HMRC will consider extended options for settling your outstanding tax bill. The key is to contact HMRC, explain why you can’t pay on time, and discuss how you can settle any outstanding liabilities. If you can’t pay before the deadline, call the Business Payment Support Service. Anyone can use this service, not just businesses. Business…
Read more
Employees holiday entitlement
The following definitions should help to clarify employee and employer rights and responsibilities regarding entitlement to holiday pay. 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. Most workers who work…
Read more
Crackdown on abuse of UK businesses
Reforms are being considered that will ensure that Scottish Limited Partnerships continue to be used as a legitimate vehicle for investment in the UK. Measures to crack down on the abuse of a specialised financial arrangement to launder foreign money through the UK was unveiled at the end of April 2018. This is part of…
Read more
Thousands receive back pay
In a recent press release, HMRC urged underpaid workers to complain as figures show that the number of workers getting the money they're owed by employers has doubled after interventions by HMRC. According to latest figures, in 2017-18, HMRC investigators identified £15.6 million in pay owed to more than a record 200,000 of the UK’s…
Read more
Premium rate fraudsters
There seems to be an endless growth in illegal sites who aim to make money by claiming to be associated with HMRC. The Government announced recently that it had scuppered one of these schemes. According to HMRC: Scammers create websites that look similar to HMRC’s official site and then direct the public to call numbers…
Read more
Tax free home rentals
Since April 2016, the amount of tax-free income you can earn from letting a room in your home has increased to £7,500 per annum, or £3,750 if two persons own a property jointly. You can use the scheme if: you let a furnished room to a lodger your letting activity amounts to a trade, for…
Read more
Problems paying your tax on time
You would be hard pushed to find a tax payer who was happy to pay tax. Whatever the economic benefits of taxation, we would all prefer that someone other than ourselves paid the bill. Companies are obliged to disclose their corporation tax liabilities in the year in which they are charged. Profits are stated net…
Read more
Green vans to get tax boost
The government is looking at ways to incentivised users of vans to go green. According to the statistics, less than one in every two hundred vans (0.4%) bought in 2016/17 was an ultra-low emission model. To tackle this issue, the government is seeking views on reforms to vehicle excise duty, currently charged at a flat…
Read more
IR35 to get a facelift in the private sector
HMRC is launching a new consultation to make sure that people who effectively work as employees pay the right amount of tax. As announced at the Autumn Budget, the consultation will look at how to increase compliance with the existing ‘off-payroll’ working rules. These rules mean that contractors such as IT and management consultants who…
Read more
Are you due a tax refund
There is something uniquely satisfying about a tax refund. Of course, you must first overpay tax before it can be refunded, but there is a universal joy in receiving a cheque or direct payment to your bank account from HMRC. Occasionally, HMRC will volunteer the information, they may even send you a formal assessment and…
Read more