The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) is warning business that they need to be prepared for more VAT changes than just the return of the VAT rate to 17.5% on New Year’s Day.

According to CIOT, the EU VAT Package, which comes into effect on 1st January 2010, means big changes to rules on the taxation of cross-border services. At present, some services (such as management services) are treated, for tax purposes, as being supplied where the business supplying them is based. But from the new year, virtually all services supplied to a business in another EU member state will be … Continue Reading

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is reminding students that they may not need to pay income tax on their earnings, if these are below their Personal Allowance for the year.

For any student planning to work over Christmas, if they expect to earn less than £6,475 in the tax year to 5 April 2010 and complete a form P38(S) at the beginning of employment – they will be entitled to receive their money tax free.

Students can find all the information they need at Direct.gov.uk/studenttaxadvice.

Furthermore, students who have worked part-time throughout the year, and think they may have paid too much … Continue Reading

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has issued a leaflet, warning VAT-registered businesses to get ready now for major changes to VAT return filing and payment, that will come into force next April.

The leaflet has been sent to all 1.9m VAT-registered businesses to alert them to the fact that, from 1st April 2010, those with an annual turnover of £100,000 or more (excluding VAT) will have to file their VAT returns online and pay their VAT electronically.

Under the changes, businesses registering for VAT on or after 1st April 2010 will also have to file their return online and pay electronically, whatever … Continue Reading

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has issued a reminder to anyone who hasn’t yet submitted their 2008-09 Self Assessment tax return.

The reminder stresses that the 31st October deadline for paper returns has now passed, which means anyone yet to file must do soonline by the 31st January deadline. HMRC warns that if you submit a paper return after 31st October, or you file online after 31st January, you could receive a £100 penalty.

HMRC are expecting more than 9.5m Self Assessment returns this year. Around 5.8m people filed online last year, up from 3.8m the previous year – an increase of over … Continue Reading

The economic downturn may still be putting pressure on enterprise, but a quarter (26%) of small businesses are nevertheless giving a higher priority to environmental considerations this year, according to a report released by Abbey and Alliance & Leicester Business Banking.

16% of small businesses were found to have downgraded environmental issues this year in order to keep their firms afloat, with nearly half of them blaming the cost. In addition, 42% reported that they are held back from improving their environmental practices.

Around one in six (17%) have not been able to make their companies more environmentally sound, as desired improvements … Continue Reading

A new Charter setting out what individuals, businesses and other groups dealing with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) can expect from the department, as well as what it expects from them, was launched today.

Under the Charter, HMRC gives a commitment to:

• respect individuals and businesses;
• help and support them to get things right;
• treat them as honest;
• treat them even-handedly;
• be professional and act with integrity;
• tackle people who deliberately break the rules and challenge those who bend the rules;
• protect their information and respect their privacy;
• accept that someone else can represent them; and
• do all it can to keep the cost of dealing with HMRC as low … Continue Reading
  

New research from uSwitchforBusiness.com suggests that a feeling of optimism is growing among SMEs. The research reveals that over four in ten SME owners (42%) report seeing some signs of economic recovery, with a further 1% saying that these signs are strong.

The findings also reveal a small increase in the number of small businesses confident that they will survive, with 81% now of the belief that they will get through the downturn, compared with 76% in the first quarter of this year.

However, small business owners still expect the recession to have a long lasting impact. Over a quarter (27%) … Continue Reading

Statistics showing insolvencies in the third quarter of 2009 were published today (6th November 2009) by the Insolvency Service.

There were 4,716 compulsory liquidations and creditors’ voluntary liquidations in total in England and Wales in the third quarter of 2009 (on a seasonally adjusted basis). This was a decrease of 4.7% on the previous quarter but an increase of 14.6% on the same period a year ago.

This was made up of 1,301 compulsory liquidations (which are down 9.8% on the previous quarter and down 12.9% on the corresponding quarter of the previous year), and 3,415 creditors voluntary liquidations (which are … Continue Reading

Over £6.4 billion could be saved by businesses every year by taking simple money saving steps, according to a new Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) campaign launched today at the WRAP annual conference.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn will encourage businesses to recognise the benefits of resource efficiency measures for their bottom line and the environment. Research by WRAP shows that 47% of businesses recognise they could make savings of over £100k through low and no cost efficiency measures – such as turning off equipment when it’s not being used – with 17% identifying over £1m of potential savings. … Continue Reading

Offshore tax dodgers are being warned they have one final chance to come clean, or face the consequences, in a YouTube video posted by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

In the two-minute video, Dave Hartnett, HMRC’s Permanent Secretary for Tax, warns that anyone with undeclared offshore bank accounts who doesn’t come forward under HMRC’s New Disclosure Opportunity (NDO) will face much higher penalties and even criminal prosecution.

Dave Hartnett says:

“For some people, offshore bank accounts and tax havens typically conjure up images of exotic and far away places, well out of the reach of the taxman at home. Well, life’s just not … Continue Reading