by Acuaccounts | Oct 22, 2018 | latest news, tax
With the ever-changing tax laws the life of a limited company business owner has become more complex in recent times. So, keeping on top of submissions and due tax dates are ever more important.
Failure to meet deadlines will result in automatic penalties and could even mean your company gets closed down. Furthermore, HMRC are becoming stricter in terms of money owed for taxes with interest, surcharges and debt collectors as well!
What are the main filing deadlines?
Limited Company
Company accounts – to be filed at Companies House 9 months after the year end but beware as this is different for the first accounts.
Confirmation Statement – previously known as the Annual Return this must be filed at Companies House on the anniversary of incorporation
Corporation tax – payable 9 months and one day after the year end
Corporation tax return – to be filed at HMRC 12 months after the year end
Directors / Self-Assessment
Self-assessment tax returns – Personal Tax Year run from 6th April to 5th April every year. Returns must be filed by 31 January for the previous tax year
Payroll
PAYE – Paid monthly and due the 19th of each month
VAT
VAT Returns – filed and paid quarterly, 1 month and 7 days after the quarter end
Do not underestimate the amount of effort required to get your accounts together, finalised and filed. Unfortunately, it isn’t a five-minute job, leaving things until the last minute means that there are more likely to be complications and there is no time or allowance for the unexpected.
by Acuaccounts | Oct 11, 2018 | accounting, latest news
Plans have been revealed that the Treasury is due to overhaul tax rules which allow self-employed people to avoid paying national insurance contributions. The move will be targeted at people who set themselves up as private Limited companies to take on work.
As announced on the BBC today, this reform could be announced in the October Budget.
The Treasury believes a third of people claiming self-employed status as a “personal service company” are actually full-time employees and should be paying more tax. It says without reform, high levels of non-compliance with tax rules could cost HM Revenue and Customs, which collects taxes, £1.2bn a year by 2023.
It is now looking at demanding that firms which use personal service company contractors take legal responsibility for ensuring “off-payroll” contractors stick to the tax rules known as IR35. A similar move in the public sector on “synthetic” self-employed has raised £410m extra in taxes since 2016, HMRC estimates suggest.
Full employees pay higher levels of national insurance compared with these Contractors. Personal income tax allowances could be frozen, despite a Tory pledge at the 2017 election that they would rise to £12,500 for lower rate taxpayers and £50,000 for higher rate taxpayers by 2020. Freezing them could raise up to £2bn a year. Reform of the IR35 rules is questionable whether it would raise as much.
Source – BBC UK News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45822650
by Acuaccounts | Oct 10, 2018 | accounting, latest news
Penalties for Filing a Tax Return late have remained pretty much the same for the last 20+years. Filing a date late beyond the 31st January, there will be an automatic £100 fine. Fail to file in another six months a further £100 is added. The real penalty was in the 5% charge that HMRC could charge if you had not paid a month after the deadline.
However, this is now likely to change. Under the new Making Tax Digital regulations that will form the basis of the Budget later this year. It has been drafted that HMRC has outlined a significant change to the way they will be levying tax return penalties for late filing breaches under the new regulations. Rather than base penalties on each return, taxpayers will receive a penalty point per event, and when these penalties reach a certain amount the taxpayers will be required to pay a fixed penalty.
So, if you miss a deadline a point will be applied, a specified number of points that are accrued will result in a penalty. Accordingly, the number of points required for a penalty depends on the filing frequency of the return.
Furthermore, HMRC is also introducing an amended penalty for deliberately withholding information from HMRC. They will have the power to charge penalties where a taxpayer deliberately withholds information which would enable HMRC to assess their tax liability. These penalties are based on a percentage of the tax due and can be reduced based on the taxpayer’s willingness to correct past disclosure.
Sounds like a similar system? It seems like HMRC are adopting ones given by the DVLA for driving offences. Of course, there is no suggestion that if you gather enough points in tax return penalties you will then be banned from paying tax…! More to follow once the Autumn Budget has been announced.
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