Care relief

Qualifying care relief  Carers typically receive income from various sources for looking after children and adults who are placed under their care – this income needs to be declared to HMRC via a self-assessment tax return.  However, carers can claim what is known as qualifying care relief whereby the payments they receive for the children placed in their care are not taxable, up to a certain amount. …Read More

First-year allowances

Capital allowances are claimed on assets as a form of tax relief. Full first-year allowance (FYA) is a type of allowance on certain assets that allows you to claim tax relief on the full cost of the asset in the year of purchase. So how does it work? When you purchase an asset that qualifies…Read More

What are self-assessment tax returns?

Self-Assessment is a system used by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to collect income tax and National Insurance from individuals who have varied sources of income and who are not on PAYE.  Who needs to file tax return?  A tax return must be submitted if during the previous tax year (April 6th to April 5th) you were: …Read More

Allowable Business Expenses

As we approach the end of lockdown and life starts to return to normal, so does our work life. With an increase in business meetings, travel, and staff returning to the office full time, it’s important to remember which expenses are allowable for tax purposes and which are not. More business meetings could mean clocking up…Read More

Trivial Benefits

A Father’s Day tax exemption  With Father’s Day fast approaching, the trivial benefits exemption could be a tax-efficient way to treat your dad if he is an employee or director of your company.  Expenses or gifts, provided by employers, to employees or directors may not need reporting to HMRC if they meet all these requirements:  Does not exceed £50   Is…Read More

VAT Retail Schemes

VAT retail schemes can help make calculating your VAT easier by calculating your VAT once with each VAT return rather than for each sale you make. For goods sold that are inclusive of VAT, you deduct the VAT you must record. Whereas for goods that are sold exclusive of VAT you must add the VAT…Read More

VAT margin schemes

The VAT Margin scheme is when you charge your customers VAT on your sales, without incurringunfair VAT liabilities on the sales that are eligible for a margin scheme. This is because HMRC hasintroduced a fairer way to declare the VAT on sales for businesses that do not incur VAT on theirpurchases. How it works Usually,…Read More

New Temporary Tax Reliefs on Capital Asset Investments

What are capital allowances? Capital allowances allow businesses to write off the costs of tangible capital assets, such as plant or machinery, against their taxable income. Whilst most businesses use depreciation to write down the value of an asset over its usable life, this is generally not allowed for tax purposes. Therefore, any depreciation must…Read More

Who needs to declare Capital Gains Tax?

CGT, which is short for Capital Gains Tax, is a tax that is charged on gains arising on “chargeable persons” making a “chargeable disposal” of “chargeable assets”.   First, let’s deal with what a “chargeable person” is.   A “chargeable person” could be either an individual or a company.   This blog is going to cover disposals by individuals, please keep an eye out for a follow-up blog covering disposals by companies.   Individuals…Read More

The Budget 2021

The economy and headline figures The 2021 Budget took place on 3 March 2021. Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that, as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, GDP shrank by 9.9% in 2020, the largest annual fall in 300 years according to a Bank of England report, albeit lower than the 11.3% forecast in November. However,…Read More

Self-Assessment Deadline extension!

COVID-19 Since our last update on the self-assessment deadline, HMRC has generously decided to extend the deadline by a further four weeks to allow taxpayers more time to get their returns finalized and submitted. “We recognize the immense pressure that many people are facing in these unprecedented times and it has become increasingly clear that…Read More

International Services-Brexit

Supply of services The two basic rules for services will remain unchanged post-transition: Business-to-business (B2B) services The basic place of supply of B2B services will be where the customer belongs. If the business customer belongs outside the UK, the supply is outside the scope of UK VAT. The UK service provider must include the sale…Read More

CIS Reverse Charge

Firstly what is a reverse charge? The reverse charge is described by HMRC as an Anti-fraud measure. It is a mechanism that shifts the liability for accounting for the output VAT from the supplier onto the customer. For chains with multiple contractors, this will transfer the liability to the final contractor in the chain who…Read More

Self-Assessment- Less than 1 month to go!

With the 31st January self-assessment deadline looming, now might be a good time to finally get around to preparing and submitting to HMRC! Here we will discuss:  Who needs to file a tax return  What you need to include  What happens if you are not registered but need to file  Late filings & penalties  How to…Read More

Cross Border VAT- Goods arriving in the UK

International Goods From 1st January 2021 goods entering the UK will be an import and postponed accounting will be introduced for worldwide imports. This will be better for cash flow as it will mean that VAT is not payable by a VAT registered business at the time goods arrive in the UK. This will mean…Read More

Unknown

Behind every good business is a great accountant.

Unknown