Blog - PMA Accountants

National Minimum Wage Increases from 1st April 2019

National Minimum Wage Increases from 1st April 2019 New rates for the National Minimum Wage (NMW) take effect from 1 April 2019, and employers must ensure that they implement them accordingly. The rates are as follows: 25 and over - £8.21 per hour; 21- to 24-year-olds - £7.70 an hour; 18- to 20-year-olds - £6.15 an hour; 16- to 17-year-olds £4.35 an hour; and Apprentice rate - £3.90 an hour. The increased NMW penalty took effect from 1 April 2016 and applies to any notice of underpayment relating to a pay reference period beginning on or after that [...]

Asif2019-03-29T15:03:13+01:00March 29th, 2019|Categories: PAYE|Tags: Employers, National Minimum Wage, NMW, PAYE|0 Comments

March questions and answers

March Questions and Answers Q. My wife and I own various assets – some are held in individual names and others are held jointly. We are wondering whether we should 'equalise' the value of our assets so as reduce potential liability to capital gains tax at a future date. A. As a general rule, so-called 'equalisation of estates' is often desirable for both capital gains and inheritance tax purposes. Broadly, this means that ideally each spouse/civil partner should own assets: - amounting to at least the value of the inheritance tax (IHT) nil rate band (currently £325,000); - which, [...]

Asif2019-02-27T18:27:20+01:00March 27th, 2019|Categories: Questions & Answers|Tags: Assets, CGT, Property, VAT|0 Comments

Employer responsibilities for tips

Employer responsibilities for tips The tax and NIC treatment of tips will depend on how they are paid to the recipient. Cash tips handed to an employee, or say, left on the table at a restaurant and retained by the employee, are not subject to tax and NICs under PAYE, so there is not responsibility for the employer to keep track of them and deduct tax or NICs. The employee is however, obliged to declare the income to HMRC and pay the tax and NICs due. By contrast, if the employer passes tips to employees that are either [...]

Asif2019-02-27T18:25:37+01:00March 16th, 2019|Categories: Blog, PAYE|Tags: BLOG, Employers, NIC, PAYE, Tips|0 Comments

Spring Statement 2019

Spring Statement 2019 Summary Chancellor Philip Hammond has delivered his 2019 Spring Statement to the House of Commons. A supporting Written Ministerial Statement (WMS) provides more detail on some of the announcements in the Spring Statement, and sets out details of other forthcoming government policies. Mr Hammond opened his Statement by acknowledging that the most urgent task at present is to 'lift the uncertainty', but he also added a positive note, stating that the 'economy itself is remarkably robust'. The Chancellor indicated that if the UK does leave the EU with a deal, there will be an economic [...]

Asif2019-03-14T22:41:44+01:00March 15th, 2019|Categories: Spring Statement|Tags: BLOG, HMRC, MTD, Spring Statement, Tax|0 Comments

Voluntary disclosures

Voluntary disclosures HMRC have updated their online guidance on disclosing unpaid tax to include information on authorising an agent to deal with a disclosure made through the Digital Disclosure Service (DDS). The DDS gives individuals and companies a chance to bring their affairs up to date in a simple, straightforward way. Anyone who owes tax on your income you must tell us about any unpaid tax now. Anyone who owes tax on income or gains must tell HMRC about any unpaid tax. They will then have 90 days to calculate and pay what is owed. - How to make a voluntary [...]

Asif2019-02-27T18:24:11+01:00March 8th, 2019|Categories: Blog, HMRC, Personal Finance|Tags: BLOG, DDS, Digital Disclosure Service, HMRC, Voluntary Disclosure|0 Comments

Checking directors’ expenses

Checking directors' expenses As 31 March approaches, many companies will be getting ready to tie up tax matters for their financial year-end. Now is a time to ensure that everything is in order regarding directors' expenses and review loan account record-keeping procedures. This is particularly so as HMRC report that they commonly find errors in relation to directors' loan accounts when making routine reviews of company tax returns. The statutory rules for computing taxable profits exclude companies from deducting expenditure unless it is incurred 'wholly and exclusively' for the purposes of the trade. As companies are separate legal entities [...]

Asif2019-02-27T18:22:30+01:00March 4th, 2019|Categories: Blog, Taxation|Tags: BLOG, Directors, Expenses, Limited Company|0 Comments

HMRC reaffirm income tax charge on winding up

HMRC reaffirm income tax charge on winding up HMRC have published Spotlight 47, which provides guidance on tax avoidance schemes that try to avoid the income tax charge on distributions when a company is being wound up. In recent years, HMRC have endeavoured to prevent schemes being used by shareholders to take advantage of more favourable capital gains tax rates when extracting value from their company. Until 6 April 2016, under arrangements known as 'phoenixism', an individual shareholder who intended to carry on the company's activities could arrange matters enabling them to wind up the company and receive [...]

Asif2019-02-27T18:20:08+01:00February 27th, 2019|Categories: Blog, HMRC, Taxation|Tags: BLOG, HMRC, TAAR|0 Comments

January 2019 Questions and Answers

January Questions and Answers Q. What should I do about an error I accidently made on my latest VAT return? A. You can adjust your current VAT account to correct errors on past returns if the error: - was below the reporting threshold (in broad terms this is less than £10,000, or up to 1% of your box 6 figure (up to a maximum of £50,000); - was not deliberate; and - relates to an accounting period that ended less than 4 years ago. When you submit your next return, add the net value to box 1 for tax [...]

Asif2019-01-05T14:25:39+01:00January 24th, 2019|Categories: Questions & Answers|Tags: IHT, Inheritance Tax, Rental Income, UK Property, VAT|0 Comments

VAT: Supplies of digital services to consumers in the EU

VAT: Supplies of digital services to consumers in the EU The VAT rules for businesses suppling digital services to private consumers in other member states change with effect from 1 January 2019. From that date, the place of supply will be the UK where both: - a UK business is not established in any other EU member state; and - the total value of cross-border digital sales is less than £8,818 in the current and preceding calendar years. Businesses affected will no longer need to register for VAT in other EU countries where they have consumers or use the [...]

Asif2019-01-05T14:23:06+01:00January 20th, 2019|Categories: Blog, VAT|Tags: BLOG, Digital Services, EU, VAT, VAT MOSS|0 Comments

Considering capital expenditure?

Considering capital expenditure? Businesses considering investing more than £200,000 in plant and machinery could benefit from a change to the capital allowances rules in January 2019, which should allow them to obtain tax relief at an earlier time. Capital allowances are treated as a trading expense of a particular accounting period, so they can potentially increase a loss, or turn a profit into a loss for tax purposes, which in turn, will impact on the amount of tax payable by a business. Where a business is considering expenditure on qualifying items, it may be beneficial to undertake some [...]

Asif2019-01-05T14:21:16+01:00January 16th, 2019|Categories: Blog|Tags: BLOG, Capital Allowances|0 Comments