Latest News
German sausages under attack!
German politicians are looking at abolishing meats special VAT status, in an effort to reduce consumption and help save the planet! Germany currently levies 7% VAT on meat (the same as bread and milk), but there are calls to nearly treble the VAT to 19%. This would class meat as a luxury item and it would be taxed the same
Read more
Income tax shortfall
Forecasting can be a tricky art, and the Scottish government will now have to manage a £204m reduction in expected funds next year. The loss is due to a £941m gap in the expected receipts (forecast) from income tax receipts in 2017/18. Under a risk-sharing mechanism the Scottish government will get an extra £737m to cover its budget, but it
Read more
Half of small businesses make VAT return errors
Half of small businesses say they have made mistakes when sending in their VAT return and only a quarter are confident they have the figures correct despite spending more than an hour checking them. With the first deadline for online filing under Making Tax Digital for VAT falling this month, software specialist Intuit QuickBooks surveyed 500 UK small business owners
Read more
Small employers ‘at risk of losing Employment Allowance’
Plans to remove the Employment Allowance from large employers could also impact smaller ones, the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) is warning. From April 2020, the Employment Allowance, which currently provides employers with a reduction of up to £3,000 to their national insurance bill, will no longer be available to larger employers. As part of this change, Employment Allowance will
Read more
Update from HMRC: MTD VAT service progress
On 7 August HMRC reached a significant milestone in the rollout of Making Tax Digital (MTD), with the first quarterly filing deadline for VAT. HMRC have been encouraged by the numbers who have signed up and submitted their VAT returns through MTD. There are now nearly one million businesses in the service who have made over 900,000 VAT submissions. As
Read more HMRC Agent Update – Issue 73
HMRC’s Agent Update 73 is available now and contains a variety of articles and updates. It features an update on Making Tax Digital, including information on VAT certificates and Anti Money Laundering requirements. Other highlights include articles about: Temporary Increase in the Annual Investment Allowance: Detail on the temporary increase in the allowance until 1 January 2021 National Insurance Contributions on
Read more
MTD for VAT service information
HMRC will shortly be undertaking scheduled maintenance to the Making Tax Digital (MTD) service for VAT. Businesses will be unable to use the MTD VAT service from 4pm on Saturday 17 August to 4pm on Monday 19 August. During this period, users will be unable to: Sign up for MTD Sign clients up for MTD Submit returns View previous submissions
Read more Company insolvencies hit five-year high
The number of insolvencies in England and Wales has risen 12% on the same period last year and are at their highest level for five years, according to the Insolvency Service. The number of company insolvencies in Q2 2019 was 4,321, up 2.6% on Q1 2019 and 11.9% higher than Q2 2018, according to the figures. It was also the
Read more
Recruitment agency to be prosecuted for failing in AE duties
A recruitment agency and its managing director are to be prosecuted by The Pensions Regulator (TPR) on suspicion of trying to avoid providing their staff with a workplace pension. Hertfordshire-based SKL Professional Recruitment Agency Ltd and managing director Linus (Lee) Kadzere are accused of wilfully failing to comply with their automatic enrolment duties under section 45 and 46 of the
Read more
