News
Tribunal examines fraud22/02/2012 - More...
Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) fraud focuses on the sales of mobile phones and computer software. MTIC fraud also known as 'carousel fraud' usually involves the small high value goods such as computer chips or mobile phones which are imported ...
Tax man pulls the plug
22/02/2012 - More...
50,000 electricians will receive the dreaded brown envelope shortly to inform them of a new opportunity to regularise their tax affairs. The Electricians Tax Safe Plan (ETSP) is designed for people who work (or worked) installing, maintaining and tes...
PAYE enforcement gains new teeth
22/02/2012 - More...
From 6 April 2012, HMRC will have greater powers to help ensure that employers pay their PAYE tax deductions or Class 1 National Insurance contributions (NICs). The new powers will allow HMRC to obtain a security from employers where there is a serio...
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 ...
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 ...
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...
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 ...
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 a...
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 r...
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 wil...
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 b...
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 i...
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 £...
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 th...
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, ...
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 web...
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 l...
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 ...
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. S...
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 e...
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 th...
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 o...
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 venue...
Self assessment deadline is approaching
03/01/2012 - More...
The deadline for submitting 2010/11 self assessment tax returns online is 31 January 2012. Taxpayers should also be aware that payment of any tax due should also be made by this date. This includes both the payment of any balance of self assessment l...
