In a month when tax avoidance and tax evasion have been rarely out of the news, who better to nominate as 3CA Rat of the Month but Philip Green, friend of politicians but no friend of small businesses.
Last week John Humpreys, in an interview with the Prime Minister on BBC’s Today programme, tried to establish what the government meant by the term ‘aggressive tax avoidance’.
Unfortunately, he over-stepped the mark and the BBC was forced to issue an apology to Philip Green.
With a specific link on Wikipedia titled Tax avoidance and the specific target of UK Uncut’s original protests I cannot think of a worthier recipient for this month’s Rat of the Month.
Rat of the Month is back at 3CA.
This is awarded to the person who has been most awkward/rude/objectionable during the last month.
Clients and relatives are not eligible!
Last week Vicki Owen, from The Mail on Sunday, contacted me about postal delays at HMRC. I only spoke to her briefly, mainly about the use of e-mail at HMRC.
She was, however, kind enough to include my comments in her article.
HMRC have just sent this e-mail to all employers who have registered for the HMRC Employer e-mail alert service.
If you are an employer and you haven’t registered, you should.
The latest edition of HMRC’s Employer Bulletin, “your route to the latest in payroll news and views”, has just been released.
Although it isn’t essential reading like VAT Updates, if you’re an employer then you should probably look at it. The problem is this edition stretches to 41 pages!
So, in an attempt to keep your attention I have listed what I think is important:
Page 4 Budget Announcements
Page 8 Employer Annual Returns
Page 10 Employer Late Filing Penalties
Page 20 You can now view your PAYE (and VAT) tax position online
Page 30 Student Loans
HMRC have issued a reminder that this month’s PAYE payment is due on April 22 which is a Sunday.
Faster payments have made this less of a problem than it used to be, but the banks have their own rules relating to how the scheme operates.(HSBC has a £10K daily limit).
As HMRC say
you should contact your bank or building society before making each payment and they will confirm whether the service is available for that payment and explain how it works.
FreeAgent are the first to admit their payroll system is pretty basic. Finding an alternative isn’t easy.
No payroll provider links to FreeAgent so whichever one you choose, you’ll have to enter the payroll details manually every week/month. Third party payroll processing is expensive and you’ll still have to enter the payroll details yourself.
FreeAgent copes best when there are no changes to the payroll (new employees, leavers, bonuses, etc.). Problems can arise with incorrect PAYE Codes, no P45 and directors starting employment part way through the tax year. At the end of the tax year FreeAgent doesn’t allow you to submit your Employer Annual Return (P35, P14s and P60s) from the software. You have to register with HMRC and enter the details online.
Our solution to these problems is to offer two services:-
- During the year we will monitor the changes to your payroll (new employees, leavers, new PAYE Codes) and make sure they have been dealt with correctly. We’ll also point out, where possible, errors in the Codes themselves. The price for this service is £80 per year.
- At the end of the tax year we will complete your P35, P14s and P60s based on the information in FreeAgent and submit them to HMRC. We will send you copies of the forms, together with an acknowledgement from HMRC that the return was submitted on time. Late submission incurs a penalty of £100 for every month it is late. The price for this service is £80 per year.
The price for both is £150 per year.
If proof was ever needed of how taxpayers money is wasted, the farce surrounding the visit of the Olympic Torch to Cumbria is going to take some beating.
Highlight of the tour is a performance on June 21 ( the summer solstice*) of On the Night Shift by Les Commandos Percu and organised by Lakes Alive.
Lakes Alive proudly state
On the Night Shift is not a concert, nor is it a firework display, but it brings the most exciting and exhilarating moments of each to create a spectacular event that you’ll remember for a very long time.
but unfortunately they’ve forgotten one very important thing – it doesn’t go dark until late on the longest day!
No need to worry though, SLDC have stepped it to the tune of £10,ooo (of council taxpayers’ money) to allow Lakes Alive to book an international rock band to fill the gap.
Jayne Kendall, South Lakeland District Council’s economic development manager explains why
We need to ensure that the community will come along and see this as one holistic event and not two things with a gap in the middle.
but, not surprisingly, doesn’t explain how the mistake was made, after all it’s not her money it’s ours!
* June 21 isn’t actually the summer solstice this year because 2012 is a leap year but that’s probably being a little pedantic!
Speculation about the contents of tomorrow’s Budget has been rife but I’m not sure that there will be much in it for small businesses – there has been too much talk about big business and tax evasion.
If you do own a small business and you’re going to listen to the Budget, I suggest you take any announcement of measures designed to “help” business with a large pinch of salt.
If the Chancellor talks about reducing corporation tax make sure he is referring to the small profits rate of 20% (the rate most small businesses pay) rather than the rate which most big businesses pay (26%). It’s interesting that the small profits rate has remained at 20% during a period when the ‘big business’ rate has fallen from 28% to 26% and in just over a year’s time will fall another 2% to 24%.
Abuse of service companies by ‘top earners’ such as Ken Livingstone and the head of the Student Loans Company may well allow Osborne to introduce measures to charge National Insurance on dividends. Be very careful if he starts to talk of abuse and service companies. It could be very costly for SMEs.
In a month when tax avoidance and tax evasion have been rarely out of the news, who better to nominate as 3CA Rat of the Month but Philip Green, friend of politicians but no friend of small businesses.
