Category: News

The deadline for submitting 2017/18 self assessment tax returns online is 31 January 2019, HMRC is urging tax payers to complete their tax returns early, in order to avoid the last minute rush. An automatic penalty of £100 applies if the return is late.

HMRC advise that last year, more than 11 million tax payers completed a 2016/17 Self Assessment tax return, with 10.7 million completing on time. There were 4,852,744 taxpayers who filed in January 2018 (44.8% of the total), and 758,707 on 31 January, the deadline day.

You may be required to file a tax return if: 

• You are self employed or a partner in a partnership
• You are a company director
• You have large amounts of savings or investment income
• You have untaxed savings or investment income
• You own land or property that is being let
• Your household receives Child Benefit and you have income in excess of £50,000
• You have income from overseas
• You have sold or given an asset away (such as a holiday home or some shares)
• You’ve lived or worked abroad or aren’t domiciled in the UK

If you want to make sure you are paying the right amount of tax, you should contact one of our tax professionals.

Wellden Turnbull will take the worry away when it comes to self assessment tax returns, we can:

• Complete your tax return
• Calculate your tax liability
• File your return online
• Liaise with you on the amounts to be paid and when they are due

Our tax team will also analyse your tax return to see if any tax savings can be made and review the calculations to see if there are any anomalies that need to be looked into before the return is submitted.

Angela MacDonald, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, said:

“The deadline for completing Self Assessment tax returns may be less than 100 days away, yet many of us wait until January to start the process. Time flies once the festive period is underway, yet the “niggle” to file your return remains.”

Let us take the stress of filing your tax return away, contact our tax professionals today.

A number of changes to capital allowances were announced at the Budget, including an increase in the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA), for two years to £1 million, in relation to qualifying expenditure incurred from 1 January 2019. The AIA is currently £200,000 per annum. Complex calculations may apply to accounting periods which straddle 1 January 2019.

Other changes to the rules include:

• a reduction in the rate of writing down allowance on the special rate pool of plant and machinery, including long-life assets, thermal insulation, integral features and expenditure on cars with CO2 emissions of more that 110g/km, from 8% to 6% from April 2019. Complex calculations may apply to accounting periods which straddle this date.
• clarification as to precisely which costs of altering land for the purposes of installing qualifying plant or machinery qualify for capital allowances , for claims on or after 29 October 2018
• the end of the 100% first year allowance and first year tax credits for products on the Energy Technology List and Water Technology List from April 2020.
• an extension of the current 100% first year allowance for expenditure incurred on electric charge-point equipment until 2023.

In addition, a new capital allowances regime will be introduced for structures and buildings. It will be known as the Structures and Buildings Allowance and will apply to new non-residential structures and buildings. Relief will be provided on eligible construction costs incurred on or after 29 October 2018, at an annual rate of 2% on a straight-line basis.

 

With less than six months to go until the first staging date for implementation, we outline what you need to know about Making Tax Digital (“MTD”) and guide you through what measures to take to prepare for the change.

What’s the reason behind MTD?

The latest figures published by HMRC estimate that the tax gap stands at £33 billion which is 5.7% of tax liabilities. 41% (13.7 billion) of the tax gap is attributed to small businesses.

According to the Office for National Statistics, although 99% of VAT returns are submitted online, only about 13% of those are submitted via software. The other 87% of VAT returns are manually entered into HMRC’s Government Gateway.

HMRC’s ambition is for the UK to become one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world. It is hoped that MTD will help for the following reasons:

• Digital records should eliminate errors with calculations
• Help is built-in to the software products
• Information is sent directly to HMRC from the digital records avoiding errors as data is transferred from one system-to-another

What will change under MTD for VAT?

Under the rules, from April 2019 VAT registered businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT threshold (currently £85,000) will be required to keep digital records and will no longer be able to use the Government Gateway website.

VAT returns will need to be maintained digitally and submitted via MTD complaint software. Hand written records will be a thing of the past for businesses affected by MTD for VAT.

HMRC have created a list of suppliers who provide MTD compliant software, which you can find here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/commercial-software-developers

Overseas businesses that have UK taxable turnover above the UK VAT registration threshold will also be subject to the requirements of MTD for VAT.

Need help with MTD?

Contact one of our partners who would be pleased to meet with you and undertake an MTD compliance review of your business.

https://www.wtca.co.uk/meet-the-team

The government has decided not to proceed with plans to abolish Class 2 National Insurance Contributions ( NICs) from April 2019.

Class 2 NICs are currently paid at a rate of £2.95 per week by self-employed individuals with profits of £6,205 or more per year. The government had planned to scrap the Class 2 contribution and had been investigating ways in which self-employed individuals with low profits, could maintain their State Pension entitlement if this inexpensive contribution had been abolished.

In a written statement to MPs, Robert Jenrick, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, stated that:

“This change was originally intended to simplify the tax system for the self-employed. We delayed the implementation of this policy in November to consider concerns relating to the impact on self-employed individuals with low profits. We have since engaged with interested parties to explore the issue and further options for addressing any unintended consequences.”

“A significant number of self-employed individuals on the lowest profits would have seen the voluntary payment they make to maintain access to the State Pension rise substantially. Having listened to those likely to be affected by this change we have concluded that it would not be right to proceed during this parliament, given the negative impacts it could have on some of the lowest earning in our society.”

Internet link: Parliament written statement

 

As we say goodbye to a lovely bright summer, now is a good time to shine the light on your finances and file your tax return early to avoid the winter blues.

The one good thing about the tax return deadline is that it always remains the same, which means that a little bit of organisation and the help of your accountant, you should be able to avoid facing penalties by maintaining easily accessible and up-to-date records of your income and expenses throughout the year.

Yet people still leave it until the last minute – 2.6 million taxpayers had still not filed their return two days before the 31st January 2018 deadline.

File now, pay later

Calculating your tax liabilities and filing your return now will allow you time to start budgeting and managing your cash flow, and to plan for paying any tax you may owe. Speeding through your tax return at the last minute increases the risk of mistakes being made, and HM Revenue & Customs has declared it will – and does- issue fines for errors. If you pay your tax bill late, HMRC will charge you interest and possibly even late payment penalties. Filing your tax return early does not mean you are obliged to pay any tax liability before the 31st January.

Get a tax refund sooner

Refunds of tax can often arise for employees or directors when HMRC has made errors with its tax codes. Also, it is not unusual for building subcontractors operating under the Construction Industry Scheme to receive tax refunds.

Therefore, the earlier you file your tax return, the sooner any refund you may be eligible for will be processed. So why wait until January when refunds usually take longer to be issued as this is HMRC’s busiest time?

We can help file your tax return 

Tax has become an ever-changing and increasingly complex field and unless you have expert knowledge, you may be left bewildered and miss out on all the reliefs you are eligible for. Without the help of an advisor, you could end up paying too much tax without realising, or accidently pay too little and risk an investigation.

So why wait, call our Tax Partner Simon Odam  01932 868 444 today, beat the deadline and be safe in the knowledge that you can be relaxed about your tax.

 

The revenue authority’s inheritance tax take has increased by 13% compared to the £4.7bn collected in 2016-17.

HMRC collected a record £5.3bn in inheritance tax in the year to February 2018, according to a private client law firm.

The inheritance tax threshold freeze at £325,000 has meant that more families are being subject to tax bills on their inheritance following several years of residential property price inflation.

No one wants their children or other dependants to have to pick up hefty inheritance tax bills, so it is important to plan ahead as early as possible how to pass wealth onto children and grandchildren. We can help you with this.

Family and Children Tax Planning

The Wellden Turnbull budget seminar with Dominic Raab, MP for Esher and Walton and Robin John, tax partner at Wellden Turnbull was held at the Cobham Curve on Friday 24th November.  Dominic gave a presentation on the state of the UK economy and key budget measures.  Robin John spoke about the budget including sources of revenue and where the money goes! Did you know debt interest is the fourth biggest expenditure!  Robin also spoke about potential new taxes for non UK owners of UK commercial property.

Delegates received responses to a wide variety of questions ranging from VAT, stamp duty and issues relating to Brexit.

If you would like to watch Robin’s presentation please click here

Excellent skills and great sportsmanship were shown by all the players on Sunday, at the Cobham Rugby Minis Festival.

Oli Spevack, a partner at Wellden Turnbull, was honoured to present the teams playing in the under 10’s with their trophies.

A wonderful opportunity to support a local event.

We support local events through a range of sponsorship’s including Cobham Heritage Day. Wellden Turnbull sponsored St John’s Ambulance and gave out balloons to children. It was a wonderful family fun day enjoyed by all ages and the perfect opportunity to support our local community.