Latest blogs for Services

Top mistakes tax payers make when completing their tax returns.

  Making mistakes on self assessment tax returns however innocent can lead to enquiries, investigations and additional tax, interest and penalties. Below are some of the top mistakes many people make: Forgetting to include income from a previous employment that ended part way through a tax year. Forgetting to include benefits from a previous employment…

VAT Update – Out with the old and in with the new

  The current system for processing customs declarations for imports and exports with non-EU countries is changing. The current CHIEF system is to be replaced with the new CDS (Customs Declaration Service) to be phased in from August 2018 into early 2019.   The old system is nearly 25 years old and has become inflexible…

Child Care Voucher Scheme Closure – UPDATE @ 16 March 2018

  The UK Government has announced a six month extension on the closure of Childcare Voucher schemes, previously due to close to new members on 6 April 2018. This announcement comes in light of pressure from members of the public who signed a petition to prevent closure and also from the Labour Party who had…

Understanding Payments on Account

  Payments on Account (POA) tend to cause confusion for individuals submitting a Self Assessment Tax Return and may result in cash flow issues for some taxpayers. POA are payments which HMRC require in advance for the current tax year, based on the liability in the previous year. You will have to make POA if…

Payroll Year End

With 5 April fast approaching, you must ensure that you send your final Full Payment Submission (FPS) on or before your employee’s final pay day within the tax year, ensuring that you tick to confirm that this is the final submission for the year on your payroll software. If you forget to tick this box,…

Employer auto enrolment pension contribution set to double with effect from 6th April 2018

  All employers and employees currently paying the minimum contribution of 1% will have to factor contribution increases into their cashflow in order to meet the rise in the level of auto enrolment funding. From 6 April 2018 to 5 April 2019, the employer minimum contribution will increase to 2% with staff contribution equalling 3%.…

Quickbooks Connect

  The “Beast from the East” didn’t stop Accountants, the Self-Employed, Developers and Small businesses as they attended QuickBooks Connect London on 27th and 28th February. Attendees from all over the world had gathered to develop the knowledge in QuickBooks online, meet QuickBooks Add-on Exhibitors, hear from featured speakers who were specialists in their industry…

National Minimum Wage Rates

  Effective from April 2018 the National Minimum Wage rates will be increasing again, as per the below figures: Workers aged 25 years or more: £7.83 per hour Workers aged 21 to 24 years: £7.38 per hour Workers aged 18 to 20 years: £5.90 per hour Workers aged under 18 (but above compulsory school age):…

Spending your old £10 notes

From 1 March 2018, most businesses and shops will only accept the new plastic £10 notes, which feature Jane Austen. The new polymer notes are more secure and harder for fraudsters to counterfeit. They also have raised bumps and dots in order to help blind and partially-sighted users to identify each banknote. From 1 March…

Charity fraud awareness & cyber security scheme

  The government have recently updated their guidance to help protect charities from fraud. The guidance contains advice, regulatory alerts and links to other helpful websites to help charities to understand fraud and how to protect themselves against it. In December 2017, Action Fraud opened a cyber-attack helpline. If you experience a live cyber-attack, this…