Clarke Nicklin have published August’s Tax Tips and News discussing such important issues as Accelerated Payments, Maximising Statutory Maternity Pay, Commission Refunds, EC Sales Lists and Key tax dates in August.
Accelerated Payments:
The Taxman now has the power to demand tax from you if you have used a registered tax avoidance scheme, or if he thinks the tax scheme you have used is similar to one that has been judged to fail by a Court or Tribunal.
For some years most tax avoidance schemes have been registered under the Disclosure Of Tax Avoidance Scheme (DOTAS) rules. Each scheme was issued with a DOTAS reference number, known as a “DOTAS number” or SRN, which had to be shown on tax returns of taxpayers who used the scheme.
If you were advised to include a DOTAS number on your tax return, and HMRC has already opened an enquiry into that tax return you should watch the post for a tax demand headed “Accelerated Payment Notice”. This could arrive at any time from now until April 2016. Read More
Maximising Statutory Maternity Pay:
Paying Statutory Maternity pay (SMP) is not optional. It must be paid if your employee qualifies, but the good news is that a small business can recover 103% of the SMP paid from HMRC. A business that pays less than £45,000 of class 1 NICs in one tax year it is defined as “small” for this purpose.
In a family business there may be scope for maximising the SMP payable for the first six weeks of maternity leave, and hence getting the Government to refund that SMP with a bit extra to cover the employer’s NICs due. Let’s see how this could work. Read More
Commission Refunds:
If you invest through a firm of financial advisers, you may well receive a repayment of commission from that firm each year. In previous years any refunded commission was rolled into the earnings from your investments or set against charges, so you may not have been aware of it. However, from 6 April 2013 the financial adviser must deduct tax from any refunded commission and show the amounts paid and deducted separately on your Annual Statement.
You should look out for these refunded amounts on your investment statement for 2013/14, as it must be declared on your 2013/14 tax return. Read More
EC Sales Lists:
If your business is VAT registered and you sell goods or services into other European countries you must generally also submit an additional form to the Government called an EC Sales List (ESL also known as form VAT101). There are no payments to be made or reclaimed with the ESL, as you do on your quarterly VAT return form, but you must submit the ESL on time or HMRC will charge a penalty for late submission
If you export goods worth more than £35,000 per year you will need to complete a monthly ESL, otherwise it’s a quarterly task. However, where your total turnover is less than £106,500 and you export less than £11,000 you can ask HMRC for permission to submit just one ESL per year.
HMRC should send you an ESL form to complete if you have filled in box 8 on your VAT return. Don’t ignore it, as the deadline for returning the form is just 14 days from the end of the quarter. If you chose to complete an online version of the ESL you have 21 days from the end of the quarter. These deadlines are much shorter than that for your quarterly VAT return. Read More
Key Tax Dates in August:
2nd – Last day for car change notifications in the quarter to 5 July – Use P46 Car
19/22 – PAYE/NIC, student loan and CIS deductions due for month to 5/8/2014
Clarke Nicklin Chartered Accountants are based in South Manchester, offering business owners and entrepreneurs a wide range of services.
Visit their website http://www.clarkenicklin.co.uk for more information.