Next Wednesday the Chancellor will deliver his first proper Budget since the start of the pandemic nearly a year ago; since then, we have had what has amounted to a number of discriminatory and uncoordinated announcements aimed to protect some jobs and some businesses. You might think that, with all that time, the Treasury would…
Category: Taxation
You can now defer your VAT payment until January 2022
All VAT registered businesses had their VAT payments deferred automatically for amounts due to be paid in the period from 20 March to 30 June 2020. No interest or penalties have been charged on that outstanding VAT debt, and businesses have been free to pay the amount due at any time. Now pay up There…
What should I do if my application to defer my 31 January tax due is rejected?
The government realised some time ago that a large number of taxpayers would need to defer tax due this January, so HMRC created an instalment mechanism to allow individual taxpayers to apply for time to pay the tax debts now falling due. However, some taxpayers and advisers using the online service to defer tax due on 31…
Activation code requirement temporarily suspended for online SA filing
On 1 December 2020 HMRC temporarily suspended the requirement for an activation code to be sent in the post before taxpayers can access the self assessment online filing service. The normal process for taxpayers who want to sign up to file a self assessment (SA) tax return online involves HMRC sending an activation code through…
MTD filing to be extended to all VAT-registered traders from April 2022
On 21 July the Treasury set out a first draft of the government’s ten-year plan to modernise the tax administration system. This includes restarting the making tax digital (MTD) programme which had ground to a halt in the face of Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic. MTD filing is to be extended to all VAT-registered traders from April 2022…
Tax agents unable to make Self-Employed Income Support Scheme claims on behalf of clients
Just when they hoped the government was coming to their rescue, the millions of self-employed workers in the UK have been delivered a blow by HMRC who have announced that their tax agents are barred from claiming the self-employed income support scheme (SEISS) grant on their behalf. The SEISS will be open for applications from…
How to negotiate a time to pay agreement with HMRC
HMRC has published details of the specific helpline to contact to negotiate a time to pay agreement if you are likely to have difficulty paying tax because of Coronavirus, but it’s not known whether HMRC will change its usual approach to time to pay, for taxpayers who are having difficulty. In the meantime businesses may find useful…
Don’t ignore HMRC emails
As part of its strategy to make tax digital, HMRC has been encouraging taxpayers to switch to paperless communication via their online personal tax account. As a result if you consent to paperless filing HMRC will post notices on your online account and send you an email notifying you about the new message. To read the…
What’s next for Making Tax Digital?
As you are probably already aware, there will be no further new taxes introduced, or changes to the threshold for VAT in 2020, so the next major change in MTD will not be until 2021 at the earliest. However, there are a couple of points in relation to the VAT process of which businesses should…
Have you received a ‘nudge’ letter?
A number of businesses and individuals have received letters from HMRC requesting detailed information about subjects ranging from rental accommodation and offshore income to the employment status of contractors. What’s going on, and how should you respond? HMRC’s Connect computer system collects data from public and private sources, which HMRC uses as the basis for…
