Latest blogs for Specialisms

IR35: Proposals for off-payroll working in the public sector. HMRC has been consulting over the summer on reform of the intermediaries legislation, commonly termed IR35. The proposal, announced in the Budget 2016, is to move the responsibility for determining the tax status of engagements in the public sector by consultants and others operating through their…

New Liquidation Tax Rules: How to ensure capital tax treatment. Most contractors will be aware that HMRC introduced a new targeted anti-avoidance rule (TAAR) wef 6-Apr-16, that will make it more difficult to obtain capital gains tax treatment when profits are withdrawn from a company by way of liquidation or dissolution. Four tests have to now be passed…

Small Buy-to-let Landlords: HMRC offers simplified tax rules. HMRC’s 12-week consultation into Making Tax Digital (MTD) published 15th August focuses on one of the measures aimed at simplifying the tax rules for unincorporated property businesses, giving landlords the choice to use the simplified cash basis, currently only available to some unincorporated traders. Landlords with annual business income below £10,000 will not be required to keep their business records digitally or provide quarterly updates to HMRC, but they will still be able to use the optional cash basis. Through using the cash basis, the move towards quarterly updates required by MTD would become more straightforward, giving landlords additional flexibility.

IT Savvy Farmers: AF Online Link helps automate book-keeping. Do you have an account with the buying group Anglia Farmers Ltd? Are you tired of entering invoices manually into your accounting software? Anglia Farmers have an online link called ‘AF Interactive’. Throughout the month Anglia Farmers publish their members invoices to this online portal. During…

Builders: Problems obtaining CIS refunds from HMRC ? Over recent years many limited company subcontractors working in the construction industry have experienced problems and delays in obtaining their CIS refunds from HMRC, due records not matching, i.e. the contractor who made the deduction has not correctly reported this on their monthly CIS returns. Subcontractors who…

In the Budget earlier this year the Chancellor announced that there would be a new rule aimed at stopping tax avoidance when a limited company is wound up and funds are distributed to the shareholders. Where certain conditions are met, the distribution will be treated as income in the hands of the shareholders rather than…

Lorry Insurance: costs set to rise from 1 November 2015. In this year’s Summer Budget the Chancellor announced a 58% increase to Insurance Premium Tax (IPT), raising the current rate of 6% to 9.5% with effect from 1 November 2015. The 2015 RHA cost tables detail the average insurance premium for a 44t lorry at £3,675,…

SME Growth: Will BREXIT spoil the party? SME’s are generally focused on growing the sales side of their business, to improve bottom line profitability. Having bounced back from the double-dip recession, then flat-lining for a couple of years, it looked like proper growth had once again returned to our local businesses: (Source Data) And then came…

CIS: Why are our subcontractors now showing as unverified? This is a phrase undoubtedly being heard in the offices of construction industry firms nationwide as HMRC appear to be having some CIS online service verification issues.  Contractors looking to complete their latest monthly return may be logging on to their online services to find that…

BREXIT: What now for UK manufacturing? Now that the dust is beginning to settle following the UK voting to leave the EU, it is clear that it will take some time to determine what the economic infrastructure will be once we do finally reach the point of exit. One immediate effect, however, is the initial…