Latest Business Tax

Several years ago changes were made to the H M Revenue & Customs policy regarding recovery of output VAT paid over but which hadn’t been received within 6 months of the due date.  Relief for the output VAT can now be obtained much more easily than under the historic process whereby notification was required to…

General Election: Which manifesto helps TechCo’s ? With the 8 June general election fast approaching, directors of technology companies will be scanning the main manifestos to consider which party is potentially offering the most useful new policies for their business: Conservatives (link to 84 page manifesto) Running a balanced budget by the middle of the…

All the clauses relating to Making Tax Digital (MTD) have been dropped from the Finance Bill, so many people have been asking if this means MTD will no longer go ahead?  We think that this is highly unlikely. The Finance Bill has been reduced from 762 pages to an expected 140 pages in order that…

As we are now potentially within 2 years of Brexit, it seems natural to speculate over what changes we should expect. As tax is a key component of our fiscal policy, to finance the public purse and influence our behaviour, various tax commentators are now dusting off their crystal balls.  Within the EU, tax has…

Contractors: New flat rate VAT rules (Limited Cost Traders) HMRC has released updated guidance regarding changes to the flat rate VAT scheme which come into effect on 1 April 2017. The advantage gained by using the flat rate scheme is going to be restricted for ‘limited cost businesses’. A limited cost business is one whose…

HMRC: Finally release new Employment Status tool. The new public sector IR35 assessment rules come into effect on 6 April 2017 and contractors have been concerned that they are unable to confirm their IR35 status. HMRC has now released its long awaited online Employment Status Tool. The tool is available to contractors, engagers and agencies…

What’s in it for Technology Companies? Philip Hammond’s first Spring Budget announced a handful of steady-as-she-goes measures. The new announcements that will catch the eye of technology companies include: From 6-Apr-18, the tax free allowance for personal dividend income will reduce from £5k to £2k pa, For tax advantaged share schemes: clarifying the EIS and SEIS…

MTD: Revenue hold firm. HMRC have published their long awaited response to the making tax digital (MTD) consultation documents.  In essence the original timeline as detailed in the consultation documents remains unchanged, with the first taxpayers being affected by MTD from April 2018. Therefore for those businesses with an accounting year end of 5 April and…

MTD: Merging with VAT returns. As part of Making Tax Digital for Business, those unincorporated businesses who are also VAT registered will have to submit their VAT data through a digital software package from April 2019, rather than by using HMRC’s online portal. This will hit those businesses who do not currently use an accounting…

Securing Entitlement to a State Pension ‘Credit’ without actually paying any NIC. Entrepreneurs that trade through a limited company can set how and how much they are remunerated. It is possible to avoid paying any NIC, yet still obtain a ‘credit’ for that particular tax year for future state pension purposes, by paying a salary…