HMRC has published the National Insurance contributions rates, thresholds and limits for the 2013-14 tax year.

They are draft until they are approved by both Houses of Parliament. It’s highly unlikely that they will change though.

Don’t bother reading them however, because they don’t make a great deal of sense without some background knowledge!

They relate to Class 1 contributions, which are paid by employees. The important points are:

• If your monthly salary is less than £641 per month in 2013-14, neither you nor your employer will pay any contributions.
• When you earn £646 or more per month you will start to pay National Insurance.

Full (and understandable) details of the new rates are available on the Ross Martin Tax Consultancy website.

I read Taxation every week to keep my tax knowledge up to date but have never considered the Westmorland Gazette to be another source!

This week they have published a story about a back street bookie who didn’t declare all his earnings and has been landed with a £26,000 bill.

A couple of things stand out from this case which are worth bearing in mind if you’re in business:

• I haven’t seen HMRC use this method of calculating “omitted” income for a few years, which surprises me because it’s very easy for them to use and very difficult for the taxpayer to disprove. Perhaps it’s making a comeback!
• The bookie’s failure to keep proper records was actually used against him to prove he had suppressed his takings!

This morning I have to register a business for Self Assessment which involves completing a form CWF1 (available on the HMRC website).

Easy I thought until I tried to print it and received the following message

Not wanting to give up at the first hurdle, after all this is the HMRC website so it wasn’t ever designed to be user-friendly, I decided to save the form to my desktop and then print it and received the same message!

Do HMRC expect everyone to enter the information in the form before printing it? If so, how do I manage when I don’t have all the details to hand?

I could understand it if the form was submitted online but it isn’t it has to be printed, signed and posted to HMRC.

I have checked with HMRC that I’m not missing the bleedin’ obvious and have been told that the form cannot be printed unless it is complete but I can phone the Newly Self-Employed Helpline and ask them to send me a paper copy to complete!

Have HMRC ever heard of the word efficiency?