Monthly Archives: March 2018

The UK tax code, the laws that govern how much tax we pay, is one of the largest in the developed global economies. Unless you have a reasonable grasp of the multitude of tax rules and regulations, attempting to manage your own tax affairs is like driving with a blind-fold over your eyes. HMRC are […]

HMRC have asserted that charities are missing out on up to £600m a year of funding due to donations not being confirmed under the Gift Aid rules. They said: The research, published today by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), shows that a third of eligible donations made to many of the UK’s 200,000 charities did […]

Firstly, the Chancellor’s announcement to Parliament last week was not a budget speech. There were no tax changes announced, in fact, the only change that was announced was to bring forward the expected business rates rebasing exercise one year, to April 2021. He described his announcements as the first Spring Statement updating Parliament on the […]

According to recent press commentary, Ken Dodd married his long-time partner, Anne Jones, just two days before he died. With an estate estimated to be £7m, the executors were facing an Inheritance Tax bill of over £2m, but tying the knot means that assets transferred to Anne can now be made tax-free. Many years ago, […]

From April 2019, certain self-employed businesses will be required to file VAT returns direct to their online personal tax accounts with HMRC. Eventually, all income and allowances will be kept in the digital account that HMRC are setting up to calculate your tax liabilities. HMRC are still hedging their bets, but it is unlikely that […]

A reminder that the General Data Protection Regulation is due to become law 25 May 2018. At the time of writing this blog, that’s 75 days to become compliant. Why should you take the GDPR seriously? Basically, because there are significant financial penalties for getting it wrong: fines of up to 4% of an organisation’s […]

As you would expect, the Spring Statement delivered by the Chancellor Philip Hammond, to Parliament on 13 March 2018, was peppered with party political jibes no doubt intended to lift the spirits of his own party and dismay the opposition parties. There was very little “promised” in terms of new tax or other strategic items […]

From the 1 March 2018, the old-style £10 notes featuring Charles Darwin, ceased to be legal tender. A recent announcement by Companies House suggests the following actions: Time is ticking for the old paper £10 banknote. We’re advising all businesses to take ‘note’, as there’s just a few days left to spend your old ‘tenners’. […]

In a recent case considered by the courts a company was fined £297,845 for being one day late in paying their VAT. The case highlights the unpredictable, and seemingly harsh outcomes of HMRC’s VAT surcharging rules. If you pay your VAT on time, whether quarterly or monthly, and you make sure that you file your […]

A reminder that employees can make a claim for the business use of their own cars, motorcycles or cycles by logging their business mileage and applying an approved mileage rate. Mileage allowance payments (MAPs) are the HMRC approved rates used by most employers to reimburse employees when they use their own transport for business purposes. […]