About the COVID-19 VAT deferral ‘New Payment Scheme’

On 24 September 2020, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the ‘Winter Economy Plan’ – a series of measures to continue assisting businesses and employees amid the current pressures caused by COVID-19.
Among those measures was an update to the VAT Payments Deferral Scheme. This allowed businesses to defer payment of any VAT liabilities that fell due between 20 March 2020 to the 30 June 2020 until 31 March 2021. The scheme ended on 30 June 2020.

The Winter Economy Plan. Explained. What does it mean to you and your clients?

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has outlined a series of measures to support jobs and the economy over the next six months. Here we provide an overview of the five new initiatives with a brief explanation. Please pass it on to your clients as you see fit.

The much-awaited Making Tax Digital Roadmap is unveiled

Should accountants start discussing the changes with their clients and implementing solutions? How long have they got to prepare? Is it worth spending time on it? 

As part of a new 10-year plan to modernise the UK tax administration, we finally have some answers. The accounting industry can finally start planning with some certainty and to a sensible timeline.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme - deadline today for payment before end of the month

More than 285,000 businesses have already applied for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme since it went live on Monday 20 April.

To be sure payment comes through to employers before the end of the month, applications need to be made today (Wednesday 22‌‌ April)

Business as usual, in unusual times.

We're living in very strange and surreal times. Times when we have to self-isolate, where we can no longer go into the office or meet our clients face-to-face. Times when we have to find other ways to communicate with each other and access our systems remotely.

Businesses are being forced to rethink how they work and how to adapt in a very short time frame.

So how can you keep your business running - as well providing your clients with the support they need to keep their businesses running too?

November news

Upcoming legislation: Ultra Low Emission Vehicles

From 6 April 2020 the car and car fuel benefit calculation is changing with the introduction of 11 new bands for ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs) including a separate zero emissions band. This is to support the Government’s commitment to improving air quality in towns and cities. If your client’s company car has a CO2 emission figure of 1-50g/km, they will need to provide the cars zero emission mileage. This is the distance that the car can travel in miles on a single electric charge.

In practice: TaxCalc Document Manager powered by SmartVault

In our connected world, people now expect to work and interact remotely – even when it comes to sharing important documentation. For firms preparing sets of accounts and filing tax returns, the traditional method of sending and receiving hard copy documentation is becoming less attractive: the process takes longer, costs more and takes up valuable storage space. Clients are also simply too busy and are accustomed to viewing documents on-screen and printing only when necessary.

Fine. Or fine?

Fine. or fine?
HMRC has issued fines for non-compliance to AML regulations. Don’t make the same mistake. 

With HMRC issuing fines to certain accountants for failing to have proper anti-money laundering (AML) procedures in place AML is an issue that can’t be ignored.