The government is helping shut the door on social media scammers trying to plunder people’s pensions under new scam prevention measures due this autumn. Under the plans, suspicious requests could be stopped if pensions savers have been approached to access or transfer their savings uninvited via social media. Such unsolicited contact would trigger a “red […]

Fingers crossed that the present rise of the Indian COVID variant is restricted to localised outbreaks and that the intended relaxation of lockdown will generally go ahead as planned from 17th May. It would be a cruel irony if businesses that have been stocking up and training staff were told they could not open after […]

A reminder that HMRC have set out detailed guidance for the self-employed who may have over-claimed any of their Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grants. The guidance is reproduced below: You must tell HMRC if, when you made the claim, you were not eligible for the grant. For example: for the first or second grant, […]

Limited companies are owned by shareholders and managed by directors. Very often, especially in the case of smaller companies, the owners and managers (shareholders and directors) are the same persons. Unfortunately, each has separate roles and responsibilities. For example, as a director of a limited company you must: follow the company’s rules, shown in its […]

For some time now, HMRC have had the power to claw back some or all of the Child Benefits you receive if either parent’s income exceeds £50,000. The benefit is recovered by the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC). This states that if either parent had income over £50,000 and: either partner received Child Benefit, […]

1 May 2021 – Due date for Corporation Tax due for the year ended 30 July 2020. 19 May 2021 – PAYE and NIC deductions due for month ended 5 May 2021. (If you pay your tax electronically the due date is 22 May 2021). 19 May 2021 – Filing deadline for the CIS300 monthly […]

The advisory electricity rate for fully electric cars is 4 pence per mile. Hybrid cars are treated as either petrol or diesel cars for advisory fuel rates. The advisory fuel rates for petrol, LPG and diesel cars are shown in these tables. From 1 March 2021 You can use the previous rates for up to […]

A special relief is available for creators of literary or artistic works under which they can claim to add together their profits for 2 years and be taxable on the average of those profits if certain conditions are met. This helps to even out fluctuating tax charges for creative persons who may pay little tax […]

One or more charities can set up a subsidiary trading company to trade on their behalf. This may be a useful strategy if your charity: makes profits on trading that is not linked to its primary purpose makes a profit that comes close to or is higher than the small trading tax exemption limit wants […]

A new Recovery Loan Scheme was launched 6 April 2021, to provide much needed liquidity to businesses affected by COVID lockdown measures. Under the scheme, loans of up to £10m are available. The minimum facility sizes vary, starting at £1,000 for asset and invoice finance, and £25,001 for term loans and overdrafts. Potentially, these loans […]