News

New tax investigation campaigns
15/02/2012 - More...
Three new campaigns are to be launched targeting tax evasion in the UK. The current round of HMRC’s campaigns against tax avoidance goes back to the Offshore Disclosure Facility (ODF) in 2007, that targeted taxpayers with unpaid taxes linked to offshore accounts or assets. HMRC’s approach since then has revolved around offering speci...

P45 form to stay
15/02/2012 - More...
The Government recently published a consultation document on the major changes planned to the way PAYE information is collected. This will see the introduction of a new system where HMRC collects real time information (RTI) for PAYE. The system will involve employers sending information about tax and other deductions from employees' ...

Self assessment online filing statistics
15/02/2012 - More...
A press release detailing the number of online filings made for the 2010/11 self assessment returns has been issued by HMRC. The use of the online service continues to grow year on year. This year a total of over 7.65 million online filings were made by the deadline. The deadline for this year remained at 31 January 2012 bu...

Employment related loans
08/02/2012 - More...
The official rate of interest on an employment related loan is to remain at 4% with effect from 6 April 2012. A change in the rate is only made in the event of significant changes in interest rates. The interest rate is used to calculate the benefit in kind charge that arises when directors or employees, earning more than £8,500 per year,...

The Annual Investment Allowance
08/02/2012 - More...
The Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) was first introduced in The 2008 Finance Act and the legislation was incorporated into the Capital Allowances Act 2001. The AIA is designed to give 100% first year tax relief for qualifying expenditure on plant and machinery. It can be claimed by an individual, partnership or company carrying on a tra...

Tribunal – VAT bad debt relief
08/02/2012 - More...
The VAT bad debt relief rules seek to deal with issues that can arise when an invoice has been issued to a customer and no payment has been received after a significant period of time has elapsed. The relief allows businesses to claim bad debt relief and reclaim the VAT paid to HMRC, subject to meeting certain criteria. The Upper Tr...

Government publishes revised timetable for pensions auto-enrolment
02/02/2012 - More...
The Government has published a revised staging timetable for when employers of all sizes must start enrolling their staff in a workplace pension scheme. Starting from 1 October 2012, and depending on PAYE scheme size and reference, employers will be obliged to enrol eligible employees automatically, and make mandatory employer contri...

Submitting online VAT returns
01/02/2012 - More...
From 1 April 2012 all VAT Returns must be submitted online and payment must be made electronically. This measure completes a process started 1 April 2010 when VAT registered businesses with a turnover exceeding £100,000 and all newly VAT registered businesses were required to file VAT returns and make payments online. Exceptionally, VAT r...

Commonwealth games tax break announced
01/02/2012 - More...
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, has announced a tax break for athletes that take part in the 2014 Commonwealth games in Glasgow. The move means that athletes from outside the UK will be exempt from UK income tax on any payment in connection with their performance in the UK. Under UK tax rules a sportsperson not resid...

PAYE penalties
01/02/2012 - More...
The tax office has now begun to issue penalty notices to employers that have not filed their starter and leaver forms online in the period 6 October 2011 to 5 January 2012. The penalties for failing to file online range from £100 up to a maximum of £3,000 depending on the number of forms that should have been filed. Penalty notices for n...

PAYE – share based payments
25/01/2012 - More...
New regulations were introduced in April 2011 which changed the tax code that applies to certain payments of PAYE income made to an employee after cessation of employment which have not been included in the form P45. The new regulations introduced the '0T' (zero T) code which deducts income tax at the basic, higher and additional rates de...

Qualifying period increase for unfair dismissal will not be retrospective
23/01/2012 - More...
On 6 April 2012, the qualifying period for claiming unfair dismissal will increase from one year to two years. When the Government announced this change back in October 2011, it gave no indication as to how it would apply to existing employees, some of whom may already have qualified for unfair dismissal rights. Although the Departme...

Fraudulent emails from 'HMRC'
18/01/2012 - More...
It is apparent that a significant number of fraudulent emails are still being sent to taxpayers purporting to be sent by HMRC. The emails target taxpayers who may be expecting a refund of tax from HMRC and provide a link to a clone of HMRC's website where the recipient is asked to give their credit card or bank details. These are not...

Business records checks under review
18/01/2012 - More...
The Business Records Checks programme imposes penalties for significant record-keeping failures relating to Income Tax, Corporation Tax and VAT and applies to the self-employed, sole traders and businesses with a turnover of less than €50m and with less than 250 employees. HMRC has confirmed that it has started a detailed review of the Bu...

Contractual disclosure facility (CDF)
18/01/2012 - More...
A new Contractual Disclosure Facility (CDF) was launched by HMRC on 31 January 2012. The CDF is a facility for taxpayers to disclose serious tax fraud to HMRC. The CDF is only suitable for taxpayers who want to admit to tax fraud. It is not a method to notify HMRC about errors, mistakes or avoidance schemes where no fraud has ta...

Class 2 National Insurance contributions
11/01/2012 - More...
Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) are paid by all self-employed taxpayers unless they qualify for the small earnings exemption or other exemptions that remove the necessity to pay. Class 2 NICs are payable at a flat weekly rate. Since April 2011, payments for Class 2 NICs became due on 31 January and 31 July, the same ...

New PAYE coding notices
11/01/2012 - More...
New PAYE coding notices are being issued that inform taxpayers of their new tax codes for the tax year beginning 6 April 2012. They will be sent to taxpayers during January, February and March 2012. The coding notices are designed to ensure that taxpayers pay the right amount of tax and that they include all the allowances ...

Research and Development (R&D) tax credits
11/01/2012 - More...
Research and Development (R&D) tax credits were introduced for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in 2000 and for large companies in 2002. R&D credits are a corporation tax relief that encourage innovation and enterprise within the UK economy. A number of changes to R & D tax credits, which were announced as part o...

Employment legislation in 2012
06/01/2012 - More...
With the government having announced a whole raft of proposals for possible employment law reform during the course of 2011, there will be a number of key employment legislative changes in 2012, as well as public consultations continuing or opening on some of these proposals.  Here’s a summary of the main expected employment law deve...

Labour providers and the Olympic games
03/01/2012 - More...
It has been estimated that the Olympic and Paralympic Games will involve more than 50,000 contracts, worth about £6bn. The sectors affected range from construction, engineering and manufacturing to creative, merchandising and retail at 34 Games venues around the UK. A news release has been published aimed at employers who plan to take on ...