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Government Announces Financial Support For Businesses Impacted By Omicron (COVID-19 Variant)

The government have reacted to the growing numbers of Omicron infections which have caused cancellations in the hospitality industry at the busiest time of year and also to support businesses suffering with staff of sick. The Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme (SSPRS) has been reintroduced for small and medium-sized employers (fewer than 250 employees) which reimburses businesses for the cost of SSP for COVID related absences. This is for Covid-related absences, for up to 2 weeks per employee. Bus...

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) - What You Need To Know In The Season Of Over Indulgence!

The weekly rate for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is £96.35*, you can get this for up to 28 weeks. To be eligible for sick pay, the employee must: Be classed as an employee (all employees are workers, but an employee has extra employment rights and responsibilities that do not apply to workers who are not employees.) You are usually an employee if you:work regularly unless you are on leavecan’t send someone to do your hourscan join business’s pension schemeare required to work a minimum amount o...

Tax Return Scams Up 21% This Year - What You Need To know

With the tax return deadline fast approaching, criminals are targeting Self Assessment customers knowing HMRC may genuinely contact customers and try and steal money or personal information from unsuspecting individuals. In the last 12 months HMRC has: responded to 797,010 referrals of suspicious contact from the public - some 357,567 of these offered bogus tax rebatesworked with the telecoms industry and Ofcom to remove more than 1,282 phone numbers being used to commit HMRC-rela...

Global Bookkeeping Week: Why Businesses Fail Without A Bookkeeper

Global Bookkeeping Week has celebrated the bookkeeping profession, the vital work bookkeepers do to support micro and small businesses, how they benefit people, businesses, communities and our economy. As Global Bookkeeping Week draws to a close, we look at why businesses are missing out without a bookkeeper. Why use a bookkeeper? Businesses can do their own bookkeeping, why hire one that will cost the business money? Bookkeepers provide a vital service – ensuring compliance, often savin...

The Bookkeepers Summit: Keeping Cashtrak At The Top Of Their Game

Behind the scenes of a bookkeeper!  Many people don’t realise the work we do isn’t just client facing. Learning and researching is a big part of being a successful bookkeeping practice. Being part of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers is a great community to belong to, they provide learning, help, support, guidance and empower us to be committed to professional excellence, have robust ethical and technical standards. They run events throughout the year to support us in doing th...

It's Global Bookkeeping Week: An Introduction To Celebrating Bookkeepers

Global Bookkeeping Week was started by the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB) in 2015 to celebrate bookkeepers and raise the profile of the profession; putting the spotlight on the dedication and support for small businesses. It celebrates the profession and vital work bookkeepers do to support micro and small businesses and how they benefit people, businesses, communities and our economy. There's is a week of special events bringing together everyone passionate about bookke...

Chancellor Announces Autumn Budget: Here's What It Means For Businesses October 2021

Following the much anticipated budget, we review the announcements related to business. Business Rates A discount of 50% on business rates for the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors in England in 2022-23, up to a maximum of £110,000. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the government will not be abolishing business rates, however they will "make the existing system fairer" Frequent revaluations every three years from 2023Relief for those adopting solar panels12-month rate holiday on property imp...

Suspicious Emails On The Up - What To Look Out For: Scam Emails

Cyber scams are on the increase again, we have been targeted twice in as many weeks with suspicious e mails and wanted to draw attention to these e mails. We want to raise awareness that these seemingly genuine looking e mails are should not be opened, they are phishing* e mails and should be deleted. *Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. It occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entit...

What Tax Relief Can Employees Claim For Employment Expenses?

You can claim tax relief on things like:Purchasing work uniform* and clothingCleaning work uniform and clothingToolsBusiness travelProfessional fees and subscriptionsRepairing or replacing equipment you need to do your jobTax relief is available on other things depending on your industry and occupation, check here for a table that shows what is allowable.If your employer pays towards your expense, you ned to deduct that from what you claim.Using your own vehicle for workYou’ll need to hav...

Making Tax Digital (MTD) For Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA) Has Been Postponed For 12 Months

The Government has announced that MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA) will be introduced a year later than planned, beginning April 2024. Recognising the challenges faced by many businesses as the country emerges from the pandemic. The later start allows more time for those required to join to prepare and for HMRC using the time for additional customer testing in the pilot.   MTD for Income Tax will now be mandated for businesses and landlords with a busi...

Preparing For The End of CJRS 'Furlough' - Employers FAQ

What should we do when the scheme closes? bring your employees back to work on their agreed terms and conditionsagree any changes to their terms and conditions with themconsider ending their employment. To note: When making decisions about how and when to end furlough arrangements, equality and discrimination laws will apply in the usual way. Can we claim CJRS for employees on notice periods? No, you can’t claim CJRS grants for any days an employee is serving a contractual or statutory noti...

HMRC Still Behind Processing 2020-21 Self Assessment Tax Returns Impacting SEISS Grants

HMRC Have announced there are still delays processing 2020/21 tax returns ahead of the 30th September deadline to claim the fifth and final Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant. HMRC had already advised there was a delay processing some 2020-21 tax returns where SEISS grants have not been reported in the way they expected, they have now corrected all of the affected returns submitted before 19‌‌th ‌June and continue to correct the SEISS grant amounts included in 2020-21 Self...

Emergency Tax - What Is It?

Emergency tax codes are temporary and applied to your salary automatically by HMRC, they’re usually used when your income changes and there is not information about the tax you need to pay. It means you are only entitled to the basic personal allowance, not taking in to account any tax relief or allowances that you may be entitled to. This is commonly because: Your P45 from your previous employer has not been receivedYou have started your first jobYou have switched from self-employment to PAYE...

National Payroll Week: A Look At National Insurance Contributions

The government has announced that National Insurance is being raised by 1.25% for employers and employees, the levy will also apply to individuals above State Pension age with employment income or profits from self-employment above £9,568. The rate of income tax which is paid by people who receive dividend income from share will also increase by 1.25% from April 2022....

It's National Payroll Week 6th - 10th September - Join Us Celebrating Payroll Professionals

National Payroll Week was established in the UK by the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) in 1998 to celebrate the payroll profession and to give it the recognition it deserves. The week is designed to demonstrate the impact the payroll industry has in the UK through the collection of income tax and National Insurance; £249 billion* is paid to the government through income tax and national insurance contributions. The celebrations cover payroll bureaus such as Cashtra...

Tax Returns Not Being Processed Due To HMRC SEISS Software Error

HMRC are advising customers to check the pre-populated SEISS entry on their Income Tax Self-Assessment Return and where necessary, delete the pre-populated figure and manually enter the correct amount, a spokesperson advised “our system will not process a return if the SEISS grant entry does not match our record of the amount paid.” AccountingWeb reported that they’ve had several reports about a bug in HMRC’s Self-Assessment application programming interface (API) that is corrupting figu...

Fifth SEISS Grant Problems – HMRC Announce Delay In Some Tax Return and SA302 Evidence Of Earnings For Mortgage Providers As Well AS CIS Subcontractors Turnover Test

The claims service for the fifth SEISS grant opened in July with a deadline of 30th of‌‌ September‌‌, ‌2021 to submit claims. HMRC have advised the following updates for 2020-21 Self-Assessment tax returns:There is a delay in processing some 2020-21 Self-Assessment tax returns where SEISS grant payments have not been reported in the way they expected, for example if HMRC records show a different amount was paid than amount declared on the return.From 19‌‌th of ‌June, HMRC automat...

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) Ends 30th September 2021 - What You Need To Know

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ends 30th September, 2021. Claims for September must be submitted by 14th October 2021, and any amendments must be made by 28 October 2021. As it was in August, in September, employers can claim 60% of furloughed employees' usual wages for the hours they haven’t worked, up to a cap of £1,875 per month. They'll need to contribute 20% from their own funds so that furloughed employees' are paid at least 80% of their usual wages in total for the hours they do ...

Contractor Left With £1.7m Tax Bill For Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) Misunderstanding

Confusion over Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) rules has left a contractor with a tax bill for £1.7m. Under the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS), contractors deduct 20% from a subcontractor’s payments and pass it to HMRC (there are some exceptions which did not apply to this case.) Determinations were issued by HMRC for £1.7m to the contractor, North Point (Pall Mall) Ltd and China Town Development Company Ltd (China Town) (a subsidiary of North Point) as they should...

Making Tax Digital (MTD) - Important Dates for Businesses, Self-Employed and Landlords

Research has shown that there are still business and individuals who do not know the important dates, that they need to follow MTD rules or understand what the requirements are so we have summarised the requirements below: VAT Registered Businesses VAT-registered businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT threshold (£85,000) should be following the Making Tax Digital rules NOW by keeping digital records and using software to submit their VAT returns. VAT-registered businesses below the VA...

Are You Eligible For Marriage Allowance (Applies To Civil Partnerships)

With the wedding season in full swing, HMRC wants to make couples aware of the Marriage Allowance tax saving.Marriage Allowance allows you to transfer £1,260 of your Personal Allowance to your husband, wife or civil partner which reduces their tax by up to £252 in the tax year.Eligibilityyou’re married or in a civil partnershipyou do not pay Income Tax or your income is below your Personal Allowance (usually £12,570)your partner pays Income Tax at the basic rateYou cannot cla...

New Xero Analytics - Free Until January 2022

When COVID-19 first hit, Xero released short-term cash flow and business snapshot tools to all customers free of charge. These tools helped visually project your potential bank balance 7 or 30 days into the future and get insights on your business performance, so you can spot opportunities and mitigate risks ahead of time. Xero have now bundled these tools and renamed them Xero Analytics. If you’re on a Xero business plan, they’ll still be available free of charge, located under the ‘Busin...

Government Announces Simplified Tax Reporting For Self-employed and Small Businesses

As part of the Government's draft legislation to be included in the Finance Bill 2021-22, announced changes mean that businesses will be taxed on profits arising in a tax year, rather than profits of accounts ending in the tax year. The government believe this will help them spend less time filing their taxes, aligning the way self-employed profits are taxed with other forms of income, such as property and investment income. These changes are due to come into force by 2023 and have been drawn-up...

Government Publishes Draft Legislation To Be Included In The Finance Bill 2021-22 - Tax & Pension Highlights

Publishing draft legislation allows for technical consultation and provides taxpayers with predictability over future tax policy changes. Alongside this, the Government is making announcements in a number of areas of tax policy. The Government is also publishing a research report titled ‘Impact of Making Tax Digital for VAT’. This considers the impact of Making Tax Digital (MTD) across those taxpayers that have been required to operate it. Since April 2019 all VAT registered businesses with ...

Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) Fifth Grant - Online Claims Open Late July 2021

A fifth grant covering May 2021 to September 2021 will be available to claim through the online service from late July 2021. The grant is taxable and will be paid out in a single instalment. If you’re eligible based on your tax returns, HMRC will contact you from mid-July to give you a date that the claims service will be available to you from. It will be given to you either by email, letter or within the online service. You must make your claim on or before 30 September 2021. Eligibility: You...