Latest blogs for Specialisms

Farm Diversification: Proceed with caution ! As farmers innovate and squeeze more income streams from their land, care should be exercised to avoid potential capital taxers and VAT traps:

• Article in British Farmer & Grower Magazine

Farming: Summer Update Whitings’ Farming Group looks at BREXIT, Energy Barns, New farm income streams, Entrepreneurs relief, Averaging, Permitted developments, Probate and FRS102.

The options for cloud accounting available to farmers are increasing. Already QuickBooks Online have developed a nominal ledger format and reporting routines for their cloud-based system which facilitate the compilation of gross margin accounts and harvest year results.

The NIC regulations have been updated to provide clarity for employers whose employees work abroad. The amendment made confirms that several categories of expenses are not liable to Class 1A NIC, specifically:

1. travel between employments where duties performed abroad
2. travel costs and expenses where duties performed abroad: earner’s travel
3. travel costs and expenses where duties performed abroad: visiting spouse’s/civil partner’s or child’s travel
4. foreign accommodation and subsistence costs and expenses for overseas employments

The Government today announced plans to review SSP, to encourage supportive discussions and phased returns to work. The proposed plans included in this green paper include:

• Encouraging employers to work with their employees with long-term health conditions, to stop them from falling out of work,
• A review of Statutory Sick Pay and doctors fit notes, to support workers getting back to work faster, and for longer,
• Work Capability Assessment reform, via the launch of a consultation,
• A debate about recognising the value of work as a health outcome.

The “Axe the Tenant Tax” Group is a crowd-funded coalition of individuals and organisations supported by Cherie Blair and representing over 150,000 landlords. The group are campaigning for a judicial review hearing of the legislation in the summer 2015 Finance Act that seeks to restrict tax relief for finance costs borne by residential landlords. In some cases, the workings of the legislation will result in landlords having to pay more tax than their rental profit.

Pensions Automatic Enrolment: + 3 years = re-enrolment. Although some clients are still only just staging for pensions auto-enrolment, with many still to stage, auto-enrolment has been in place for larger employers since October 2012. This means that most employers are due, or have already had to go, through re-enrolment. Re-enrolment is something that all…

Ely Business Awards 2016: Whitings judge and present top award. Congratulations go to Soopa Doopa Branding Limited, well deserved overall winners of the 2016 Ely Business of the year awards. Full list of finalists and winners Photos from the awards ceremony in Ely Cathedral The firm judges, sponsors and presents the top (winner of winners)…

Making Tax Digital: 6 tax returns required each year! HMRC’s 6 Making Tax Digital consultation documents have been open for review and comment for several weeks now. As time has passed, it has become ever more apparent that there are enormous changes ahead for all taxpayers affected; initially the self-employed and landlords. Further review of the documents…

Minimising the tax paid on profits is a key aim of most SME businesses. The tax benefits of trading through a limited company, as compared to operating as a sole trader or partnership, soon becomes attractive as profits grow.