Making tax digital is the government’s plan to take information for tax purposes directly from business owners’ online accounting software with no recourse to their accountant. This explains why HMRC are so keen to work with Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent. This move was foreseeable, and should be less of a shock to forward-thinking business owners…
Category: Taxation
The death of the tax return?
In March 2015, when George Osborne outlined the new concept of “making tax easier”, he said it would herald the death of the tax return. All the tax information relevant to an individual would be gathered into the taxpayer’s digital tax account, and the annual paper tax return would be consigned to history. This was…
Don’t be caught out by the new Annual Investment Allowance limits
The annual investment allowance (AIA) allows expenditure up to a set limit on most types of plant and equipment (but not cars) to be written off for tax purposes in the first year. It is very useful, because full tax relief for such expenditure might otherwise not be obtained for many years.…
The role of the accountant is changing
2016 will probably mark the tipping point when the relationship between business owners, their accountants and HMRC changed forever. The role of the accountant in the year-end compliance process is already shifting from one of being the ‘gatekeeper’ of the information flow to HMRC and Companies House to the application of review, checking, correction and…
PAYE
HMRC is now issuing the 2016/17 PAYE notices of coding. Around 11 million taxpayers will receive a PAYE coding notice (P2) with an insert directing them to gov.uk/taxcodehelp. This will enable them to see details online of their coding for 2016/17 and is designed to encourage people to use their Personal Tax Account. This also…
Advance Assurance scheme for R&D tax credits
HMRC has recently launched a new scheme that is meant to help first time small company claimants of Research & Development (R&D) tax relief.…
Eight employment expenses you may be able to claim against tax
Many employees incur expenses doing their job that they don’t reclaim from their employer. You can reclaim these costs against tax going back up to 4 years. Here are some suggestions.…