http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/rss http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/autumn-statement-11/ <p>In the shadow of the Chancellor's Autumn Statement we are bringing you a general round up of the key details, cutting through the jargon.</p>
<p>First off the state pension age is increasing and will be 67 between 2026 and 2028. This wasn't a surprise given what the chancellor and PM have said in the events leading up to the statement.</p>
<p>The National Infrastructure Plan 2011 was announced which is intended to boost the construction industry with several large projects been planned including rail and commuter infrastructure improvements, specifically heavily congested areas. Also investments in 'super-connected' cities with plans to have 80 - 100 MB broadband and high-speed mobile networks.</p>
<p>There was no change for Annual Investment Allowances (AIA) which are set to reduce to £25,000 on 6th April 2012. It is always worth talking to your accountant while planning to buy plant and machinery to ensure that the allowance is as efficiently as possible.</p>
<p>Small Business Rate Relief was extended for a further six months and also allowing businesses to put off 60% of the increase until their bills for the financial year ending 2013.</p>
<p>Plans for the personal allowance were confirmed as it is increased to £8105, putting them in line to reach £10,000 by the end of the coalitions time in power. But on the downside the higher rate band has been adjusted (the point at which tax is paid at 40% rather than 20%) has been adjusted down to £34,370 netting off any gain from the personal allowance increase for higher rate tax payers.</p>
<p>Furnished Holiday Letting rules are to change again as of 6th April 2012. The available and actual letting days are being increased by 70 and 35 days accordingly bring them to 210 available and 105 actually let days.</p>
<p>For more details on the Autumn Statement or general information about Chase Accounting, call us on 01543 468500 to speak to a member of our team.</p> Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:45:03 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/autumn-statement-11/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/penalties/ <p>Most people who have been submitting tax returns for some time are aware of the penalty for late submission of a tax return and not paying tax on time. However since 6th April 2011 the rules have changed and not knowing whats new can cost in excess of £1500 in certain cases.</p>
<p>On the old regime penalties started at £100 but could be knocked out if there was a refund due or if the tax was less then £100 in which case it would be whatever the tax was. In once instance a client of ours had a .22p tax bill and because the penalty had to pay .44p to HMRC. However this penalty never acted as much of a deterrent which is why the system has changed.</p>
<p>For starters there is a £100 penalty for being a day late, irrespective of any tax due or if the tax has been paid but the return hasn't been submitted. Still nothing to get hot under the collar but it gets worse. If the return is up to three months late there can be penalties of up to £10 per day up to £900. So that's a running total of £1000 if your return is submitted in April. Six months late and it's the higher of £300 of 5% of the tax due as well as the previous penalties. Twelve months late and another £300 or 5% as well as previous penalties, totalling £1600 even if there is no tax due! In serious circumstances a penalty of 100% of tax maybe enforced.</p>
<p>Because the penalties wont be churned out until after January we have no way of knowing if they will charge £10 a day or how lenient they will be. But the lesson is <strong>DON'T </strong>leave it till the last minute!</p> Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:56:14 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/penalties/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/compulsory-vat-online/ From April 2012 changes to the way VAT returns have to be filed are coming into force.

It's easy to see that HM Revenue & Customs are keen to move to online filing as we've seen with other taxes and now it's VATs turn again. At the moment, only newly registered businesses and those with a turnover in excess of £100k have to file their returns online. However from 1st April <strong>all </strong>businesses must file returns online. This has not come as a shock to the industry however for many smaller businesses who are registered this could present difficulties.

We file all returns for clients online as standard. This ensures that the return is received by HMRC via their secure site and gives an extra seven days to file the return and pay. For more information regarding VAT and your obligation contact us using our enquiry form. Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:22:11 +0100 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/compulsory-vat-online/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/vat-registration/ HM Revenue & Customs are pressing businesses who may be liable to be registered for VAT but aren't to come forward. The article from <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14029919">BBC News</a> goes on to explain that businesses who own up before 30th September could get reduced penalties for not registering and explains that
<blockquote>Businesses that send in a VAT registration form less than 12 months after the date on which they should have registered will not be charged a penalty, unless they wilfully avoided registering.</blockquote>
VAT law is possibly some of the most complicated law in the UK. While businesses are free to complete their own returns, we offer free VAT registration and can complete your returns online on your behalf. Timely and correctly. If you are unsure if you should of registered for VAT, we offer a free consultation where we can not only advise your VAT situation but look at your business as a whole, how to make it as profitable as possible and pay the legally lowest amount of tax possible. Contact us on 01543 468500 or use the enquiries tab at the top of the page. Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:03:12 +0100 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/vat-registration/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/reasonable-excuses/ A new tribunal case has revealed reasonable excuses for not paying your PAYE/NIC/CIS over to HM Revenue & Customs. We'll skip "the dog ate my tax return" and other not so reasonable excuses we've heard (and given) and get down to business.

Alan Kincaid's company, AK Construction Limited, appealed against HMRC trying to remove his gross payment status for not paying over CIS tax on time. Gross payment status allows people working under the CIS to be paid the full amount they invoice and not have any tax stopped at source. The advantage to HMRC of the CIS means that rouge builders will have tax paid over and will not evade tax. The disadvantage to everyone else is you only receive four fifths of the labour that you invoice. Hence why gross payment status is so desirable.

Some of the payments AK Construction made to HMRC were late which meant they failed the compliance test, despite that he was unable to pay because of cash flow difficulties. Judge John Walters ruled in favour of AK Construction saying that "the appellant had done all that he could to avoid this problem" and that was a reasonable excuse. Though HM Revenue & Customs still disagree with cash flow being a reasonable excuse, it depends on the tribunal judge you find yourself before. Thu, 26 May 2011 15:54:22 +0100 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/reasonable-excuses/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/ptsp-deadline-this-month/ The deadline for disclosing undeclared income under the Plumbers Tax Safe Plan (PTSP) is the end of this month. For those who don't know here's an overview of what PTSP is.

Last year, HM Revenue & Customs were offering medical professions the opportunity to disclose undeclared tax. The take up was higher than expected so HMRC are <em>going through the trades</em> and offering people the chance to disclose. The difference is that HMRC had details relating to the medical profession, whereas they are now 'just hoping' so to speak.

The benefits of declaring under PTSP is that HMRC will have a certain amount of leniency when dealing with you. Mistakes when reasonable care has been taken there will be no penalty, however careless mistakes attract a 10% penalty of the tax due and deliberate but not concealed mistakes attract 20%. When the taxpayer has tried to conceal the extent of which the tax is due a penalty of 100% is due.

As ever, we fully recommend full disclosure of all income. If you feel that you may have something to declare but are unsure, contact us for a free initial interview and consultation where we can advise you on the best way forward to keep you tax liability as low as possible.

HMRC's guidance on PTSP can be found <a href="http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/trades-disclosure/index.htm">here.</a> Thu, 12 May 2011 09:37:05 +0100 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/ptsp-deadline-this-month/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/new-news/ There are a few significant changes happening that will have an impact on businesses;

<strong>All</strong> VAT returns must now be submitted online. Any return submitted after April 2011 must be submitted online. If not, you may be liable to a penalty or surcharges. Registering to complete your returns online is a simple process and we are more than happy to assist you in doing this.

<strong>Minimum wage</strong> is set to increase in October '11. Bear in mind that this will push up employer national insurance contributions so include that in your cash flow forecast! Not paying minimum wage can result in penalties up to £5000 and arrears ordered to be paid to the employee. Increases are as follows;
<ul><li>Main rate from £5.93 to £6.08</li>
<li>18 - 20 rate from £4.92 to £4.98</li>
<li>16 - 17 rate from £3.64 to £3.68</li>
<li>Apprentice from £2.50 to £2.60</li>
</ul> Wed, 04 May 2011 10:25:01 +0100 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/new-news/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/budget-11-review/ As promised yesterday we have an overview on how the budget will affect business, unincorporated and incorporated alike.

<strong>Corporation tax; </strong>It is made known last budget that corporation tax rates are going to be falling by 1% every year. However George Osbourne decided to reduce the rate by 2% this year so it will stand at 26% for larger companies. Small companies rate only went down by 1% to 20%.

<strong>Capital allowance</strong> have remained unchanged. From April 2012 the Annual Investment Allowance will be dropping from £200,000 to £25,000. Bearing this in mind it is strongly advisable to purchase capital expenditure sooner rather than later.

<strong>VAT</strong> <strong>Thresholds </strong>have been tinkered slightly and have increased by £3k to £73,000, deregistration has upped from £68k to  £70k.

For further details or an in depth analysis of the budget, request on our enquires page. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:10:11 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/budget-11-review/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/budget-2011-individuals/ With the budget over we can all breath a sigh of relief that nothing painful was announced. We are going to go over some of the key points affecting individuals. Tomorrow we will look at the bigger issue of businesses.

<strong>Personal allowances </strong>for 2012/13 are going to £8105. The personal allowance is the amount you can earn before you starting paying tax. Rising to £7475 on April 6th, this will mean that it has gone up £1630 since the coalition came into power. This puts them well on their way to raising it to £10,000 before the end of their term.

<strong>A review of tax & NIC </strong>has been called for with a view to simplify the system. Currently basic rate tax (what most people pay) is 20%, and 40% at the higher rate. On top of this national insurance is 11% up to £844 per week and 1% thereafter.

<strong>Entrepreneur's relief </strong>has very generously been double to £10 million. This means that anyone selling an entrepreneurial business will be taxed at 10% on the first £10 million and the standard capital gains rate of 18% afterwards. This is a lifetime limit so don't get too excited and think you can start selling a business a year...

Subscribe via RSS and keep up to date with our articles including the budget review for business tomorrow! Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:05:43 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/budget-2011-individuals/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/plumbers-tax-safe-plan/ You may recall last year, we wrote about medical professionals been given the chance to own up to undeclared income (<a href="http://wp.me/pJE8e-4K">article here</a>). Well, as predicted HM Revenue & Customs are trying their hand at other trades. The first of which being plumbing.

Going back up to five years, plumbers are been given the chance to declare unpaid tax, offering a <strong>special </strong>10% penalty rate for the most plumbers, however is more serious cases a 20% penalty. These penalties will be on top of any tax payable. Disclosure must be before 31st May and if caught out after this date there will be no favourable treatment.

However this opportunity is different to the earlier medical push where the tax man had actual information to basis enquiries on. This time they don't, meaning you have less chance of getting caught. However when caught, expect a tonne of bricks to land upon you.

If you are a cash-in-hand plumber and would like to talk about disclosing undeclared income we can offer advice catered to your individual situation. If you would like to have a free no obligation consultation please do not hesitate to either contact us or visit the enquiries page. Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:26:34 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/plumbers-tax-safe-plan/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/everything-were-not/ <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XMOmB1q8W4Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""/> Mon, 28 Feb 2011 14:30:24 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/everything-were-not/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/hmrc-hitting-van-drivers/ KPMG, one of <em>The Big Four </em>accountancy firms have found that HM Revenue & Customs are issuing questionnaires to companies about their company vans.

There was a time when the Taxman would contact you to help and ensure your business is doing things correctly and if there is anyway they can help. However recent times have shown us that contact from the taxman is usually because he doesn't think your paying the right amount of tax and is suspicious.

The same applies to these letters. Though we still haven't seen any, one can assume based on the information we have seen, that it will comprise of leading questions by the taxman to make you believe that you have a benefit in kind on your companies van.

If you receive one of these letters hold back on replying. As your accountants, you pay us to deal with The Revenue on your behalf. Bring the letter in and let us ensure the questions are answered correctly and avoid any unnecessary additional tax. If you aren't a client but have received a questionnaire, visit our enquiries page to arrange a free initial consultation to ensure the questions are answered correctly. Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:40:14 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/hmrc-hitting-van-drivers/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/self-asessment-season/ With the deadline for tax returns well and truly past we can breath a sigh of relief that all tax return we were asked to do have been completed in time. However, there are some people who may not of completed a return on time, or even know they had to complete one!

Sometime towards the end of the month, HM Revenue & Customs will be issuing £100 penalties to anyone who hasn't submitted their return on time. But don't despair! If there is no tax due, typical in case of CIS workers, that penalty wont stand! However in order to get the penalty squashed we need to file your tax return.

If you have been faced with one of these letters and need some help working out how to move forward, contact us for a free no obligation interview. Call us on 01543 468500 or use our <a href="http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/enquiry/">enquiries</a> page. Thu, 17 Feb 2011 10:27:24 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/self-asessment-season/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/tougher-tax-regime/ <p style="text-align: justify;">HM Revenue & Customs are set to crack down and make it harder to run up large debts for businesses and indivduals. Already we have seen new letters threatening legal action far earlier than usual. Businesses who should be filing VAT returns online are going to be penalised based on their turnover (see our recent <a href="http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/2010/12/time-is-running-out-2/" target="_blank">Time Is Running Out</a> article), Time To Pay arrangements becoming more and more scarce, stricter penalties for failing to pay over PAYE Income Tax & NI, the list could go on but inparticular we want to look at personal tax.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Firstly, there is likely to be a rise in investigations. If income has decreased signifcantly compared to previous years, they are likely to ask questions, regardless of whether it is due to losing a major contract or signficant health issues, it would be wise to document what has happened. Also when a tax return is submitted an automatic penalty of £100 is generated. If there is no tax due this is knocked out, however under new rules in the Finance Act 2008 the penalty will still stand.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">For further details on how the Finance Act affects you subscribe to our website by <a href="http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/feed/">RSS</a> or come and see us. To arrange an appointment please click the Contact Us tab at the top of the page.</p> Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:33:55 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/tougher-tax-regime/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/personal-tax-update/ <p style="text-align: justify;">The deadline for personal tax returns to be submitted is ever looming at the end of the month and as usual, if a return is not submitted a £100 penalty will be hanging over you. However if there is no tax due this penalty can be knocked. However to find that out we need to do your tax return. It is not too late to appoint us as your accountants and ensure that you are not paying anymore tax than you need to. It is also worth noting that next year there are going to be some significant changes to the way HM Revenue & Customs can conduct themselves which we will be detailing in the coming months.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Right now our focus is to ensure that you don't incur additional avoidable penalties for not submitting your tax return. We offer a free no obligation consultation where we find out more about your business, the best ways to minimise the tax that you pay and explain what we intend to do in plain English. For details of how to get in touch with us to arrange a meeting please see the contact us tab at the top of the page.</p> Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:57:52 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/personal-tax-update/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/new-year-new-rate/ As many of you are aware, VAT went up by 2.5% to 20%, the highest UK VAT has ever been on the 4th of January 2011. This means that for those in business who are VAT registered, you'll be charging an extra 2.5% to your customers. Don't get too excited though as you will be charged it as well and be paying the difference between suffered and charged over. However, there are special rules which allow you to charge VAT at 17.5%. For instance if the work has been incurred and completed before the 4th you can technically charge at 17.5%.

If you need helping completing your VAT return or general advice on the benefits of registering for VAT, please <a href="http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/contact-us/">contact us </a>for a <strong>free no obligation interview. </strong> Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:49:44 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/new-year-new-rate/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/class-2-ni-shakeup/ People who are self employed are well accustomed to the £2.20 odd coming out of there bank account weekly or perhaps monthly. However HM Revenue & Customs have announced changes to the way it is paid. Similarly to the self assessment system there will be two payments; One on July 31st and one January 31st. The total amount paid will be the same, however it will be two bulk payments rather than 52 or 12 payments. Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:09:52 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/class-2-ni-shakeup/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/time-is-running-out-2/ As you may be aware, businesses with a turnover in excess of £100,000 and newly VAT registered businesses must file their returns online. Not all businesses have made the transition to online filing, however this could turn out to be playing with fire. While the taxman has been unusually generous in not dishing out penalties to those not submitting online, for periods ending on or after 1st April 2011. From this date penalties will be dished out according to business turnover. It has never been more important to get a hold of online filing. However if your still about apprehensive about <em>joining the revolution</em> and would like assistance, we are more than happy to help. Please drop us a line or call us for any questions you have regarding VAT. Thu, 23 Dec 2010 12:53:23 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/time-is-running-out-2/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/chase-accounting-on-youtube/ Our fantastic Best Of Cannock video!


<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9VXIiffdDOc?fs=1&hl=en_GB&hd=1"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9VXIiffdDOc?fs=1&hl=en_GB&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"/></object> Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:14:56 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/chase-accounting-on-youtube/ http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/testimonies/ We now have a new section on our website where you can tell us how good we are. If you would like to have your testimony and a link to your website, please contact us! Mon, 06 Dec 2010 10:37:09 +0000 http://www.hatepayingtax.co.uk/news/testimonies/