Tax Briefings & News - Page 43 of 47

Dec 14 2016

Marriage Allowance

By admin Personal Tax, Potts & Co Accountancy & Business Advice News

If you are married or in a civil partnership, you may be able to claim the 'marriage allowance'. This is not a separate allowance, but a reallocation of 10% of the personal allowance from the partner with lower income to the other partner. The marriage allowance can't be claimed if…

Dec 12 2016

Salary Sacrifice

By admin Potts & Co Accountancy & Business Advice News

Many employers allow employees to pick and choose from a range of benefits such as extra holiday, company car or health insurance. Each employee may be able to sacrifice a part of their salary to receive the benefit, which often results in NIC savings for both parties and a tax…

Dec 11 2016

Topping-Up Your State Pension

By admin National Insurance, Pensions, Potts & Co Accountancy & Business Advice News

To receive the full amount of the new state pension you need to pay national insurance contributions (NIC) for 35 complete tax years. If you were contracted out of the second state pension, or SERPS, for any part for your working life you may receive less pension than you were…

Dec 11 2016

Trivial Benefits

By admin Personal Tax, Potts & Co Accountancy & Business Advice News

A trivial benefit is a non-cash gift to an employee, not exchangeable for cash and worth no more than £50. Employers can give as many trivial benefits to their employees as they wish. Each gift is tax-free and exempt from NIC, as long as it is not a reward for…

Dec 09 2016

How Your Savings Are Taxed

By admin ISA, Potts & Co Accountancy & Business Advice News

For many years banks have deducted tax from interest they paid to savers, unless the particular account was designated as tax-free, such as an ISA. That default position has changed from 6 April 2016. Now all bank and building society interest is paid without tax deducted, but the individual saver…

Dec 08 2016

Quarterly Reporting For Agencies

By admin HMRC, PAYE

Employment agencies are required to report to HMRC the payments they make to workers they place with third parties, if those workers are not paid under PAYE. This requirement covers any organisation who finds work for an individual, which can include many agencies or intermediaries. One-man companies who only find…

Dec 08 2016

Working For Public Sector Clients

By admin National Insurance, PAYE, Potts & Co Accountancy & Business Advice News

If you contract through an agency to work for a public sector body, from 6 April 2017 the agency will have to decide whether the contract falls within IR35 or not. If it does, the payment to your personal company will be subject to PAYE and NIC and no 5%…

Dec 07 2016

VAT Flat Rate Scheme Skewered

By admin Potts & Co Accountancy & Business Advice News, VAT

Many small businesses use the VAT flat rate scheme (FRS) to simplify VAT reporting and some gain a cash advantage from using the scheme. When using the FRS you simply multiply your gross sales (including VAT charged at normal rates) by the FRS percentage for your trade sector. You ignore…

Dec 07 2016

Pension Recycling

By admin ISA, Pensions, Potts & Co Accountancy & Business Advice News

Anyone aged 55 or over can now access their pension savings built up in a money purchase (defined contribution) scheme. This access can be as a one-off lump sum payment, an annuity purchase or as flexi-access draw-down. The downside is that once you start to access your pension in this…

Dec 06 2016

Preparing For Digital Business Records

By admin HMRC, Potts & Co Accountancy & Business Advice News

Lost or forgotten HMRC believe that a lot of small businesses don't pay the right amount of tax on their profits. This is because they delay writing up their accounting records to the end of the year; in the meantime some receipts are lost and bits of income are forgotten.…