7900) for anyone affected by severe weather or floods. The helpline allows anyone affected to get practical help and advice on a wide range of tax problems they may be facing. These could be financial issues regarding making payment, issues regarding lost or damaged records and may include cancelling penalties where deadlines are missed due to severe weather and flooding. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will also: agree instalment arrangements where taxpayers are unable to pay as a result of severe weather or flooding  agree a practical approach when individuals and businesses have lost vital records as a result of severe weather or flooding  suspend debt collection proceedings for those affected by severe weather or flooding ...

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. HMRC have revealed their Top 10 most significant fraud and organised crime cases of the last year. Simon York, Director of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said: “Day in, day out, HMRC is coming down hard on tax cheats. “As these cases show, we’ll tackle anyone committing tax fraud, regardless of how well resourced, well advised, or well organised. “These 10 prosecutions are among the most significant cases we’ve handled this year, and they reflect the wide range of work carried out by HMRC.” In the ongoing fight against tax evasion, HMRC took a range of tax fraudsters through the courts in 2016 for prosecution. HMRC’s criminal investigations have led to 679 individuals being convicted for their part in tax crimes, with sentences for 2016 totalling more than 730 years. Many of the cases won ...

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. HMRC have released more unusual excuses from taxpayers who failed to complete their self assessment tax return on time. These include: 'My tax return was on my yacht…which caught fire'  'A wasp in my car caused me to have an accident and my tax return, which was inside, was destroyed'  'My wife helps me with my tax return, but she had a headache for ten days'  'My dog ate my tax return…and all of the reminders'  'I couldn't complete my tax return, because my husband left me and took our accountant with him. I am currently trying to find a new accountant'  'My child scribbled all over the tax return, so I wasn't able to send it back'  'I work for myself, but a colleague borrowed my tax return to photocopy it and lost it'  ...

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 Government has revealed 10 of the most bizarre excuses used by unscrupulous business owners who have been found to have underpaid workers the NMW (the national minimum wage). These employers used excuses such as ‘only wanting to pay staff when there are customers to serve and believing it was acceptable to underpay workers until they had ‘proved’ themselves’. The Government has launched an awareness campaign to encourage workers to check their pay to ensure they are receiving at least the statutory minimum ahead of the NMW and NLW (national living wage) increases on 1 April 2017. Employers need to ensure they are paying their employees at least the NMW and NLW. This will be the second increase in six months for the NMW rates. Going forward the NMW and NLW rates will both be reviewed annuall...

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. Those of you who have just completed your self-assessment returns will appreciate how important it is to keep a calendar of key tax events. At Clay Shaw Butler, we have produced a helpful calendar of tax events from now through to 2018. Here are a few notable dates – February 2017 Sunday 19 PAYE, Student loan and CIS deductions are due for the month to 5th February 2017. This deadline is relevant to employers who have made PAYE deductions from their employees' salaries and to contractors who have paid subcontractors under the CIS. Employers are required to make payment to HMRC of the income tax, national insurance and student loan deductions. Contractors are required to make payment to HMRC of the tax deductions made from subcontractors under the CIS. Where the payment is made electronically ...

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. This week, we are continuing our review of Chancellor Philip Hammond’s first (and last) Autumn Statement. We’ve covered personal taxation changes and some business taxation matters. As usual with Budgets and Autumn Statements, there is a lot of detail to cover. This week, we continue on business matters from the Autumn Statement. Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR): From 6 April 2017, the amount of investment that social enterprises aged up to seven years old can raise through SITR will increase to £1.5 million. Investment in nursing homes and residential care homes will be excluded initially, however the government intends to introduce an accreditation system to allow such investment to qualify for SITR in the future. The limit on full-time equivalent employees for a qualifying social enterpri...

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. Our review of Chancellor Philip Hammond’s first (and last) Autumn Statement moves from personal taxation changes to business taxation matters this week. Here are some of the key areas relevant to business - Corporation tax rates: Corporation tax rates have already been enacted for periods up to 31 March 2021. The main rate of corporation tax is currently 20%. The rate will then be reduced as follows: 19% for the Financial Years beginning on 1 April 2017, 1 April 2018 and 1 April 2019  17% for the Financial Year beginning on 1 April 2020.  Corporate tax loss relief: Currently, a company is restricted in the type of profit which can be relieved by a loss if the loss is brought forward from an earlier accounting period. For example, a trading loss carried forward can only relieve future...

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. Our review of Chancellor Philip Hammond’s first (and last) Autumn Statement started last week with personal taxation changes. We dealt with some of the issues about personal allowances and tax bands. This week, we continue to focus on the changes to personal taxation, before we launch into the business tax issues next week. Tax on savings income: Savings income is income such as bank and building society interest. Some individuals qualify for a 0% starting rate of tax on savings income up to £5,000. However, the rate is not available if taxable non-savings income (broadly earnings, pensions, trading profits and property income) exceeds the starting rate limit. In addition, from 2016/17 the Savings Allowance (SA) applies to savings income. Income within the SA is taxed at 0% (the 'savings nil ...

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. Well, that was interesting. Last week, the Chancellor Philip Hammond presented his first, and last, Autumn Statement along with the Spending Review. His speech and the supporting documentation set out both tax and economic measures. Our summary concentrates on the tax measures which include: the government reaffirming the objectives to raise the personal allowance to £12,500 and the higher rate threshold to £50,000 by the end of this Parliament  reduction of the Money Purchase Annual Allowance  review of ways to build on research and development tax relief  tax and National Insurance advantages of salary sacrifice schemes to be removed  anti-avoidance measures for the VAT Flat Rate Scheme  autumn Budgets commencing in autumn 2017.  In addition the Chancellor...

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. It’s usually very near the top of the agenda for small businesses – VAT, or Value Added Tax. If you are starting or have recently started a business, you need to comply with the VAT regulations. VAT registered businesses act as unpaid tax collectors and are required to account both promptly and accurately for all the tax revenue collected by them. The VAT system is policed by HMRC with heavy penalties for breaches of the legislation. Ignorance is not an acceptable excuse for not complying with the rules. We highlight below some of the areas that you need to consider. It is, however, important for you to seek specific professional advice appropriate to your circumstances. What is VAT? A transaction is within the scope of VAT if: there is a supply of goods or services  made in the UK  b...

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 regularly comes up with handy advice for anyone dealing with finance. HMRC have published the latest issue of the Employer Bulletin with articles on a variety of topics relevant to employers. One article advises that HMRC have issued the Quarter 1 late filing penalty notices, which cover the period 6 April to 5 July 2016 and have confirmed that these penalties will continue to be issued on a risk assessed basis. HMRC have confirmed that a late filing penalty will generally not be charged for delays of up to three days after the statutory filing date, but that they may contact employers who persistently file after the statutory filing date but within three days, and they risk being considered for a penalty. The Bulletin includes advice on how to appeal against a penalty online ...

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 Office for National Statistics has announced that the UK tax gap fell in 2014/15 to its lowest ever level of 6.5%. The press release confirms that the UK tax gap (the difference between the amount of tax due and the amount collected) is one of the lowest in the world. HMRC have reduced the tax gap from 8.3% in 2005/06. If the tax gap had remained at the 2005 to 2006 level of 8.3%, it would have grown to £47 billion and the country would have been £11 billion a year poorer. HMRC believe that the tax gap has fallen, in part, due to digital reporting. In particular Real Time Information reporting for the PAYE system has led to more accurate recording of information on payroll taxes, and the shift to VAT online has helped bring the VAT gap in 2014/15 to its lowest level of 10.3% (£12.7 billion). ...

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. Company cars can be quite a controversial issue, for the employer, for employees and for the taxman. HMRC recently lost a first tier tribunal case on the recovery of VAT on the purchase of six company cars. Although most VAT registered businesses are able to recover the VAT on the purchase of commercial vehicles the rules for the recovery on a car state two conditions must be met: the vehicle must be used exclusively for business purposes and  it is not made available for private use.  In the case of Zone Contractors Ltd the court accepted that six cars were not available for private use which allowed the business to successfully recover the VAT on the six cars. The business had a strongly worded contract of employment that prevented employees from using company cars for private tr...

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. We often get questions from charities and community groups in West Wales looking for clarification on how Gift Aid works. The tax people at HMRC have updated their guidance for charities and community amateur sports clubs (CASC) on claiming Gift Aid on donations. The guidance has been amended to reflect updated guidance on the retail Gift Aid process operated by charity shops on donated goods. Gift Aid can be claimed on donations of money made by an individual UK income taxpayer. It’s an easy way to help your charity or community amateur sports club (CASC) maximise the value of donations. To claim Gift Aid, you must be recognised by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as a charity or CASC and you’ll need to ask donors to make a Gift Aid declaration. In certain circumstances, some payments made to chari...

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. Over the last two weeks in Money Matters we have put the spotlight on changes to pension schemes. We have put particular focus on ‘pensions auto enrolment’. The Government is placing greater responsibility and sometimes higher costs on employers. Employers are/will be required to provide access to pension provision for their employees. Here is the scenario for employers with less than 50 employees but are part of a larger PAYE scheme. For example, the company is part of a group of companies and the company has a shared scheme with other employers. There are special rules for such employers. An employer can find out the detailed staging date rules from www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk . Employers are required to write to all workers (except those aged under 16, or 75 and over) explaining what aut...

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 always had procedures in place to deal with complaints. These procedures have now been extended to include an online form which can be used to make complaints about your self-assessment and PAYE. The guidance also includes other ways to complain. Of course, if you would like help with PAYE or self assessment issues, please contact us at Clay Shaw Butler. If you want further information about making a complaint directly to the taxman, then you can go to this website address - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/complain-to-hm-revenue-and-customs Here’s what the official Government website has to say about complaints to HMRC - Examples of things that you might not be happy with are: unreasonable delays  mistakes  how HMRC have treated you  The advice is to cont...