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National Volunteer Week - Recognising The Invaluable Contributions Of Volunteers

Volunteers Week takes place between 1st and 7th June every year. It's a chance to recognise the fantastic contribution volunteers make to our communities and say thank you. It’s a time to say thanks. This is a time for us to come together and thank all volunteers for their invaluable contribution. As well as helping others, volunteering has been shown to improve volunteers' wellbeing too. It can also help you gain valuable new skills and experiences, and boost your confidence. We at Cashtrak a...

HMRC Concludes Kickboxing Company Is NOT Exempt From VAT

A martial arts kickboxing company disputed paying VAT with HMRC, claiming they should be exempt from as they provide a form of tuition, has lost the dispute. The tribunal ruled that ‘kickboxing is not an activity which is commonly taught at schools or universities in the European Union.’ The dispute started in April 2017 after HMRC began a VAT enquiry into the company and HMRC claimed the company had a VAT liability of over £400,000 for output tax for it supplies of kickboxing classes betwe...

Working From Home - Claiming Tax Relief On Home Expenses

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a big shift in the working practices of many employees with the country slowly recovering and carefully loosening restrictions, many employees continue working from home for various reasons – saving the employer money on premises and work-life balance. Working from home is not for some with some employees having to be in an office or preferring to be office based but for the employees that are continuing to work from home, there are tax benefits available to most...

Learning At Work Week 2021 - Highlighting The Benefits Of Learning & Development At Work

Co-ordinated by the Campaign for Learning since 1999, the primary goal of Learning at Work Week is to spotlight the benefits of learning and development at work and build learning cultures at work. Partners of the event are running free and low cost opportunities. Bookkeeping is a regulated profession, a fundamental part of our membership with The Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB), is that we are committed to the continuing development of our professional skills, ensuring they maintain th...

Making Tax Digital (MTD) For VAT| Businesses Still Not Aware Of Requirements| Is Your Business Compliant?

Making Tax Digital (MTD) is a key part of the government's plans to make it easier for individuals and businesses to get their tax right and keep on top of their affairs. Their plan is for HMRC to become one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world and as such, changes in the way tax is managed has changed and will continue to change. HMRC state that the by transforming tax administration, it will be: more effectivemore efficienteasier for taxpayers to get their tax right ...

Today Marks The Start Of The New Tax Year - What Businesses & Self-Employed People Need To Know

The 2021/22 new tax year starts today. We look at the grants, loans, changes and freezes you need to know about! Income Tax Self-Assessment Tax Return You can submit your 2020/21 tax return, now known as an ITSA (Income Tax Self Assessment) any time from now until 31st January 2022. There are numerous benefits of submitting your tax return early, your payment deadline remains as 31st January regardless of when you submit it. Click here for top tax return tips.Self-Employment Income Support ...

IR35 Also Known As Off Payroll Working Rules Change From 6th April, 2021 - What You Need To Know

From 6th April 2021, the IR35 rules have changed which means all organisations that have workers providing services through an intermediary (more information on an intermediary below) to public sector clients and medium or large-sized private sector clients will be responsible for deciding worker’s employment status. This includes some charities and third sector organisations. Previously, the worker was responsible for deciding their employment status for tax purposes. IR35 rules have been cha...

*Update 2024* From 1st July 2024 The Recovery Loan Scheme Now Growth Guarantee Scheme

For information on the new, re branded Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS) funding small businesses investment and growth click here.The following information is on the GGS predecessor, the Recovery Loan Scheme which was introduced in 2021. ...

What Is Your P60?

If you’re working for an employer on 5th April, they must provide you with a P60. This must be given to you by 31st May, on paper or electronically. Your P60 shows the tax you’ve paid on your salary in the tax year (6th April to 5th April). It is a form showing all the money you’ve been paid in the tax year, along with all the tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) that have been taken out. You will get a separate P60 for each of your jobs. You should keep your P60 safe, it’s t...

Why Payroll Matters - Employee Satisfaction

Ultimately, employees work to be paid. Payroll is therefore fundamental to the relationship with and motivation of an employee. An employee carries out their work and, rightly, expects to be paid correctly and on time. When this doesn’t happen, it damages the relationship and motivation.Poor payroll in an organisation can have a negative impact on employees. Payroll is a complex business, it can be easily processed incorrectly by the wrong person. Payroll errors can lead to poor mental wellbei...

HMRC SEISS Email Communication Asking To Prove Trade By 22nd March Or Not Receive Any Further Grants May Be Missed By Many

Some self-employed workers were sent an email last month from HMRC asking them to prove they are still trading before they can claim any further SEISS grants before 22nd March, if HMRC do not receive a response then then they state the tax payer will not be able to receive any further SEISS grants. Even if you have responded, they advise that future SEISS claims may be delayed whilst HMRC check the information you provide.   The SEISS grant is only available if work was stopped due to ...

Budget: Extensions to Furlough, Self-employed Support, Business Grants, Loans & VAT Cuts: Total Support Over £407 Billion.

The Chancellor has announced his 3 point plan to protect jobs and strengthen public finances: Billions to support businesses and families through the pandemicInvestment-led recovery as UK emerges from lockdownFuture changes to strengthen public finances We look at the schemes, grants announcements and anything else related to businesses and self-employed people. Furlough Scheme: Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)  The CJRS will be extended until end of September as follows: Now to end...

Changes To The BrightPay Payroll Portal Coming This Month

UpdateThe portal that we supply for our payroll will be introducing extra security measures, Two Factor Authentication can soon be enabled as a feature for users of BrightPay Connect. Two Factor Authentication is a second layer of protection to re-confirm the identity for users logging into Connect through an internet browser or through BrightPay. This improves security, protects against fraud and lowers the risk of data breaches as users can access sensitive employer and employee data...

HMRC Statutory Payment Increases, Self-Assessment Tax Return Payment Update And Kickstart Scheme Round Up

Allowance Changes As there was no Autumn Statement, the financial secretary to the Treasury announced a written ministerial statement in the House of Commons with details of the increase of the National Insurance thresholds. The 2020 Autumn Spending Review confirmed that the personal tax allowance and tax basic rate threshold would increase by 0.5%. This is based on the consumer price index. This would mean that the personal tax allowance for 2021-22 would increase by £70 from £12,500 to...

Restaurant Director Fined And Banned From Running Any Company For Hiding Takings To Avoid Paying VAT and Corporation Tax

A restaurant director from Kenilworth in Warwickshire has been fined and banned from owning or managing a company for 5 years for not submitting the correct sales figures for VAT returns and avoiding  paying Corporation Tax. The director of Simla Restaurant, entered into liquidation in August 2019, this triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service into the his conduct. Investigators uncovered that the business had traded between 2002 and mid 2008 without issue. However, in June 2008...

Employers May Need To Recalculate Furlough Claims For January Following An Error Discovered In The HMRC Furlough Calculator

Accounting Web has reported that an error embedded in HMRC’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) calculator means employers may need to recalculate furlough claims for January.  HMRC announced it had uncovered a mistake in its CJRS calculator that could mean claims have been over or understated, they apologised, stating: “We’re afraid our CJRS calculator on GOV.UK contained a software error, which we have now corrected.” As a result, employers will need to recalculate their CJRS...

14.74% Of People Have Missed The Self-Assessment Tax Return Deadline And Are Being Charged Interest

The self-assessment tax return deadline of 31st January has passed and there are still 1.8 million people yet to file. Whilst the payment deadline has been postponed to 28th February, tax returns still had to be filed by 31st January. Interest will be charged on the tax liability until the tax return is filed. Any outstanding balances must be paid or a payment plan arranged before 3rd March otherwise HMRC will charge a 5% late payment penalty. Anyone not able to afford their tax bill are able to...

Self-Assessment Tax Return Advice And Help

Earlier this month, HMRC have released some interesting tax return statistics: HMRC expects 12.1 million tax returns to be filed this yearAround 55% have already filed their returns by the beginning of January93% of these (6.2 million) were submitted onlineAlmost 18,000 filed their tax returns on 1 January5.4 million returns still to file, as at 4 January 2021450,000 returns filed on paper (7% of total filed) * These figures include a forecasted adjustment for create return charge and unsol...

New Support Announced For Businesses Following Lockdown 3.0 By The Chancellor

With many businesses having to close due to lockdown 3.0, the Chancellor has announced further support for businesses on 5th January, 2021. Retail, hospitality and leisure businesses will get one-off top up grants worth up to £9,000 per property.Impacted businesses will have access to a discretionary fund of £594 million. It is being made available for Local Authorities and the Devolved Administrations to support other businesses not eligible for the grants, that might be affected by the restr...

With Tax The Self-Assessment Tax Return Deadline Next Month, How To Avoid The Tax Scammers

Unfortunately, we are well aware of criminals preying on individuals in all walks of life. With the tax return deadline just over 8 weeks away, HMRC are warning self-assessment customers to take care to avoid being caught out by scammers. The tax return department issues thousands of text messages and emails as part of its annual Self Assessment tax return push. In the last 12 months, HMRC has responded to more than 846,000 referrals of suspicious HMRC contact and reported over 15,500 malicious ...

We Are Marking International Day of Persons with Disabilities By Championing Our Client Adam Thomas Who Designs Accessible Kitchens

This year, International Day of Persons with Disabilities is highlighting “Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World Disability inclusion is an essential condition to upholding human rights”. The annual observance of the International Day of Disabled Persons was started by the United Nations General Assembly in 1992. It aims to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities and to increase awareness of the situation of...

Key Business Points From The Chancellor Government Spending Plans Announcement

With the coronavirus pandemic causing an ‘economic emergency’, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak claims it has only just begun and will cause lasting damage to growth and jobs. Forecasts show that the UK economy is not expected to return to it’s pre-crisis level for 2 years. The government will borrow £394 billion this year, Mr Sunak said his "number one priority is to protect jobs and livelihoods”. This year, the government are providing £280 billion to get the UK through coronavirus. Stati...

Global Bookkeeping Week: With Businesses Booming, How In Demand Bookkeepers Can Help Businesses

As we wrap up a week of celebrating global bookkeepers, we look in to bookkeeping as a career.The number of private sector businesses in the UK at the start of 2020 was estimated to be 6 million, made up of:5.94 million small businesses (0 to 49 employees),36,100 medium-sized businesses (50 to 249 employees)7,800 large businesses (250 or more employees,This was an increase of 1.9% (113,000 more) businesses compared with 2019. 2.7 million private sector businesses were recorded as regis...

Global Bookkeeping Week: Why Bookkeepers Are So Much More Than Data Entry Clerks

As part of Global Bookkeeping Week, we look in to the often misunderstood role of a bookkeeper. What Is A Bookkeeper? Bookkeepers are responsible for providing accurate, up-to-date financial information about a business. We are always taking the pulse of a business, we often act as an extension to the business and encourage our clients to include us in development of their strategies. We work closely with our clients on how to grow their business, how the decisions and technology will impac...

Global Bookkeeping Week: Bookkeeping Success Story

As part of #Globalbookkeepingweek we take a look at one of our many success stories, where we have turned our client's business and fortunes around! Background Client is an independent kitchen studio designedBased in the High Wycombe area in BucksEstablished 1992Company has interests in a range of kitchen design areas, including standard retail kitchens, kitchens for private developers and kitchens for older and disabled peopleFit kitchens across the UKHave an established reputation, particularl...