The UK Government and the Chancellor have set out a package of temporary measures to support public services, people and businesses through this period of disruption caused by COVID-19.

This includes actions to support businesses including:

• a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
• deferring VAT and Income Tax payments
• a Statutory Sick Pay relief package for SMEs
• a 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England
• small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief
• grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000
• the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme offering loans of up to £5 million for SMEs through the British Business Bank
• a new lending facility from the Bank of England to help support liquidity among larger firms, helping them bridge coronavirus disruption to their cash flows through loans
• the HMRC Time To Pay Scheme

If you need help with your applications for government grants, loans and allowances as described above then as authorised HMRC agents and expert tax accountants Tax Affinity Accountants are available to support your business at this critical time. Urgently contact us by clicking here and we will use our expertise to support your business through this difficult time.

Support for businesses through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
Under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, all UK employers are able to access support to continue paying part of their employees’ salary for those employees that would otherwise have been laid off during this crisis.

Eligibility
All UK businesses are eligible.
How to access the scheme
You will need to:

• designate affected employees as ‘furloughed workers,’ and notify your employees of this change - changing the status of employees remains subject to existing employment law and, depending on the employment contract, may be subject to negotiation
• submit information to HMRC about the employees that have been furloughed and their earnings through a new online portal (HMRC will set out further details on the information required)

HMRC will reimburse 80% of furloughed (those on payroll but not working) workers wage costs, up to a cap of £2,500 per month. HMRC are working urgently to set up a system for reimbursement. Existing systems are not set up to facilitate payments to employers.

If your business needs short term cash flow support, you may be eligible for a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan.

Support for businesses through deferring VAT and Income Tax payments
Government will support businesses by deferring Valued Added Tax (VAT) payments for 3 months. If you’re self-employed, Income Tax payments due in July 2020 under the Self-Assessment system will be deferred to January 2021.
VATFor VAT, the deferral will apply from 20 March 2020 until 30 June 2020.
Eligibility
All UK businesses are eligible.
How to access the scheme
This is an automatic offer with no applications required. Businesses will not need to make a VAT payment during this period. Taxpayers will be given until the end of the 2020 to 2021 tax year to pay any liabilities that have accumulated during the deferral period. VAT refunds and reclaims will be paid by the government as normal.

Income Tax
For Income Tax Self-Assessment, payments due on the 31 July 2020 will be deferred until the 31 January 2021.
Eligibility
If you are self-employed you are eligible.
How to access the scheme
This is an automatic offer with no applications required.
No penalties or interest for late payment will be charged in the deferral period.
HMRC have also scaled up their Time to Pay offer to all firms and individuals who are in temporary financial distress as a result of Covid-19 and have outstanding tax liabilities.

Support for businesses who are paying sick pay to employees
Goverment will bring forward legislation to allow small-and medium-sized businesses and employers to reclaim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) paid for sickness absence due to COVID-19. The eligibility criteria for the scheme will be as follows:

• this refund will cover up to 2 weeks’ SSP per eligible employee who has been off work because of COVID-19
• employers with fewer than 250 employees will be eligible - the size of an employer will be determined by the number of people they employed as of 28 February 2020
• employers will be able to reclaim expenditure for any employee who has claimed SSP (according to the new eligibility criteria) as a result of COVID-19
• employers should maintain records of staff absences and payments of SSP, but employees will not need to provide a GP fit note. If evidence is required by an employer, those with symptoms of coronavirus can get an isolation note from NHS 111 online and those who live with someone that has symptoms can get a note from the NHS website
• eligible period for the scheme will commence the day after the regulations on the extension of SSP to those staying at home comes into force
• the government will work with employers over the coming months to set up the repayment mechanism for employers as soon as possible

Eligibility
You are eligible for the scheme if:

• your business is UK based
• your business is a small or medium-sized and employs fewer than 250 employees as of 28 February 2020

How to access the scheme
A rebate scheme is being developed. Further details will be provided in due course once the legalisation has passed. Government websites will contain more details.

Support for businesses that pay business ratesBusiness rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses
Goverment will introduce a business rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England for the 2020 to 2021 tax year.

Businesses that received the retail discount in the 2019 to 2020 tax year will be rebilled by their local authority as soon as possible.
Eligibility
You are eligible for the business rates holiday if:

• your business is based in England
• your business is in the retail, hospitality and/or leisure sector

Properties that will benefit from the relief will be occupied hereditaments that are wholly or mainly being used:

• as shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas and live music venues
• for assembly and leisure
• as hotels, guest & boarding premises and self-catering accommodation

How to access the scheme
There is no action for you. This will apply to your next council tax bill in April 2020. However, local authorities may have to reissue your bill automatically to exclude the business rate charge. They will do this as soon as possible.
You can estimate the business rate charge you will no longer have to pay this year using the business rates calculator.

Further guidance for local authorities is available in the expanded retail discount guidance.

Cash grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businessesThe Retail and Hospitality Grant Scheme provides businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors with a cash grant of up to £25,000 per property.
For businesses in these sectors with a rateable value of under £15,000, they will receive a grant of £10,000.
For businesses in these sectors with a rateable value of between £15,001 and £51,000, they will receive a grant of £25,000.
Eligibility
You are eligible for the grant if:

• your business is based in England
• your business is in the retail, hospitality and/or leisure sector

Properties that will benefit from the relief will be occupied hereditaments that are wholly or mainly being used:

• as shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas and live music venues
• for assembly and leisure
• as hotels, guest and boarding premises and self-catering accommodation

How to access the scheme
You do not need to do anything. Your local authority will write to you if you are eligible for this grant.
Guidance for local authorities on the scheme will be provided shortly.
Any enquiries on eligibility for, or provision of, the reliefs and grants should be directed to the relevant local authority.
Find your local authority on Google.

Support for businesses that pay little or no business ratesThe government will provide additional Small Business Grant Scheme funding for local authorities to support small businesses that already pay little or no business rates because of small business rate relief (SBBR), rural rate relief (RRR) and tapered releif. This will provide a one-off grant of £10,000 to eligible businesses to help meet their ongoing business costs.
Eligibility
You are eligible if:

• your business is based in England
• you are a small business and already receive SBBR and/or RRR
• you are a business that occupies property

How to access the schemeYou do not need to do anything. Your local authority will write to you if you are eligible for this grant.
Guidance for local authorities on the scheme will be provided shortly.
Any enquiries on eligibility for, or provision of, the reliefs and grants should be directed to the relevant local authority.
Find your local authority on Google.

Support for businesses through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan SchemeA new temporary Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, delivered by the British Business Bank, will launch early next week to support primarily small and medium-sized businesses to access bank lending and overdrafts.
The government will provide lenders with a guarantee of 80% on each loan (subject to a per-lender cap on claims) to give lenders further confidence in continuing to provide finance to SMEs. The government will not charge businesses or banks for this guarantee, and the Scheme will support loans of up to £5 million in value.
Businesses can access the first 12 months of that finance interest free, as government will cover the first 12 months of interest payments.
Eligibility
You are eligible for the scheme if:

• your business is UK based, with turnover of no more than £45 million per year
• your business meets the other British Business Bank eligibility criteria

How to access the schemeThe full rules of the Scheme and the list of accredited lenders is available on the British Business Bank website. All the major banks will offer the Scheme once it has launched. There are 40 accredited providers in all.

You should talk to your bank or finance provider (not the British Business Bank) as soon as possible and discuss your business plan with them. This will help your finance provider to act quickly once the Scheme has launched. If you have an existing loan with monthly repayments you may want to ask for a repayment holiday to help with cash flow.
The scheme will be available from early next week commencing 23 March.

Support for larger firms through the COVID-19 Corporate Financing Facility
Under the new Covid-19 Corporate Financing Facility, the Bank of England will buy short term debt from larger companies.
This will support your company if it has been affected by a short-term funding squeeze, and allow you to finance your short-term liabilities.
It will also support corporate finance markets overall and ease the supply of credit to all firms.
Eligibility
All UK businesses are eligible.
How to access the schemeThe scheme will be available early in week beginning 23 March 2020.
The Government will provide information on how to access the scheme soon - keep an eye on their website updates.

More information is available from the Bank of England website.

Support for businesses paying tax: Time to Pay serviceAll businesses and self-employed people in financial distress, and with outstanding tax liabilities, may be eligible to receive support with their tax affairs through HMRC’s Time To Pay service.
These arrangements are agreed on a case-by-case basis and are tailored to individual circumstances and liabilities.
Eligibility
You are eligible if your business:

• pays tax to the UK government
• has outstanding tax liabilities

How to access the schemeIf you have missed a tax payment or you might miss your next payment due to COVID-19, please call HMRC’s dedicated helpline: 0800 0159 559.
If you’re worried about a future payment, call HMRC nearer the time.

Insurance
Businesses that have cover for both pandemics and government-ordered closure should be covered, as the government and insurance industry confirmed on 17 March 2020 that advice to avoid pubs, theatres etc is sufficient to make a claim as long as all other terms and conditions are met.
Insurance policies differ significantly, so businesses are encouraged to check the terms and conditions of their specific policy and contact their providers. Most businesses are unlikely to be covered, as standard business interruption insurance policies are dependent on damage to property and will exclude pandemics.

If you need help with your applications for government grants, loans and allowances as described above then as authorised HMRC agents and expert tax accountants Tax Affinity Accountants are available to support your business at this critical time. Urgently contact us by clicking here and we will use our expertise to support your business through this difficult time.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. Based in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Epsom they are considered in the Industry to be expert business accountants and tax advisors for small and medium sized businesses (SME's). Helping and supporting limited company owners and self employed people throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice and support. Their support has been considered invaluable by many clients and key to their success.

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.

Changes to UK Income tax rates changes for 19/20 from 5th April 2019:

Personal allowance:
Up to £12,500, Tax 0%
Basic rate
£12,501 to £50,000, Tax 20%
Higher rate
£50,001 to £150,000, Tax 40%
Additional rate
Over £150,000, Tax 45%

Allowances:
There are many other changes with tax allowances such as Annual Investment Allowance claimable rising to £200,000 per annum.

Dividend tax rates:
The tax-free dividend allowance is £2,000
Basic-rate taxpayers pay 7.5% on dividends
Higher-rate taxpayers pay 32.5% on dividends
Additional-rate taxpayers pay 38.1% on dividends.

Corporation Tax:
Rate remains at 19%

Directors Loans:
If loaned amount exceeds £10,000 at any point during the year then 2.5% nominal interest on the whole amount plus Class 1A National Insurance contributions (13.8%), and may need to be reported on your P11D

As market leaders and experts in Tax and accounting for business, there are of course many other changes as well and these we regularly advise and update our clients as and when the tax rules change. If you would like to become a client and receive this support and updates - contact us today.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. Based in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Espom they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and tax advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting contractors and self employed people throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice.

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.

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.

The General Election, Brexit, Falling UK Sterling and lower consumer confidence across the UK has made a perfect storm of negativity with small to medium sized businesses seeing lowering sales and profit in last couple of months.

We've seen this is with many of our clients. (Why is your current accountant not telling you this?) And this worrying trend may last longer as the summer months arrive and peoples' focus switches to holiday and spending less money as they keep hearing about inflation and other scary words they don't understand.

So with that in mind how does a small / medium sized business keep growing or, at the very least, keep the money coming same as previously?

Well at Tax Affinity Accountants we've been helping business through many recessions / downturns and believe in giving useful real time support and advice to small and medium sized businesses. And with this in mind the tried and tested list below will help:

1. Go where the money is - be adaptable and look to see what is selling and sell more of that and stock less that which is in less demand. If its a different product or service that you don't offer consider adding this.
2. Give the customer what they want not what you want - listen to them and understand them properly and give them what they are looking for. Your customer will tell you how to keep things going in your business. Ask them, remember you have two ears and one mouth, use them in that proportion.
3. Make an offer they cant refuse - when things are difficult for a client make sure you have offers and special deals like the supermarket and larger traders do to entice them. This may mean offer something at a low price with the plan to sell another product/service that compliments that item and will make more profit.
4. Keep an eye on competition - make sure your business is not lagging behind on the four P's of the marketing mix - Product, Price, Promotion, Place. All four need to be excellent to ensure growth in a downturn.
5. Give away stuff to entice people to keep visiting - This doesn't mean give everything away at a knock down price, but more specifically could mean a good chance to clear out old stock items and have more space by getting rid of it at cost price. The customers get a good deal and you keep the cash-flow coming in.
6. Don't use bad economic conditions as an excuse - stay focused and think positive, don't listen to negative sources of information, look at the positive sources as well. Many large retailers have a positive outlook, its just  that media outlets like to dwell on negativity as bad news sells better than good. Compare your business to the bigger companies and see what they are doing and what you can do as well. The Director /  CEO that thinks and plans positively is the one that drive their business forward.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. Based in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames they are considered in the Industry to be expert accountants and tax advisors for small businesses. Helping and supporting contractors and self employed people throughout the UK, they regularly help clients grow their business providing tailored advice.

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.

Thousands of reminder letters from HMRC have begun to drop on across door steps in the UK. The tax year ended 5/4/17 ie 2016 -2017 self assessment is now due to be completed and the sooner you do it the sooner you can get a refund of income tax or know how much you need to save and pay.

If you already have a personal UTR - unique tax number then the letter may have already arrived or will be on its way. If you do not then you may need to ensure you or your accountant has applied for one to allow for its submission.

Who needs to do a tax return?

You’ll need to have a personal tax return calculated and submitted if, in the last tax year:

• you were self-employed in a previous tax year, or had income in any capacity other than employed ie income from overseas, property, dividends, sale of investment property or assets etc
• you received more than £2,500 in untaxed income, for example from tips or renting your property etc - if you received less than £2,500 you may still have to complete a tax return
• you received income from your savings / investments which was £10,000 or more before tax
• your income from dividends from shares and investment portfolio's was £10,000 or more before tax
• you made profit(s) from selling things like shares, a second home or other assets and need to pay capital gains tax to HMRC
• you were the director of a limited company registered at Companies House - unless it was for a non-profit organisation (limited by guarantee or registered charity) and you have not been paid or received any benefits, like a company car, medical cover, gym, travel, company phone etc
• your income (or your partner’s) was over £50,000 and one of you claimed child benefit in the tax year 16/17
• you have had some income from abroad that you needed to pay tax on - the money need not be exchanged into Pound Sterling or come into the UK for it still to be taxable
• you lived abroad and had a UK income - which more than likely was declared as non-domiciled income and therefore not tax correctly eg rental property and overseas landlord
• your employed income was over £100,000 - eg higher earner with possibly a P11d also
• you were a trustee of a trust and/or registered pension scheme - and therefore like a company director are required to clarify your tax position each year
• you had a P800 form posted to you from HMRC saying you may not have paid enough tax last year - could be due to your tax code not deducting the correct amount of tax
• you fall into a certain category of worker eg religious minister or Lloyd’s underwriter etc
• if you’ve been told to submit a tax return by HMRC - even if it just an email not a letter

If your not sure contact an experienced quality accountant like Tax Affinity Accountants and they would be happy to advise.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

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

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.

HOW THE SPRING BUDGET 2017 AFFECTS THE SELF EMPLOYED & LIMITED BUSINESSES
 
The income tax personal allowance and the basic rate bands for this year’s tax return have already been announced. From 6th April 2017, personal allowance is set to increase by £500 to £11,500 and the basic rate band will rise to £33,500 from £32,000. This will result in a higher rate threshold of £45,000.
 
The Chancellor has proclaimed that the personal allowance will continue to rise to £12,500 and higher rate threshold to rise to £50,000 by the end of the Parliament. Also, the Capital Gains Tax annual exemption will increase by £200 in 2017/2018 from £11,100 to £11,300.
 
The rate of National Insurance Contributions for self-employed people will rise. Presently, self-employed individuals have to pay both Class 4 and Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs):

• Class 4 NICs at 9% are paid only on profits made between £8,060 and £43,000 and 2% on profits above the £43,000 threshold.
• Class 2 NICs at £2.80 a week are paid only on profits above £5,965.

 
From April 2018, it has been announced Class 2 NICs will be abolished and Class 4 NICs will remain the same. As a result of this, the self-employed will save £145 annually. This will allow them to keep more of their money and be able to invest it back into their business.
 
Tax Free Dividend Allowance will be reduced from £5,000 to £2,000 from next year April 2018. This is because this will lessen the tax difference between the self-employed and employees. Those that will be affected, will be investors with stocks and shares worth over £50,000 outside an ISA.
 
£435 million will be given to support any business that have been affected by the business rates relief revaluation. Therefore, no small businesses will pay more than £600 coming out of the small business rates relief than they did in year 2016-17.
 
Financing local authorities will permit them to administer £300 million of discretionary relief to contribute in helping the businesses that are heavily affected by the revaluation.
 
Landlords and small businesses below the VAT threshold will be given an extra year to get ready for Making Tax Digital. Businesses that are owned privately (unincorporated businesses) that have a turnover under the VAT threshold will have until April 2019 to prepare for this before "Making Tax Digital" becomes mandatory. 
 
Making Tax Digital is where businesses will have to use a specific digital software to maintain their tax records and update HMRC quarterly (every 3 months).
 
The introduction of this complex digital scheme, which is involving commercial supplies or accounting software, runs smoothly, there is a likelihood that there will be substantial administrative trouble, especially for those businesses that presently do not use an accounting software.

By Gopal Nath at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. Based in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames 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.

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 7 working days till the 31st January 2017, which is HMRC's online self assessment deadline.

The submission of the personal income tax return and the payment of any tax and NI due for the period 6/4/15 to 5/4/16 is midnight 31/1/17. And anyone who has not yet had their tax return done and paid for should start to worry about the up to £1300 fine plus interest on late paid tax imposed by HMRC for missing the deadline.

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

1. Self Employed (even partially) during the tax year 15/16 ie 6/4/15 to 5/4/16
2. Employed and earning over 100k for the year ended 5/4/16
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 6/4/15 to 5/4/16
5. You received savings and investments income in the period 6/4/15 to 5/4/16
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 15/16 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 15/16 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
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 final reminder.

Those that have handed in their information we will make sure it is done before the deadline. We can even have your deadline extended in some cases as we are registered authorised agents for HMRC.

And if your thinking of using an accountant, note, that 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.

With fines up to £1300 plus interest on the amount of tax due. In some cases penalties are greater than the tax that would have been due. So don't delay as you have no time left and most excuses and appeals are rejected by HMRC after a penalty has been imposed.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. Based in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames 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.

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.

The Importance of Submitting Personal Tax Returns to HMRC Before 31 Oct Deadline
 
The UK tax year starts from 6 April to 5 April the following year. You’ll need to send a tax return if in the last tax year

• you were self-employed
• you got £2,500 or more in non taxed income, e.g. from renting out a property or savings and investments
• your savings or investment income was £10,000 or more before tax
• you made profits from selling things like shares, a second home or other assets
• you were a company director
• your income (or your partner’s) was over £50,000 and one of you claimed Child Benefit
• you had income from abroad
• you lived abroad and had a UK income
• you got dividends from shares and you’re a higher or additional rate taxpayer
• your income was over £100,000
• you were a trustee of a trust or registered pension scheme

If you are not sure of your situation then you should contact HMRC for further clarification.

Chargeable Income
It is your responsibility to notify HMRC of any income arising that makes you liable to tax. Notification must be received by 5 October otherwise you will have to pay a penalty.

Filing a Tax Return
The deadline for filing a tax return by post is midnight on 31 October. You will have to register by 5 October so we recommend registering well in advance as the process can take 4 weeks.

If you miss this deadline, don't worry as you can file your tax return online by midnight 31 January the following year (3 months later). To file online, you will again need to register well in advance with HMRC for this service as the process could take several weeks. However a good accountant has the resources and expertise to file your tax return online without needing to register.

If you file your tax return late, you will face a £100 penalty even if you do not owe any tax.
The following penalties also apply for late filing of tax returns:

• Up to three months late - £10-per-day for up to 90 days (maximum of £900). This is in addition to the £100 fixed penalty.
• Up to six months late - £300 or 5% of the tax due, whichever is higher. This is in addition to the above penalties
• Up to twelve months late - £300 or up to 100% of the tax due, whichever is higher. This is again in addition to the above penalties.

 Incorrect Tax Return
There is also a penalty if you file your tax return incorrectly depending on your behaviour.

• If reasonable care had been taken - no penalty.
• If reasonable care had not been taken - 0% - 30% of the amount of tax owed.
• If you knew that a return or document was inaccurate - 20% - 70% of the amount of tax owed.
• If you knew that a return or document was inaccurate and you took active steps to hide the inaccuracies - 30% - 100% of the amount of tax owed.

To avoid these penalties it is advised that you seek the help of a good accountant as this will save you considerable time and money.

Paying Tax
The deadline for paying tax is 31 January and there are three charges for late payments.

• Thirty days late - 5% of tax outstanding.
• Six months late - 5% of tax outstanding.
• Twelve months late - 5% of tax outstanding.

By Hamza Habib at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. Based in Worcester Park and Surbiton they are considered in the Industry to be experts accountants for small businesses. Helping and supporting business throughout the UK, they regularly help new and established businesses to succeed.

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