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Monthly Archives: October 2017

Room to breathe

The government are considering plans to offer people with serious debt issues time to consider their options. They are seeking views to develop a way to provide individuals in debt with up to six weeks free from further interest, charges and enforcement action. This period would give those affected time to act by seeking financial…
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Could you claim a tax refund

If one party to a marriage or civil partnership has earnings below the personal tax allowance (£11,500 for 2017-18) and their spouse does not pay tax at the higher 40% rate, then they should be claiming the Marriage Allowance. For 2017-18 this tax break is worth £230 in cash terms. The allowance was introduced from…
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Top Ten Questions when choosing your Accountant

Choosing an accountant is an important decision which should be considered carefully. Here are our top ten questions to help you navigate and decide which firm is right for you : What specialisms do they have that could help you? How responsive are they to answering your questions ? Is the accountant qualified to work…
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Gazumping to become a thing of the past

The government seems to be taking steps to streamline the process of buying and selling your home. In particular, they are seeking views on ending the practice known as gazumping: where an offer can be accepted and then disregarded when a higher offer is received. In many countries this is illegal, once an offer is…
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Not so trivial benefits

According to HMRC you don’t have to pay tax or NIC on a benefit provided to an employee if: it costs you £50 or less to provide (or the average cost per employee if a benefit is provided to a group of employees and it is impracticable to work out the exact cost per person)…
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Are you lending money to your company

There is a whole raft of legislation that seeks to penalise directors and shareholders if they borrow money from their company. These regulations include possible benefit in kind charges for the director/shareholder, and additional corporation tax payments of 32.5% for the company. In effect, the tax system discourages directors from using their company as a…
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Bookkeeping in the cloud

Smaller business owners, those with annual turnover below the current VAT registration threshold (£85,000 for 2017-18), will be relieved to know that the impending digitisation of tax by HMRC will not be a requirement when the process starts for business tax from April 2019. You can register on a voluntary basis, but many smaller businesses…
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Avoid property fraud

Since September 2009, HM Land Registry has prevented 254 fraudulent applications being registered. The most common fraud is when someone pretends to be you and mortgages or even sells your property without your knowledge. A simple and cost-effective way to counter this activity is to register with the award-winning Property Alert service. This is managed…
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Under 18s and tax

Children (under 18s) can earn up to £11,500 in the current tax year and pay no income tax. This is the maximum that can be earned during 2017-18 and will include earnings from all sources subject to income tax. The most common are: Income from employment Income from self-employment Bank interest and dividends received –…
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Tax Diary October/November 2017

1 October 2017 - Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 31 December 2016. 19 October 2017 - PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 October 2017. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 October 2017.) 19 October 2017 - Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly…
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