News and Comments
Companies House filing extension
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/companies-to-receive-3-month-extension-period-to-file-accounts-during-covid-19
Companies House have announced that companies can apply for a 3 month extension to file accounts to avoid penalties.
Self-employment Income Support Scheme
Below are extracts from HMRC’s website. Please be particularly aware of the warnings regarding scams. HMRC never contact you directly by phone or email.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme
This scheme will allow you to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of your trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for the next 3 months. This may be extended if needed.
Who can apply
You can apply if you’re a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and you:
- have submitted your Income Tax Self Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018-19
- traded in the tax year 2019-20
- are trading when you apply, or would be except for COVID-19
- intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020-21
- have lost trading/partnership trading profits due to COVID-19
Your self-employed trading profits must also be less than £50,000 and more than half of your income come from self-employment. This is determined by at least one of the following conditions being true:
- having trading profits/partnership trading profits in 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits constitute more than half of your total taxable income
- having average trading profits in 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19 of less than £50,000 and these profits constitute more than half of your average taxable income in the same period
If you started trading between 2016-19, HMRC will only use those years for which you filed a Self-Assessment tax return.
HMRC will use data on 2018-19 returns already submitted to identify those eligible and will risk assess any late returns filed before the 23 April 2020 deadline in the usual way.
How much you’ll get
You’ll get a taxable grant which will be 80% of the average profits from the tax years (where applicable):
- 2016 to 2017
- 2017 to 2018
- 2018 to 2019
To work out the average HMRC will add together the total trading profit for the 3 tax years (where applicable) then divide by 3 (where applicable), and use this to calculate a monthly amount.
It will be up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for 3 months.
We’ll pay the grant directly into your bank account, in one instalment.
How to apply
You cannot apply for this scheme yet.
HMRC will contact you if you are eligible for the scheme and invite you to apply online.
Individuals do not need to contact HMRC now and doing so will only delay the urgent work being undertaken to introduce the scheme.
After you’ve applied
Once HMRC has received your claim and you are eligible for the grant, we will contact you to tell you how much you will get and the payment details.
If you claim tax credits you’ll need to include the grant in your claim as income.
Other help you can get
The government is also providing the following additional help for the self-employed:
- deferral of Self Assessment income tax payments due in July 2020 and VAT payments due from 20 March 2020 until 30 June 2020
- grants for businesses that pay little or no business rates
- increased amounts of Universal Credit
- Business Interruption Loan Scheme
If you’re a director of your own company and paid through PAYE you may be able to get support using the Job Retention Scheme.
Help for Self Employed
There will be more questions than answers and we’ll do our best to keep abreast of them to be up to speed on what is available and how to claim.
Welfare benefits of up to £1,800 per month. 80% of average earnings as declared over the last 3 years – up to £2,500 per month. Open to businesses with business profits up to £50K.
This scheme looks like it is to be adminstered by HMRC and will be up and running by the beginning of June – hopefully!
More Property Tax and Mortgage Interest Relief but No Flying
Episode 2 Uploaded to YouTube
End of Tax Year Considerations
With a month to go before the end of the 2019/20 tax year, just some reminders for provisions to consider before the 5th April.
ISA allowance. If you haven’t used up your £20k this year, now is the time to think about moving funds into your ISA. You can put it straight into a cash ISA and then transfer it to another type after the year end without losing out or using up any of next year’s allowance.
Pension contributions. The annual tax free allowance is £40k. Particularly if you are a limited company there are significant tax savings to be made by making company contributions into your personal pension. To benefit you must make the payment as you can not make a tax-deductible provision in the accounts. There is a corporation tax saving of up to £7,600 per person to be made for 2019/20
It’s budget day next Wednesday. We’ll be listening and will communicate any adjustments to be made this tax year although we are not expecting any surprises. Then we can turn our attention to 2020/21.
Employers Allowance Changes
More Great communication from HMRC resulting in panic.
From 6th April this year there are changes to the eligibility for claiming the Employers Allowance. This is worth up to £3,000 and is design to encourage employment. Will you be affected by the changes? Chances are, if you qualify now, probably not.
If you employ people over the primary NI threshold (currently £166pw), or have two directors both being paid above the primary threshold, you currently qualify for the allowance. This is not changing.
If your secondary NI liability for the previous tax year exceeds £100,000 or you receive other State Aid that take you over a defined de minis state aid limit based on your industry sector, then you will lose your EA or have it restricted. For these businesses, the EA does not make a lot of difference or provide the same incentives for which it was intended.
No need to panic!
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/changes-to-employment-allowance
Budget 2020
Not long now for Mr Javid’s Mr Sunak’s budget. We’ll have a full summary and report on 11th March one day!
Property Allowance
If your allowable expenses against property income is less than £1,000 you can elect to use the property allowance as partial relief against the income. This allows you to deduct £1,000 from your rental income and is beneficial if your costs are minimal. If the property is owned jointly then each of the joint owners can claim the allowance. If your rents are minimal (less than £1,000) then you can claim full relief and may not even need to complete a self assessment return. You can’t create a loss from the property allowance to carry forward but might be worth considering depending on your circumstances.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tax-free-allowances-on-property-and-trading-income
Deferral of VAT payments as a result of COVID-19
Posted on
The Chancellor announced a VAT payments deferral on 20 March to support businesses with cash flow during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This means that all businesses with a UK VAT registration have the option to defer VAT payments due between 20 March and 30 June.
You therefore have until 31 March 2021 to pay any VAT deferred as a result of this announcement.
You do not need to inform HMRC if you wish to defer payment. You can opt in to the deferral simply by not making VAT payments due in this period. If you pay by Direct Debit you should cancel this with your bank. You should do so in sufficient time so that HMRC does not attempt to automatically collect on receipt of their VAT return.
Should you wish, you can continue to make payments as normal during the deferral period. HMRC will also continue to pay repayment claims as normal. You must continue to submit VAT returns as normal.
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