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As the holiday season continues we have updated you this month
on a change to employment law, an article which offers advice
on tax relief available for capital purchases in 2009-10, an
important announcement if you claim Child Tax Credits and finally
two VAT updates from HMRC.
Our next newsletter will be published on Tuesday 8 September
2009.
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Vetting and Barring Scheme
Changes to employment law are underway. From the 12 October
2009 new measures are being introduced to vet the suitability
of persons working with children or vulnerable adults.
It is to be called the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS)
and will be administered by a new public body to be called the
Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).
From July 2010 all new employees can register with the
ISA.
From November 2010 all new employees and volunteers must
register before they start work. Until they have registered
they cannot be legally employed.
Failure to comply with the new registration demands could
possibly result in custodial sentences for the employee and
the employer!
A range of useful online tools, posters and leaflets can
be downloaded from the ISA web site at www.isa-gov.org.uk/toolkit
or call 0300 123 1111.
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Making the most of Capital Allowances 2009-10
If you are thinking of investing in assets that qualify
for the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) during 2009-10 it
is worth bearing in mind the additional relief you can claim
to take advantage of the 40% First Year Allowance (FYA) that
is available for one year to 5 April 2010 (1 April 2010 if you
trade as a company.)
For most businesses the only assets that do not qualify
for the AIA or the FYA are motor cars. Although don't forget
that if you buy a car with CO2 emissions under 110g/km a special
100% allowance can be claimed.
The AIA allows you to write off 100% of qualifying expenditure
during 2009-10 up to a total spend of £50,000.
But what happens if you spend more than £50,000? Let's
say you invested £80,000 during 2009-10 in assets that qualify
for the AIA and FYA. You would be eligible to claim the maximum
£50,000 AIA and a 40% FYA on the excess. This would make your
potential, combined claim £62,000, or an overall 78% tax write
down in one year.
Even if the claims created net tax losses in 2009-10 this
may enable your business to recover some of the tax paid in
the previous three years.
Please call if you need more information on this topic,
particularly, does your intended investment in new equipment
qualify for these reliefs?
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Changes to the Childcare Approval Scheme
In order to qualify for Child Tax Credits (CTC's) the person
responsible for taking care of your children (child) needs to
be registered with the Childcare Approval Scheme.
From 18 July 2009 the Childcare Approval Scheme will no longer
exist and all childcare providers approved under this scheme
(for example a nanny or foster carer working as a childminder)
must either become registered with Ofsted or they will become
unregistered providers.
Taxpayers who are affected by this change are advised to check
with their childcare provider to see what they plan to do from
18 July 2009.
It is no longer possible to claim tax credits unless the childcare
provider is registered with Ofsted from 18 July 2009.
If a childcare provider does not intend to register with Ofsted,
an alternative registered provider would need to be used in
order to be able to claim or continue claiming the childcare
element of tax credits.
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VAT Updates from HMRC
VAT number verification
The European Commission have enhanced their on-line service
which allows taxpayers to check if a quoted VAT number is valid.
The on-line service has been updated to allow taxpayers to
obtain a certificate to prove that they checked that a VAT registration
number was valid at a given time and date. This system
has been designed primarily to protect taxpayers who become
innocently involved in a chain of fraudulent transactions such
as carousel fraud.
The certificate will provide valuable evidence for a taxpayer
to prove that they acted in good faith should HMRC challenge
input tax recovery or seek payment of lost VAT.
The new on-line system will also be useful to businesses who
zero-rate sales to businesses in other EU countries. Specifically
in meeting one of the conditions for zero-rating which states
that your customer must be VAT registered.
The on-line service is available at the following address:
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/vieshome.do?selectedLanguage=EN
Making VAT payments
HMRC’s bank account details for VAT payments have changed with
effect from 8 July 2009. This is part of an ongoing exercise
by HMRC which involves moving its banking arrangements from
the Bank of England to commercial banks.
HMRC is now using Citi Bank for electronic payments by BACS
Direct, Internet/telephone banking and CHAPS.
HMRC’s new bank details are as follows:
Account name:
HMRC VAT
Account number: 11963155
Sort code:
08 32 00
When making VAT payments it is important that taxpayers use
their VAT registration number as the reference number to ensure
payments are correctly credited to their VAT account. The VAT
number should be used with no gaps to save unnecessary delays
in processing the payment.
Whilst HMRC is working closely with banks to implement the
new account details some banks may be unable to make the payment
using the new account details. HMRC will continue to process
payments made using the old bank details for the time being.
Taxpayers using the new banking details should ensure that all
templates and instructions for online banking payments are updated
for the change.
Bank Giro payments will also be changing and for the time being
transactions will be handled by Natwest Bank. New Bank Giro
books will be printed in due course. In the meantime, payments
should be made as normal.
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Tax Diary August/September 2009
1 August 2009 - Due date for corporation tax
due for the year ended 31 October 2008.
19 August 2009 - PAYE and NIC deductions due
for month ended 5 August 2009. (If you pay your tax electronically
the due date is 22 August 2009)
19 August 2009 - Filing deadline for the CIS300
monthly return for the month ended 5 August 2009.
19 August 2009 - CIS tax deducted for the
month ended 5 August 2009 is payable by today.
1 September 2009 - Due date for corporation
tax due for the year ended 30 November 2008.
19 September 2009 - PAYE and NIC deductions
due for month ended 5 September 2009. (If you pay your tax electronically
the due date is 22 September 2009)
19 September 2009 - Filing deadline for the
CIS300 monthly return for the month ended 5 September 2009.
19 September 2009 - CIS tax deducted for the
month ended 5 September 2009 is payable by today.
DISCLAIMER - PLEASE NOTE: The ideas shared
with you in this email are intended to inform rather than advise.
Taxpayers circumstances do vary and if you feel that tax strategies
we have outlined may be beneficial it is important that you
contact us before implementation. If you do or do not take action
as a result of reading this newsletter, before receiving our
written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any
financial loss incurred. |
