Hospitality VAT Rate Increase

Hospitality VAT Rate Increase

Hospitality Industry VAT Rate Increase – 1st October 2021 In July 2020, the VAT rate for the tourism and hospitality sector was temporarily reduced to 5%, from 20%. The businesses that were able to take advantage of the reduced rate include; Hotels Restaurants Hot...
Happy National Payroll Week

Happy National Payroll Week

National Payroll Week is about helping raise awareness of the importance of your payroll, for your employees, to your own business, and the economy. We would like to celebrate our payroll professionals and all the challenges they have had to face throughout the last...

What is a UTR?

Unique Taxpayers Reference A UTR is your Unique Taxpayers Reference Number, is what identifies you personally with HMRC. It’s 10 digits in length and is quoted on any correspondence you receive from HMRC, including: Your tax return A Welcome to Self-Assessment letter...
Record a VAT payment or refund – QuickBooks Guide

Record a VAT payment or refund – QuickBooks Guide

Welcome to our QuickBooks Guide on how to record a VAT payment or refund When you pay VAT in QuickBooks Online, you are recording the payment against a specific VAT period; you are not actually transferring money to HMRC. Below is a short video on how to record your...
3 QuickBooks Basics

3 QuickBooks Basics

Whether you’re brand new to QuickBooks or you use it already, there’s always more to learn to ensure you’re maximising the resources you have available to you. With this blog we are sharing our top 3 QuickBooks Basics. 1. Connecting and reconnecting the bank When you...
Accessing the Government Gateway

Accessing the Government Gateway

From 15 June 2021, all businesses and organisations will need multi-factor authentication in order to sign into the Government Gateway. Multi-factor authentication Businesses and organisations that use HMRC’s online services and which do not currently receive an...
Voluntary Class 2 NICs where 2019/20 tax return filed after 31 January 2021

Voluntary Class 2 NICs where 2019/20 tax return filed after 31 January 2021

If you are self-employed, you will pay Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance contributions if your profits exceed the relevant thresholds. Class 2 National Insurance contributions are the mechanism by which you build up qualifying years to earn entitlement to the...
Amending a PSA for COVID-19 benefits

Amending a PSA for COVID-19 benefits

You can use a PAYE Settlement Agreement (PSA) if you wish to settle the tax liability arising on the provision of a benefit-in-kind or an expense on an employee’s behalf. This can be useful if you wish to preserve the goodwill nature of a particular benefit. Nature of...
Paying CJRS grants back

Paying CJRS grants back

As the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) enters its final months, now is the time to review grants that you have claimed under the scheme, and pay back any amounts claimed in error. You may also choose to repay voluntarily funding that you have received under...
SEISS grant 5

SEISS grant 5

Claims for the fifth grant under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will open from late July. If, based on your tax returns, HMRC think that you are eligible for the grant, they will contact you in mid-July and give you a date from which you can submit...
New lower temporary SDLT threshold

New lower temporary SDLT threshold

The residential stamp duty land tax (SDLT) threshold applying in England and Northern Ireland was temporarily increased to £500,000 from 8 July 2020 to 30 June 2021 (extended from the original end date of 31 March 2021). From 1 July 2021 to 30 September 2021, a new...
Can Staff be made redundant if they are on furlough?

Can Staff be made redundant if they are on furlough?

Furlough Redundancy Although the furlough system was designed to keep workers employed, unfortunately it doesn’t protect furloughed staff from being made redundant. But it doesn’t affect their redundancy pay rights if they are let go from their job amid...
Shareholder Deadlock

Shareholder Deadlock

Shareholder disputes often arise on matters such as company strategy, salaries and dividends. Disputes amongst shareholders can cause particular difficulties in smaller businesses where shareholders are also directors and therefore need to make all board level...
Taxation of company cars in 2021/22

Taxation of company cars in 2021/22

Taxation of company cars What is taxation of company cars? If you are an employee with a company car, you will be taxed on the benefit derived from the car being available for your private use. If you are an employer who makes company cars available to your employees,...
Recovery loan scheme

Recovery loan scheme

Recovery loan scheme If you need to access finance to help your business recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Recovery Loan Scheme may be for you. Nature of the scheme The Recovery Loan Scheme is designed to provide access to finance in order to...
Happy National Payroll Week

Extended carry-back for losses

To help businesses which have suffered losses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the period for which certain trading losses can be carried back is extended from one year to three years. The extended carry-back period applies for both income tax and corporation tax...
How long do you need to keep your records for?

How long do you need to keep your records for?

Business records if you’re self-employed You must keep your records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline of the relevant tax year. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) may check your records to make sure you’re paying the right amount of tax....
Family companies and the optimal salary for 2021/22

Family companies and the optimal salary for 2021/22

If you run your business as a personal or family company, you will need to decide how best to extract profits for your personal use. A typical tax-efficient strategy is to pay yourself a small salary and then extract any further profits as dividends. Where this...
Garden Office At Home

Garden Office At Home

As more people are now working from home, the desire for a designated workspace has become a priority for many. The past year has forced many workers to fill up the dining table and any other flat surface available with monitors, computers, laptops, cables, Wi-Fi...
Thresholds and allowances frozen until April 2026

Thresholds and allowances frozen until April 2026

Thresholds and allowances frozen! To help meet some of the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chancellor has opted to freeze various allowances and thresholds until April 2026, rather than increase the rates of income tax and capital gains tax. As incomes rise over...
Gift Aid warning

Gift Aid warning

If you are a taxpayer and you make a Gift Aid declaration when making a donation to a charity, the charity can reclaim basic rate tax on your donation. Tax relief on the donation A donation made under Gift Aid is treated as being made net of the basic rate of tax,...
Corporation Tax Increase

Corporation Tax Increase

Corporation tax increase from April 2023 The main rate of corporation tax is due to increase to 25% for the financial year 2023, starting on 1 April 2023. However, companies with profits of £50,000 or less will continue to pay corporation tax at the current rate of...
Checking your tax code – 2021/2022

Checking your tax code – 2021/2022

Checking your tax code – 2021/2022 If you pay all or some of your income tax via PAYE, it’s important to check that you are on the correct Tax Code (CT). As we start the new 2021/2022 tax year, HMRC will be sending out your individual coding notices (usually via...
Super-Deduction

Super-Deduction

New capital allowances super-deduction Companies thank incur corporation tax can invest in new plant and machinery in the two years from 1 April 2021 are able to benefit from two new first-year allowances, including a super-deduction of 130%. Details of the measure...