To understand its importance, it is necessary to look at the scale of the matter with regards to small and medium sized businesses (SME’s). 

In the UK, there are some 5.7m SME’s, which account for almost the whole of the private sector firms and 60% of total UK private sector employment. SME’s also account for 73% of all net private sector job creation in the UK. Therefore, SME’s have significant implications for the economy and anything that can effect SME’s is very important.

SME’s need to be proactive and prudent as they prepare for BREXIT – deal or no deal. While some business know how they will be affected, and what will be the consequences. Many do not have the time to spare to look at this and seriously lack any plan of action of how to deal with and overcome weaknesses that may affect their business.

This short article will focus on the most important aspects of leaving the EU without a deal for small businesses.

• With a no deal Brexit, it will affect how businesses buy and sell in EU.  There will be increased port clearance time for goods both in bound and out bound of the UK. This can serious effect supply chains and delivery times, large corporations such have expressed extreme alarm at the possibility of delays and stoppages to their supply chains and as such SME’s need to make serious contingency plans also.
• Businesses will not be able to hire workers that easily or not at all. In the short term it is plausible that all new EU nationals will no longer be allowed to work here in UK. And therefore finding skilled reasonable cost employee may be more difficult. Which means businesses will have to employ locally, that may consequently increase their costs and in wages and or expect more work from fewer staff to cover the costs of higher wages so leading to less job satisfaction in the workplace.
• There may also be non-tariff barriers and we may no longer be allowed to buy or sell goods from EU the same as we have done in the past. Especially when it comes to food business. Old licenses and certificates will not be accepted on both sides. Current VAT regime will no longer be applicable. And these in the interim may cause a lot of financial problems with VAT bills and accounting
• Even if small businesses buy products from local wholesalers, their supply chain and procurement will be severely affected. This will indirectly affect your businesses as well.
• Over all, delays mean increased costs and inefficiency’s which could result in bad customer satisfaction and higher time expended in providing customer satisfaction.
• There may be new tariffs and increase admin costs and it is important for businesses to realise, either they are ready to pass these on customers or will they be sustainable to keep doing business with shrunken profit margin.

 
There are more questions than answers regarding impact of Brexit available yet. Ever lingering uncertainty and heightened anxiety in the business world in awash in the news at the moment. In any case, costs and delays relating to customs and trade are expected to increase in general. And these will affect all businesses and consumers.

Some businesses may see their business grow and will look for new opportunities, but many are likely to lose out, if they do not plan ahead and manage their competitive position.

By Awais at Tax Affinity Accountants in Epsom, Surrey

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Surbiton , Worcester Park , Kingston upon Thames , Cheam and Epsom they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and tax advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting business throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.

We are proud to announce the opening of our newest office in Epsom, Surrey. Due to contunued success and ever increasing demand from our customers. Coupled with the fact that many clients already lived in the Epsom area. We felt this was a natural additon to our branches.

Our office address is:
Tax Affinity Accountants
27 Waterloo Road
Epsom
Surrey
KT19 8EX.

Come in or Contact us online and we would be happy to help. Use the map below to find your best route to the office. There is free 20 mins parking directly infront of the office and its a 2 minute walk from Epsom mainline rail station.

With more and more people each year passing assets and money to friends and family, its important to know that passing on items with monetary value in the wrong way can incur higher taxes if not done the most tax efficient way.

The individual circumstances for each person are unique and as such you should always seek expert tax advice from an expert like Tax Affinity Accountants - considered one of the Industry leader's with regards to their tax and accounting knowledge and experience. However we have also listed the basic rules below as a guide:

1. Inheritance tax (IHT) is on your entire estate value - ie all the property, money, cars, antiques, stock, etc.
2. Each person has a £325,000 inheritance tax allowance, even if your entire estate is below this total value you still need to declare it to HMRC.
3. Inheritance tax rate is a whopping 40% so its important to get it done right.
4. The inheritence tax rate can go down to 36% if you leave 10% or more of your estate to a charity.
5. Gifts of money to friends and family can still be applicable to inheritance tax as only £3000 per annum is exempt.
6. You can pass your home, to your spouse and there will be no inheritance tax. If to children then the threshold of tax free allowance goes up to £450,000.
7. There is a 7 year rule, if you pass on something and live 7 years from that date then there is no inheritance tax (IHT). If you want to pass on your home but continue to live there then this is different and you should seek professional support and advice.
8. If you are domociled outside the UK then foriegn income and assets are not taxed. However UK assets will still be applicable. HMRC can still treat you as domociled in the UK if you have lived last 15 of 20 years in UK and had a permanent home in the UK within last 3 years of your life.
9. There are many other tax issues and allowances that can make a big difference and as mentioned above it is important to seek professional tax advice from an expert like Tax Affinity Accountants - considered one of the Industry leader's with regards to their tax and accounting knowledge and experience.
   

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Surbiton , Worcester Park , Kingston upon Thames , Cheam and Epsom they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and tax advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting business throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.

It's April and this means the end of the previous tax year and start of the next. HMRC's personal tax year runs from 6th April to 5th April each year.

The start of the new UK tax year from 6.4.18 means there are new opportunities and new rules and allowances that now apply. So, it is a good time to take a moment and work through what is best for you and your personal circumstances to make them more tax efficient and plan and budget for the coming year.

The UK government and HMRC are ramping up their collection system and enforcement to try to get as much money in to pay for Brexit and other services etc so it’s up to each individual to become more vigilant to how they may end up with less in their pocket than previously.

Checking your income tax code regularly is now a necessity. Call HMRC immediately if something looks incorrect or out of the norm. Tax codes can often be incorrectly produced if there is a slight mix up in info and recent news reports have highlighted more changed tax codes than usual.

Complete your personal tax return for 17/18 early. It’s not worth waiting till 31st January 2019 when its actually the payment deadline day to work out how much tax is due if your self-employed because if you are owed a tax refund this means waiting till Feb / March 2019. Also, if you do owe tax then you have 9 months to plan and budget to pay for the sooner you know how much is due.

The personal tax-free allowance goes up to £11,850 from £11,500 and dividend tax allowance falls to £2000 from £5000, similar movements with other allowances means it helps to plan ahead to decide which year to receive and declare income. A good tax accountant can help with this - note an average bean counter (accountant) does not normally keep up to date with rapidly changing tax rules and regulations so may not be able to help.

We always recommend you speak to an expert tax accountant - they should save you far more in tax than they ever charge plus their fees are tax deductible - so it’s a win, win situation if your serious about planning ahead and paying less tax the correct way.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Surbiton , Worcester Park , Kingston upon Thames , Cheam and Epsom they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and tax advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting business throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.

Each year we receive thousands of pounds of HMRC refunds for CIS contractors that had tax deducted at source. And as the tax year 17/18 (ie year ended 5/4/18) comes to an end a claim for a CIS refund can be put it as early as 6/4/18.

With a 6 to 8 week turnaround by HMRC to check and pay out the refund its worth getting your CIS tax return done as early as possible to ensure a quick refund.

HMRC will not remind you of a refund balance due, and will cancel the tax payers ability to claim it back after 5 years have lapsed from the end of the tax year it was applicable in. So there is a limited amount of time to claim the CIS refund and if left to long HMRC will not refund it.

If you want help with your CIS tax return for year ended 5/4/2018 then please get it touch as soon as you can. With our tax expertise and specilist tax software that connect directly to HMRC we can calculate and submit the best return for you ensuring the highest refund that can be correctly claimed.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Surbiton , Worcester Park , Kingston upon Thames , Cheam and Epsom they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and tax advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting business throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.

In a nutshell it was typical political waffle and little substance. But what we want to know and what our clients want to know is what it means for them. Well check out the simple list below to save time and get straight to the main factual points.

• Minimum wage rates expected to keep rising. The National Living Wage will rise to £7.83 per hour from April 2018 - meaning more pressure on small business as wage costs rise and sales decrease, leading to further staff cut backs or new ways to automate work with fewer staff needed e.g. self-service.
• Country still has debt interest payments of £50 billion per year as before - no surprises there.
• £1.5 billion has been allocated to departments to prepare for Brexit in March 2019 - meaning less to spending on other areas such as NHS etc.
• £1.67 billion to be given to London to start building a further 27,000 affordable homes by end of 2021-22 - 27,000 properties for a city that houses 8.63 Million people (last count in 2017) means nothing much happening and developers pocketing the vast amount of the money and selling the flats at 300k plus. But there will be work for skilled professional tradesmen / women as sites get redeveloped.
• Consultation on a new VAT collection mechanism for online sales - e.g. Ebay, Amazon, Airbnb etc. sellers are to be targeted further as already explained on previous blogs. HMRC wants the tax on this hidden income and Ebay and Amazon have already cut deals with HMRC to not look at their own finances and instead give will happily provide HMRC info on sellers on their websites.
• Consultation on tax changes to discourage use of single-use plastic, including takeaway boxes and disposable cups - like plastic bag charge of 5p.
• Next revaluation of business rates to be brought forward by one year to 2021 - a lot of businesses ended up with nil business rates for small shops and double or more for large shops in the last change in April 2017. Meaning larger shops are becoming empty in out of town areas and the lack of government income from smaller units. Do they increase small unit from nil and reduce for large? - We think so it’s the likely outcome for 'no idea what it’s like to be self-employed' civil servants in Whitehall.
• Consultation launched on the role of cash in the new economy, including future demand for 1p and 2p pieces and £50 notes. Basically the most significant hidden point in the whole statement, basically it means they want to move to a European style system where everyone has to provide a receipt for work and cash payments above a certain amount are no longer permitted. The plan in the small print of actual statement (not speech) say they want to crack down on cash-in-hand payments and the government expects to rake in as much as £3.5 billion a year in tax from cash payments.
  

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Surbiton , Worcester Park , Kingston upon Thames , Cheam and Epsom they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and tax advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting business throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.

Sometimes some a tax payer will have their tax return amended by HMRC after it was submitted. This is a normal thing and nothing to worry about. As it means that HMRC are checking to make sure the information on the tax return matches with the information they hold from other sources e.g. PAYE, CIS etc.

An example is if your tax return did not mention a former employer in the tax year and HMRC records show there was a former employer and some income and tax paid at that employer may affect the bottom final tax figure. This means there could be a difference in the final amount of tax due or refund due from HMRC to you.

Sometimes this is not even your fault as you may have handed the new employer your P45 from the previous employer and the new employer should have start your PAYE using the P45 income and tax figures and carry forward from there, but for a number of reasons the new employer could not do this and therefore the tax code is set on a default standard code meaning you have received 2 lots of tax free allowance in a year.  When this happens towards the end of the tax year (April) HMRC cannot send a notice to amend the tax code to the employer in time to adjust the over / under paid tax. So, they wait instead for the information to be included in the tax return to automatically update with the full info for the year.

Therefore it's not a problem but a normal procedure by HMRC to ensure a tax payer is correctly aligned with their records held and their tax paid is correct. Unfortunately for a tax payer, sometimes this means handing back some of a tax refund as paid by HMRC previously or having a higher tax bill at the end of the tax year.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Surbiton , Worcester Park , Kingston upon Thames , Cheam and Epsom they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and tax advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting business throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.

All Personal Tax returns (self assessments) have to sent to HMRC by 31.1.18 and anytime after that will incur an automatic penalty of £100, which can rise up to £1300 the longer it remains outstanding. This is even if you had no tax due, as its a penalty for late submission not late payment of tax. Late payment of tax can incur more fines and interest upon the amount calculated at a daily rate.

Below is a list to help explain the fines process:

1. Three months late: You will receive a £10 fine for each day that it is late for the length of 90 days (£900) that is also on top of the £100 which gives a total of £1000.
2. Six months late: Along with the penalties already received you will either face a fine of 5% of the tax return amount or £300 and it is likely to be the one that is the highest.
3. In extreme cases HMRC could request 100% of the tax return amount meaning that your payment would be doubled.

Also penalties can be issued for incorrect tax returns:

1. If reasonable care has been taken: No penalty.
2. If seen as careless: 0-30% of extra tax owed.
3. Deliberate underestimation: 20-70%.
4. Deliberate underestimation and attempt to conceal: 30-100%.

Therefore it makes sense that everyone should seek the help and support of an experienced and qualified accountant or tax advisor. As a reputable firm of accountants, such as Tax Affinity Accountants, will usually save you far more money in saved taxes through their skill and knowledge than they will ever charge. Leaving you more time and money to concentrate on your business, especially in these difficult economic times.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Surbiton , Worcester Park , Kingston upon Thames , Cheam and Epsom they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and tax advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting business throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.

As of today there are only 16 working days till the 31st January 2018, which is HMRC's online self assessment deadline. Our team of experienced tax accountants, some who have worked in the top 5 accounting firms in the UK, advise everyone to make haste and ensure their tax return is done early to both minimise tax and the chance of late filing penalty.

The submission of the personal income tax return and the payment of any tax and NI due for the period 6/4/16 to 5/4/17 is midnight 31/1/18. And anyone who has not yet had their tax return done should start to worry about the 'up to £1300 fine plus interest on late paid tax' imposed by HMRC for missing the deadline. To put it further in to perspective there is an immediate penalty of £100 if the return even one day late.

The self assessment / personal tax return is required from the following types of people:

1. Self Employed (even partially) during the tax year 16/17 ie 6/4/16 to 5/4/17
2. Employed and earning over 100k for the year ended 5/4/17
3. Director or shareholder of a Company and taking dividends in the period as above
4. If you have received rental income in the period 6/4/16 to 5/4/17
5. You received savings and investments income in the period 6/4/16 to 5/4/17
6. You sold something and made a profit on the item, so are required to pay the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) eg selling shares, a property, an antique, Plant and Machinery etc
7. You have received income over £50,000 and you claimed Child Benefit
8. If you have not notified HMRC that you have left self employment and they have not confirmed that you do not need to do a 16/17 return
9. A letter / email / text from HMRC has been received by the tax payer advising them that they need to submit a tax return for the 16/17 year (note: only new registrants may get a reminder as HMRC expects old registrants to already know the deadlines and protocols required).
10. You received income from overseas including off shore companies (the law has changed)
11. You lived abroad and had income from the UK
12. You are retired and receive more than one type of pension and annual income payment pushing you over the personal income allowance
13. You have had a P800 from HMRC saying you have not paid enough tax in the year
14. You are  minister of religion or and Underwriter
15 Even if a person has died they may still need to submit a tax return to make sure they have paid the correct tax and those that receive an inheritance may need to pay for Inheritance Tax (HMRC will advise further).
16. If you have received a P11d and not paid the correct tax for the benefit in kind eg company car, private medical, gym, travel etc

So if you haven't already had your tax return done and still need to send / drop in your income and expenses information, please take heed of this reminder.

For those that have handed in their information, we will make sure it is done before the deadline and if there is any tax due we will advise you of this well before the deadline. We can even have your deadline extended in some cases as we are a registered authorised agent for HMRC.

And if your thinking of using an accountant - then make sure to note, not all accountants are the same. We recommend you use an expert in tax so he/she saves you far more in tax than you ever have to pay them for their service. A lot of accountants are using out of date knowledge they learned along time ago and never bother to keep up to date with the ever changing landscape of HMRC tax rules and regulations.

With fines up to £1300 plus interest on the amount of tax due. This means for some, the penalties can be much greater than the actual tax that would have been due. So don't delay, as you have little time left. And in the unfortunate even that you do miss the deadline  - most excuses and appeals are rejected by HMRC.

If you would like to contact us about having your tax return done by an experienced tax accountant then go to our contact us page and tell us your requirements today.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Surbiton , Worcester Park , Kingston upon Thames , Cheam and Epsom they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and tax advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting business throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support.

For more information visit www.taxaffinity.com. To read more interesting articles like this visit www.taxaffinity.com/blog. Please feel free to comment and share this with your friends.