31st January Deadline

Posted on January 9, 2010 by Taxfile

If you have not submitted your tax return to HM Revenue and Customs already, you must do it online by the end of this month.

If HMRC receive your tax return after 31 January you will be liable for a late filing penalty of £100.
But even if if you miss the deadline for your tax return, you will not have to pay the penalty if you pay all of the tax you owe by 31 January.
In some rare cases, you might still be allowed to send your return on paper after the October deadline when no software is available. This is the case for the following types of returns:

• SA700 – Non-resident Company Tax Return
• SA970 – Trustees of Registered Pension Schemes

According to HMRC, “Tax returns that are in an HMRC office letter box when it’s first opened on Tuesday 2 February or delivered to an HMRC office by hand on Monday 1 February will be treated as being received on the 1 February. You won’t have to pay a late filing penalty, but HMRC will have longer to start a check into the tax return – until 30 April 2011 rather than 31 January 2011″.

So if you have not managed to deal with your tax affairs so far, Taxfile’s tax accountants can still submit your tax return on your behalf at reasonable rates.

Hurry up and beat the deadline!

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PBR 2009 and the taxpayer

Posted on December 12, 2009 by Taxfile

The 2009 Pre-Budget Report was published on 9 December 2009. The Report covers a lot of issues but we will only focus on the ones affecting self employed individuals.

According to the Pre-Budget Report 2009, the tax rates and thresholds for the year ended on 5th April 2011 will remain the same as the ones for the current tax year. The same principle will apply to National Insurance Contributions rates and thresholds in 2010/2011.

But “for the tax year 2011/12, in addition to the 0.5% increases to rates already announced at PBR 2008, the Chancellor has announced that there will be a further 0.5% increase to those rates, making a 1% increase in total from 6 April 2011. The primary threshold and lower profits limit will be increased by £570 to compensate the lowest earners.”(HM Revenue and Customs).

The Child element when calculating the CTC entitlement will increase from the current £2235 p.a. to £2300 p.a while the disabled elements will increase by 1.5%.

Also, all elements of the WTC (except the childcare element) will increase by 1.5% in 2010/2011.

The income threshold for those claiming CTC rises from 2010/2011 to £16,190.

The inheritance tax threshold will be frozen at the current level of £325,000 from the tax year 2010/2011.

For any other details to do with the Pre-Budget Report 2009 please visit HMRC.

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Venture Capital Trust (VCTs) and tax

Posted on November 28, 2009 by Taxfile

Venture Capital Trusts were schemes introduced in 1995 to encourage individuals to invest in high-risk trading companies.

With a VCT the risk of the investment is spread over a number of companies.

VCTs must be approved by HMRC and must meet a certain qualifying conditions.

If you have subscribed for shares in Venture Capital Trusts and you are 18 or over when the shares were issued you are entitled to a few tax reliefs.

According to HMRC, these are the tax reliefs for investing in VCTs:

Income tax relief:

One of the income tax reliefs of VCTs is that you are exempted from income tax on dividends from ordinary shares. This is called dividend relief;

Another very important tax relief when investing in a VCT is called income tax relief .

The amount of the tax relief will be the smaller of the amount subscribed up to a maximum of £200,000 at 30% or the amount that reduces the tax bill to zero for the year.

The rate of 30% applies in the tax year 2006/07 and onwards and for subscriptions for shares issued in previous tax years the rate is 40%.

Capital gains tax (CGT) relief :

One of the CGT reliefs when investing in VCT schemes is called disposal relief as you may not have to pay CGT on any gain you make when you dispose of your shares. In order to qualify for the reliefs certain conditions need to be met. You can find more about them on HMRC website.

As there are no guarantees that VCT investments will be successful, Taxfile‘s tax agents recommend that you seek professional advice from financial advisers beforehand.

Posted in hmrc, tax advice, tax agents, taxfile, VCTs, Venture Capital Trusts | Leave a comment

31st October Deadline

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Taxfile

If you would like to send your tax return for the year ended on 5th April 2009 by paper, you would have to do it by the end of this month.

Very important to remember is that the tax return has to reach HM Revenue & Customs by Saturday 31st October.

If you send your return on paper the HMRC will calculate the tax liability to be paid or owed.

If the paper return arrives after this deadline you will be charged a £100 penalty.

According to HMRC, if you miss the deadline because of the postal strike you would not be liable for paying the £100 penalty as long as you post the return before the 31st October.

If you hand deliver your return on the 2nd of November, no penalty would be due either.

In case you miss the deadline you can always send your return online.

At Taxfile in Tulse Hill we submit all the returns online as it is safer and more secure, tax returns are processed faster, and there are later deadlines to meet.

Posted in filing deadlines, hmrc, tax returns, Tulse Hill | Leave a comment

Changes to Minimum Wage from 1st October

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Taxfile

As explained in a previous blog post, Minimum Wage is defined as the lowest wage payable to most employees as fixed by law or union agreement. 

As from 01/10/09 new rates came in place:

•£5.80 – as the main rate for workers aged 22 and over;
•£4.83 – the 18-21 rate;
•£3.57 – the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18.

A very important change from 01/10/09 is that fact that employers running bars and restaurants can no longer be allowed to use tips to top up pay up to the minimum wage.

Workers will now be paid at least the National Minimum Wage and be paid their tips on top of this.

If your employer is paying you less than the Minimum Wage entitlement you must report this by filing an online complaint form.

If you have any queries regarding Minimum Wage or any other tax related question, please feel free to ring us on 020 8761 8000 or come to see us in our office in Tulse Hill on the South Circular.

Posted in barrister's tax, employee, employer, National Minimum Wage, South Circular, tax agents, Tulse Hill | Leave a comment

Interest in Land and Property

Posted on October 3, 2009 by Taxfile

As a landlord or a property investor, you are able to claim interest relief by offsetting it against your lettings income. So even if you have an interest-only mortgage or a repayment one you can still claim the interest.Also if you take a personal loan and you use it entirely for the purpose of your rental business, you can claim the interest on the loan as an expense.

Very important to remember is that you can only claim interest against a loan up to the value of the rented property when first let. The capital account cannot be overdrawn.

There is a possibility to re-mortgage for a greater amount and claim this when the additional amount is used for the purpose of an investment property or wholly and exclusively for the business property.

You can claim interest on your mortgage even when your property is empty.You do not have to split the interest on the mortgage if you are genuinely trying to let the property but it is empty because it has not been able to find a tenant. In this case the interest will meet the ‘wholly and exclusively’ test. It will not meet this test if you have not been trying to let the property or you have been using it for private or non-business purposes .

We at Taxfile hope to have captured your interest in landlord tax and if you need to know more about it, feel free to pop in at our Tulse Hill office and speak to one of our tax agents.

Posted in hmrc, landlords, lettings income, property investor, south london, tax agents | Leave a comment

Taxfile: Barristers and Tax

Posted on September 19, 2009 by Taxfile

As a barrister you are treated as self employed by HM Revenue and Customs.

Historically barristers computed their professional profits for tax purposes on a “cash basis.”

Fees were brought into account only when received, and expenses only when paid.

From fiscal year 1999/00, it is required that all professionals including most barristers to compute their profits on a “true and fair view.”

Barristers in their first seven years of practice are still allowed to use the cash basis.

In computing their profits for tax purposes, barristers can deduct certain expenses like:

• Travelling costs from Chambers to court;

• Off street parking;

• Library and periodical subscriptions;

• Postage, printing, photocopying and stationary;

• Professional and accountancy fees;

• Devilling fees

• Chambers’ rent;

• Legal literature;

• Professional Indemnity Insurance premiums;

• Subscriptions (Circuit, Bar Council, Bar Associations)

• Bank charges;

• Use of home as an office;

• Robing room fees;

• Law report subscriptions;

• Staff costs;

• Silk application fees;

• Clothing and cleaning.

According to HMRC, “You should allow a deduction in computing profits for the cost of replacing gowns and wigs and frock coats worn by Queen’s Counsel. You should not, however, allow a deduction for expenditure on `normal clothes’, for example, black coats and pin- stripe trousers worn by male barristers or black dresses and suits worn by female barristers (this follows the decision in Mallalieu v Drummond”

Taxfile‘s tax agents will ensure you keep the necessary records of your income and expenditure and you make the right adjustments with regards the to private use of your expenditure.

Also, our tax accountants in South London and Exeter will make sure you obtain the maximum available tax deduction when calculating your taxable profits.

Posted in barrister's tax, cash basis, south london, tax, tax accountant, true and fair view, Tulse Hill | Leave a comment

Loss Relief with FHL – Before and After

Posted on July 26, 2009 by Taxfile

If a taxpayer makes a loss on furnished holiday lettings, he could take advantage of a special relief called Loss Relief.
The way to get this relief is to offset your furnished holiday lettings losses against any other type of income (employment, self employment etc) and so you can immediate take advantage of the relief.
Taxpayers can claim to set their furnished holiday lettings losses against their other general income for either the tax year in which the loss was made or the year before the year the loss arose.Of course another option is to carry the loss forward and offset it against future letting profits. This option is available not only for holiday lets but also for residential ones.

As from 2010-11 tax year , the Furnished Holiday Lettings (FHL) rules will be repealed. Among the changes to take place from 2010-11 is the one related to the Loss Relief.

As a result of this change no loss relief will be available to offset against other type of income from 2010/2011. Only option is to carry forward the loss and offset it against same type of income when a profit is made as with any normal residential lettings case.

Another important change worth mentioning is the fact that “HMRC will now treat the FHL rules as including furnished holiday accommodation elsewhere in the EEA.”

That being said you can amend your already submitted tax returns to HMRC so you can take advantage of the reliefs previously only available for FHL in the UK.

You can amend your income tax and capital gains tax returns for the year ended on 5th April 2007 until the end of July this month.The same deadline applies to corporation tax returns for accounting periods ending on or after 31 December 2006. If you want to amend your return for 07/08 tax year then you need to do it by 31/01/2010.

If there is still confusion in relation to loss relief with FHL or the rules to be repealed from 2010/2011 you can visit HMRC website or ask Taxfile‘s tax accountants for more details.

Posted in amendment, FHL, Furnished Holiday Lettings, lettings income, Loss relief, tax, tax accountants, tax return amendment | Leave a comment

Business Payment Support Service

Posted on July 11, 2009 by Taxfile
Business Payment Support Service (BPSS) was launched on 24 November 2008. This service is designed to support businesses having trouble payment their tax bills in the current economic crisis.
Very important to realise is that this service does not deal with anyone that has already made a payment arrangement with HMRC .
Also, the BPSS does not deal with you if HMRC has already got in touch with you regarding an overdue payment.
In order for the BPSS to be able to help your business, you need to contact them before the tax, VAT, Corporation Tax, Pay As You Earn or National Insurance contributions liabilities are due.
You can contact them seven days a week on 0845 302 1435.
According to HMRC, this service “designed to assist all businesses (large and small) that will be unable to pay their tax. The service is primarily available to self-employed people and companies but can be used by any of your clients who are having difficulty in meeting their tax liabilities. It covers most taxes and duties including Income Tax, Corporation Tax, VAT, PAYE and National Insurance.”
The Payment Support service only applies to businesses that cannot genuinely meet their tax payments on time and they are likely to pay their tax over a longer period of time.
Also according to HMRC, “ surcharge(s) can be avoided on late payment of income tax where a Time to Pay agreement is entered into before the relevant surcharge date AND the terms of the agreement are adhered to.”
Although surcharges can be avoided, interest on late payment will be charged in the normal way.
If you would like to know more about this service , you can follow this link.
Taxfile‘s tax agents in South London and Exeter can discuss your business position with HMRC on your behalf and arrange a Time to Pay agreement.
Posted in BPSS, Business Payment Support Service, corporation tax, hmrc, national insurance, south london | Leave a comment