HMRC relishes the idea that tax payers will make errors in their tax returns and then they will pay higher taxes or be fines for making errors. The number of errors by members of the public doing their own self assessments has been rising steeply in the last few years and HMRC has been raking in fines for errors. So its very important to try to ensure you make none.

Why? - Well simply mistakes on your tax returns could cost you a lot of hard earned money.
Solution? - Avoid HMRC penalties and charges by making sure you don’t commit these mistakes during tax return time by getting an expert like Tax Affinity Accountants (one the most highly recommended accountants in the UK) to do calculate and submit the return for you and sleep easy at night knowing you paid the least tax and everything was correct according to HMRC rules.

Key things to keep in double check:

1. Numbers / digits errors. Whether it’s a National Insurance or Unique Tax Reference (UTR) number for income, incorrect numbers on any form could cost you. Be mindful when entering bank account information when opting for refund. The last thing you want is for someone else to receive your refunds. You should double check all numbers entered on your tax returns. 
   
2. Maths errors. Many taxpayers use pen an paper to work out numbers for submission. Even if you use a software package, it will still not catch errors for incorrect data entry. You should double check your numbers and then double check your calculations each time. 
   
3. Not declaring all the earned income. You must, must report all earned income on your tax return. When HMRC find out that you did not report everything, you could owe interest and penalties in addition to the tax owed on that income. UK banks these days can report income to HMRC without the account holders knowledge.
   
4. Not staying up to date with your tax code. Check the latest changes to your tax code before filing your own tax return. New laws affect many taxpayers and they are constantly changing. 
   
5. Filing an incorrect status. With many different filing status options available, the most accurate one for a taxpayer’s situation may not be easy to use. Each filing status could have an impact on the tax liability due to HMRC.
   
6. Mismatched names. This is a common mistake for newlyweds, typically when the wife takes a new last name and has not notified the NI department. Same issue may pop up for same sex marriages. The opposite applies also for divorcees who need to have a name change notified . If your name does not match the name and NI number and HMRC has on file, the tax return could be rejected or a tax refund could be delayed.  
   
7. Declaring multiple country taxes. Don’t forget that income earned in another country must be reported. If you reside in one state and work in another, a non-resident tax return must be filed in the country in which you work. Only the money earned in that country needs to be reported. However, if you fail to declare this, you could face interest and penalties, in addition to the taxes owed. 
   
8. Falling for tax schemes. One of the biggest concerns for the HMRC is tax fraud and identity theft. Taxpayers have lost thousands of pounds because criminals tricked them into believing they owed HMRC. HMRC will never send an unsolicited email or contact you through social media. HMRC does not ask for personal or financial information. If you believe you may be at risk for identity theft, you should contact the HMRC immediately along with your banks etc. 
   
9. Missing deductions or credits. While penalties and fees mentioned above could cost you, missing a deduction or tax break could cost you by lowering a refund or increasing taxes. 
   
10. Forgoting to sign and date the forms. It is an all-too-common mistake to forget to sign and date. While this may not cost you money, it will cause a delay in receiving any anticipated tax refund. Especially for those who owe HMRC and wait until the very last minute to file, forgetting to sign and date could cost you a late fee and penalty when HMRC sends it back for signature and the deadline has passed. 
    

A good tax accountant should save you much more in tax than what he/she charges. And having a Tax Affinity accountant calculate your personal and business tax situation will lead to zero mistakes on your return and a lower tax bill first time every time. Fill out our contact us page to find an office near you and we will be happy to help you sleep easier at night.

 By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts Business, Tax and Accountancy. With branches in Worcester Park and Kingston upon Thames and Epsom and Ewell they are considered in the Industry to be expert business accountants and tax advisors for both individuals and small & medium sized businesses (SME's). Helping and supporting both individuals and limited company owners / self employed people throughout the UK and the world, 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.

As the dust settles after Chancellors October Budget 2018. We felt nearly all of the news coverage by journalists had presented little or no perspective specifically for the self employed and small and medium sized businesses. So to help below is another one of our famous main points lists, because lifes to short to waffle :

1. Corporation tax will fall to 17% in 2020.
   
2. Personal tax free allowance will be £12,500 and the Higher rate tax band will rise to £50,000 from April 2019, one year earlier than planned. The threshold will remain at the same level in 2020-21 and then increase by CPI
3. New structures and buildings allowance and a temporary increase in the Annual Investment Allowance now up to £1 million.
4. New tax on plastic packaging which does not contain enough recycled content.
5. Introduced over 100 measures to crack down further on avoidance, evasion, aggressive tax planning and unfair outcomes
6. Off-payroll working in the private sector IR35 to be extended this change will not be introduced until April 2020. Small organisations will be exempt, minimising administrative burdens.
7. The government will not abolish Class 2 NICs as previous said.
8. Trusts consultation, the government will publish a consultation on taxation of trusts, to make the taxation of trusts simpler and more transparent.
9. Charity taxes - increasing upper limit for trading that charities can carry out without incurring a tax liability from £5,000 to £8,000 where turnover is under £20,000, and from £50,000 to £80,000 where turnover exceeds £200,000
10. Lifetime allowance for pensions – increase for 2019-20, rising to £1,055,000.
11. Adult ISA annual subscription limit for 2019-20 will remain unchanged at £20,000. The annual subscription limit for Junior ISAs for 2019-20 will be uprated in line with CPI to £4,368.
12. The annual subscription limit for Child Trust Funds for 2019-20 will be £4,368.
13. Structures and buildings allowance (SBA) – New non-residential structures and buildings will be eligible for a 2% capital allowance where all the contracts for the physical construction works are entered into on or after 29 October 2018.
14. The capital allowances special rate for qualifying plant and machinery assets will be reduced from 8% to 6%.
15. Entrepreneurs’ Relief: minimum qualifying period from 6 April 2019 the minimum period throughout which the qualifying conditions for relief must be met extended from 12 months to 24 months.
16. Directly taxing offshore entities that realise intangible property income in low-tax jurisdictions, rather than through applying a withholding tax
17. Royalties and income from the indirect exploitation of intangible property in the UK market through unrelated parties to be a target for investigation
18. Cutting bills for retail properties with a rateable value below £51,000
19. Business rates public lavatories 100% business rates relief for all public lavatories to help keep these important local amenities open
20. Business rates local newspaper discount – £1,500 business rates discount for office space occupied by local newspapers in 2019-20.
21. Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and first-time buyers relief – The government will extend first-time buyers relief in England and Northern Ireland so that all qualifying shared ownership property purchasers can benefit, whether or not the purchaser elects to pay SDLT on the market value of the property. This change will apply to relevant transactions with an effective date on or after 29 October 2018, and will also be backdated to 22 November 2017 so that those eligible who have not previously claimed first-time buyers relief will be able to amend their return to claim a refund.
22. Consultation on SDLT charge for non-residents - government will publish a consultation in January 2019 on a SDLT surcharge of 1% for non-residents buying residential property in England and Northern Ireland.
23. Capital gains tax - from April 2020 lettings relief only applies in circumstances where the owner of the property is in shared occupancy with the tenant. The final period exemption will also be reduced from 18 months to 9 months. The government will consult on these changes. There will be no changes to the 36 months final period exemption available to disabled people or those in a care home.
24. Vehicle Excise Duty (VED): Uprating – From 1 April 2019 VED rates for cars, vans and motorcycles will increase in line with RPI.
25. Company vehicles – From 6 April 2019 fuel benefit charges will increase in line with RPI and the van benefit charge will increase in line with CPI.
26. Air Passenger Duty (APD) – Short-haul APD rates for 2020-21 will not rise, Long-haul rates will increase in line with RPI. The rates for long-haul economy will increase by £2, and the rates for those travelling in premium economy, business and first class will increase by £4. Those travelling long-haul by private jets will see the rate increase by £13.
27. Tax on the production and import of plastic packaging from April 2022 and is subject to consultation.
28. Alcohol duty rates and bands – Duty rates on beer, most cider and spirits will be frozen. Duty on most wine and higher strength sparkling cider will rise by RPI inflation from 1 February 2019. The government will review the current Small Brewers Relief to ensure it is supporting growth in the sector. (12)
29. Vaping ie Tobacco for heating - government will legislate in Finance Bill 2018-19 for a new duty rate for tobacco for heating. In these products processed tobacco is heated (but not burned like conventional tobacco) to produce, or flavour, vapour. This will be set at the same level as hand rolling tobacco and take effect on 1 July 2019.
30. VAT threshold will be maintained at the current level of £85,000 for a further 2 years until April 2022. The government will look again at the possibility of introducing a smoothing mechanism once the terms of EU exit are clear.
31. VAT fraud in labour provision in the construction sector – government will introduce a VAT domestic reverse charge to prevent VAT losses through so-called ‘Missing Trader’ fraud. This occurs when traders collect VAT on their sales but go missing before passing that VAT on to HMRC. The new rules will have effect on and after 1 October 2019 and the government is publishing secondary legislation alongside the Budget to implement this change.
32. Alternative method of VAT collection: ‘split payment’ – To reduce online VAT fraud by third country sellers and improve how VAT is collected on cross-border e-commerce, the government is looking at a split payment model.
33. EU exit - Consequential minor amendments to tax legislation to reflect EU exit – The government is responsible for preparing for all possible outcomes to EU negotiations. This power will allow the government to make small, essential changes to UK tax law to maintain the effect of tax legislation if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. Changes made under this power will maintain current operation of the tax law in essential areas, including changes in line with no deal legislation in other parts of the law.
34. Tax avoidance and evasion, aggressive tax planning and non-compliance to continue.
35. Capital gains tax: tackling misuse of Entrepreneurs’ Relief – In addition to the current requirements on share capital and voting rights, from 29 October 2018 shareholders must also be entitled to at least 5% of the distributable profits and net assets of a company to claim the relief. This is to address an identified abuse of the current rules.
36. Profit fragmentation – As announced at Autumn Budget 2017, the government will legislate in Finance Bill 2018-19 to introduce targeted legislation that aims to prevent UK businesses from avoiding UK tax by arranging for their UK-taxable business profits to accrue to entities resident in territories where significantly lower tax is paid than in the UK. The taxable UK profits will be increased to the actual, commercial level.
37. Reforming Stamp taxes on shares consideration rules – From 29 October 2018, a targeted market value rule will be introduced for listed shares transferred to connected companies to prevent forestalling.
38. Preventing abuse of R&D tax relief for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – From 1 April 2020, the amount of payable R&D tax credit that a qualifying loss-making company can receive in any tax year will be restricted to three times the company’s total PAYE and NICs liability for that year. This will ensure the relief is robust against identified abuse, including fraud, following the prevention by HMRC of fraudulent claims worth £300 million.
39. Protecting your taxes in insolvency – From 6 April 2020, when a business enters insolvency, more of the taxes paid in good faith by its employees and customers, and temporarily held in trust by the business, will go to fund public services rather than being distributed to other creditors. This reform will only apply to taxes collected and held by businesses on behalf of other taxpayers (VAT, PAYE Income Tax, employee NICs, and Construction Industry Scheme deductions). The rules will remain unchanged for taxes owed by businesses themselves, such as Corporation Tax and employer NICs.
    
40. Tax abuse and insolvency – Following Royal Assent of Finance Bill 2019-20, directors and other persons involved in tax avoidance, evasion or phoenixism will be jointly and severally liable for company tax liabilities, where there is a risk that the company may deliberately enter insolvency.
41. National insurance threshold will rise - not mentioned in the Chancellor's speech but in the budget papers - where we got our info from. This rises from £8160 in 17/18 to £8424 in 18/19 and £8632 in 19/20.
42. Premuim bond minimum savings amount will drop - from £100 to £25.
43. National living wage rise from April 19 - for over-25s will rise to £8.21 per hour from £7.83 per hour.
44. Annual ISA allowance will remain at £20,000 in 2019/20 for adults – the annual allowance for Junior ISAs will rise in 2019/20 to £4,368
    

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.

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.

Deadline: 31/10/16 for Paper Tax Returns

For everyone already registered with HMRC for the tax year 6/4/15 to 5/4/16 they are required to submit their paper tax return by the 31st October 2016. And then to pay all tax and National Insurance payments for that period by the 31/1/17.

So if you have to declare a tax return for 2015/16 year then we urgently recommend you contact a reputable and experienced tax accountant like Tax Affinity Accountants (one of the most highly recommend companies in the accounting industry) as soon as possible.

It is of course possible to submit a tax return yourself and HMRC will direct you to do this, but what they purposefully fail to clarify is what various expenses and industry specific allowances are allowed to be claimed as legitimate deductions to help decrease your tax bill.

And a good accountant, as any successful business person will tell you, is usually worth his/her weight in gold when it comes to getting your numbers right and paying the correct and least amount of tax.

At Tax Affinity Accountants our motto is that 'an accountant should legally save you far more in tax than they should ever be charging for their service' ensuring every client gets the very best service at a fair and reasonable cost. So our service more than pays for itself for all our clients.

So if you have to do a 2015/16 tax return (or any other year) and would like us to help you. Or are already one of our very satisfied customers then please get in touch with us as soon as possible and avoid the late rush and have the most time put into your accounts.

Simply put Capital Gains Tax is a tax by HMRC on the profit you make when you 'dispose' of something of physical presence and value (an asset) eg a rental property, stocks and shares or a piece of art.

Eg you sell a piece of buy-to-let property for £300,000. Which you bought it for £200,000. Equals a capital gain of £100,000.

A lot of people think it is only applicable in the case of a sale but according to HMRC it is applicable in other actions such as giving it away as a gift, transferring it to someone else, swapping for something else and getting compensation eg Insurance payment if it is damaged or stolen.

Certain types of assets are eligible for capital gains tax while others are not. Your primary residence ie your home is not eligible for capital gains while a second property is.

Some of the things on which you may need to pay Capital Gains Tax on are as follows:

• most types of personal possessions that are worth more than £6,000 (not including your car)
• any land or property that is not your primary residence ie main home
• your primary residence could apply in portion or as a whole if you have rented it out, or used it for business purposes
• Stocks and Shares that are not in an ISA, NISA or a PEP
• Business related assets that you sell

But please note that depending on actual type of asset, you may be able to reduce any capital gains tax due by claiming a relief's that are available. There are many different types of reliefs and it usually best to visit a reputable accountant like Tax Affinity Accountants to make sure you take advantage of all the reliefs available to you.

To help you HMRC has given everyone a tax free allowance after which capital gains tax will apply. Currently this is £11,100 for a Person and £5550 for a Trust for the 2015-16 Tax Year.

Eg If your personal gain is £12,000 then deducting your personal allowance of £11,100 from the gain leaves you £900 on which capital gains tax can be charged.

If you have any overseas assets then you may still have to pay Capital Gains Tax. There are however special rules if you are a British citizen or UK resident and are not domiciled in the UK whereby you can claim the ‘remittance basis’.

If you living abroad then unfortunately you still have to pay tax on any gain you make on a residential property that is in the UK. This is even if you are declared as non-resident to HMRC. But the good news is that you do not have to pay Capital Gains Tax on any other UK assets, eg stocks and shares in UK companies, piece of art and business assets etc unless you return within 5 tax years of the gain.

As capital gains tax rates can be either 18% or 28% of the gain depending on your personal income, it is a really good advice to speak to a qualified accountant as a good accountant should save you much more money than he/she would ever charge. At Tax Affinity Accountants we are one of the most recommended experts in Capital Gains Tax, due to our detailed knowledge of tax reliefs available and of the HMRC tax system.

By Anni Khan at Tax Affinity Accountants.

Tax Affinity Accountants are experts in Tax and Accountancy. Based in Kingston upon Thames they provide a bespoke service to client’s right across the UK and are considered in the industry to be experts in capital gains tax 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.

HMRC can open an investigation into your tax affairs at anytime, and can request to go back up to 20 years (although it is normally no later than 6 years). When you receive a letter stating HMRC are pending an investigation, it can be a very tense and stressful time even if you have done nothing wrong.

Investigations can occur for a variety of reasons. The most frequent is an obvious mistake that HMRC can see whilst looking through the information you have submitted to them. The mistake can be on any scale of seriousness so should not be taken lightly. If you spot a mistake and tell HMRC about it, they will still have to open an investigation still but it will be less severe and strict. Sometimes, a business selected for an investigation is totally random, HMRC will pick a few businesses in an area, maybe that are tax-fraud hotspots, just to make sure there is no tax evasion going on. HMRC are also the epitome of suspicious. If your sales figure has gone drastically up or down from one year to the next or are hugely different to the industry average, they will look into why this is.

The letter from HMRC will normally have clues on it as to why you are being investigated. It will also detail what direction the investigation will be taking. When you receive this letter, the emphasis is to act fast as if you do not have all the required information ready and at hand when the investigation starts, you will be seen as unorganised.

HMRC have the ability to request information from third-parties such as banks and other businesses. This is the extreme as normally they will look for co-operation, from the person being investigated, which will not only speed the whole process, but reduce any fines or penalties incurred. This can be just allowing them access to your files or it could be letting them interview you for a day. If you have made clear and obvious mistakes but do not allow HMRC access to your documents, the fine can be doubled, making it much worse for you.

The effect of not co-operating on your business is as follows:

1. The cost of the fine; which has no limit.
2. The cost of lost business and income whilst the investigation is going on. You could even be called for a police-style interview for a few days.
3. The bad publicity of tax evasion being hung over your business. This could lose potential and current suppliers or clients.
4. You will find it harder to get loans or funding from external sources. This is seen as deliberate avoidance of payment which is not the type of business they want to give a loan to. If you struggle to pay the fine, it can affect your credit rating too.

The general trend is that it is at this stage people will go and ask for professional help. The best people to see are tax accountants such as Tax Affinity Accountants who can help in various ways with the investigation. Some are below:

• Prepare you for the situation likely to be faced. Tax Accountants have gone through this process before and have seen clients both be let off and be found culpable. Tax Accountants are able to give advice on what type of thing you should say, how the investigation will pan out and what will happen if you get called for an interview. If this happens, you can be “warmed up” with some questions that HMRC will ask you and warned of the potentially probing questions they could ask to try and get what they want to hear from you.
• Collating information relevant to the investigation and ensuring only relevant information is provided to HMRC. This is where it is better to be using a Tax Accountancy firm already for your returns and accounts as they can provide you with all the information related to your investigation. Some people try to take everything they have (including receipts from shops and payslips) to investigations which are simply not needed. If you take everything, it can often dilute your argument as you are trying to argue over small details and take a long time trying to find the document in question.
• Dealing with any request by HMRC for further information. Sometimes HMRC will require more information for their investigation. However, sometimes this is a trick to try and get you to admit to what you did wrong or what you are covering up. A Tax Accountant will be able to distinguish between what is a genuine request and what is a ploy. They will also be able to provide a rapid turnaround for any information required by HMRC as all terms and requests will be understood rather than potentially misinterpreted by someone on their own making the situation look more suspicious or that they are not co-operating.
• Keeping the investigation to the point. Similar to the above, sometimes HMRC will see if there are any leads to other investigations they could do during this time. They might try to test other things which might not be picked up on by a person doing it alone. A Tax Accountant will make sure HMRC are only investigating what they said in their initial investigation letter.
• Negotiations with HMRC regarding penalties and potential interest. A Tax Accountant is in a better position to try and negotiate with HMRC over any penalty or fine imposed. People trying this on their own often get confused by the complicated HMRC phone system so end up at the wrong person.
• Creating a mutually beneficial pay arrangement between the parties. If a fine is levied against the business, if it is too large to pay at once, or if the business has a poor cash flow position at that date, a Tax Accountant can act as a third-party to try and create a suitable payment plan. This can often avoid the interest charges that HMRC try adding to the fine.

Even when the investigation has finished, there is no guarantee that you will not be investigated again. If you were randomly investigated one year and then the next year your profit figure increased dramatically, you could well actually be at risk of being investigated again. HMRC will not take to kindly either if you have already been found to be responsible in a previous investigation and then continue to make mistakes in subsequent years.

This blog might seem all doom and gloom but regulations are in place for the amount of tax that should be paid by either businesses or individuals. HMRC just apply this regulation as it would be unfair for some people to get away with not paying enough tax. If you have done nothing wrong, or even make an innocent mistake, HMRC will not be aggressive or disruptive. If you co-operative with them, they will ensure the investigation is as pain free for you as possible.

A Tax Accountant’s expertise and experience will help you greatly both financially and emotionally. As the fees that you may have to pay will be far outweighed by the amount of tax saved in direct negotiations with HMRC.

They know what the situation is and what the next move by HMRC will probably be. This means that anything unusual going on by HMRC will be noticed and prevents you from submitting too much information or making the investigation drag on longer than it should. The key is to co-operate with both your Tax Accountant and HMRC so the investigation is over quickly and as