HMRC has announced that it will be closing its telephone lines for 3 days during December, to redirect staff time into dealing with a backlog of letters and queries. The phone lines are those primarily dealing with VAT and Corporation tax queries but other services may also be affected as the department tries to deal with a backlog that has built up during the pandemic.
As the dust settles on the 2021/22 budget and we absorb another round of tax increases and changes to reliefs and tapers, we are once again reminded of just how complex the UK tax system is. Managing this on an individual level is hard enough, imagine having to control and account for it across an […]
September 2021 marked the return to normal business life for many, following the hiatus caused by Covid, multiple lockdowns and the work from home rule. But as we head back into the office, into networking events and even begin entertaining colleagues and clients again, it’s perhaps a good time to remind ourselves of some of […]
Plans to increase the frequency of reporting by the self-employed and small businesses, under the Governments Making Tax Digital (MTD) scheme, have been delayed. The next phase of roll out for MTD would have seen self-employed and small business required to maintain digital records and report their income to HMRC every quarter from April 2023. […]
In a clear breaking of a manifesto pledge, Boris Johnson has announced a 1.25% tax levy, to be applied through National Insurance (NI) contributions and dividend taxation, to help plug a funding gap in NHS and social care spending. But what does this mean for you? How much extra will I pay? As an employee, […]
As part of the continued push towards a fully digitised tax system, plans have been outlined by the Treasury for the self-employed to begin paying their taxes on a PAYG (Pay-As-You-Go) basis. Currently, freelancers and the self-employed pay tax annually or bi-annually as part of the self-assessment tax return process and based on their actual […]
Nobody likes paying tax, whether via their business or personally and the question of ‘How can we reduce our corporation tax bill?’ is one we are faced with almost daily. Sadly, the query tends to come when it is either too late to do anything i.e. they are looking at their completed accounts and therefore […]
HMRC has announced that self-assessment tax returns for the 2020/21 tax year will contain a question relating to pandemic support as it seeks to recover incorrectly claimed monies. If you are required to complete a self-assessment tax return then you will recently have received a notice reminding you to complete your return for the tax […]
The long-term ambition of Making Tax Digital is to simplify that tax system, speed up calculation and collection and also close loopholes that are estimated to cost the treasury up to £31bn a year in unpaid taxes. Whilst its phased rollout has been subject to delays and changes due to Covid and Brexit, Chancellor Rishi […]
Perhaps it was the lack of wiggle room afforded to him or the fact that today’s Government is like a sieve when it comes to news of plans and ideas circulating around the cabinet table, but the lack of surprise elements in this week’s budget was probably, in itself, not a surprise.
Having picked up the Treasury reins just weeks before the Covid pandemic broke, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has so far had little room to manoeuvre or stamp his own brand on the economic plan for the UK. Despite making numerous announcements and unveiling multiple recovery and support plans, his budget statement on March 3rd 2021 is […]
Whilst there no longer appears to be anything that is truly unusual in the current climate, the Chancellor took the unusual decision to cancel November’s planned budget statement and delivered a Winter Economy Plan in its place. This move once again underlines the lack of long-term certainty that the Covid pandemic is enforcing on the […]