Personal Taxes
Budget 2021 Announcements
Here are the main provisions
Income Tax
Personal Allowances to increase to £12,570 and the basic rate threshold to £50,270
Rates and allowances will remain the same until 2026
Furlough
The scheme is to be extended to 30th Sep 21 with no change to employees – Employers will have to contribute top ups of 10% in July and 20% in August and September
Corporation Tax
Main rate to increase to 25% in 2023 with a small profits rate of 19% for profits up to £50k and taper relief up to £250k
Loss relief to be carried back 3 years
Self-Employed
Grants 4 and 5 announced covering Feb-Apr 21 of 80% of average profits; 5- May to Jul. Self Employed individuals who have filed a return by midnight of 2nd March will eligible for the grants
VAT
5% reduced rate for the hospitality sector to continue until 30th Jun then a staged return to the full rate in April 2022 by increasing the rate to 12.5% for the period 01/10/2021 to 31/03/2022
Registration limit of £85k to remain unchanged until 2024
SDLT
£500k nil rate band to continue until 30th June then £250k to 30th September returning to the original £125k on 1st October
Investments
Capital allowances for investments in innovation up to £10m will be given relief of 130%
www.gov.uk/helptogrow register for productivity grants
Green Gilts / Bonds – new products to be available in the summer
Capital Gains
Annual allowances remain unchanged until 2025/26 – no mention of a rate hike!
National Living Wage
This is to rise to £8.91 in April
£3k grants for new apprenticeship
Business Rates Holiday
Extended to the end of June
Restart Grants
Non-essential retail to receive grants of up to £6,000 and up to £18,000
Budget predictions
Likely provisions on today’s budget:
Covid relief measures – Job retention scheme to be extended until September with increased employer contributions from July onward.
CGT – Looks like the rates will be gradually increased to match income tax. This is an obvious choice for the Chancellor.
Income tax personal allowances currently £12,500 and the income tax thresholds to be frozen
The main rate of Corporation Tax to rise to 23% or possibly the a split between the main rate and the small companies rate depending on profits.
Abolishment of higher rate income tax relief on pension contributions limiting relief to 20%.
Extension of the reduced rate of VAT for the hospitality sector.
Stamp Duty – perhaps an extension to the SDLT holiday for properties up to £600k.
Late Filing Penalties Waived until 28th Feb
HMRC have announced that there will be no penalties issued for returns filed late up to the end of February.
This does not mean the filing deadline has been moved. It is still 31st Jan and we’ll be working towards that date to get returns filed on time.
Covid-19 Update #4
Self-Employment Income Support Scheme
HMRC will start contacting self-employed businesses from this week who may be eligible for support.
The scheme will allow you to claim a taxable grant of 80% of your average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months, and capped at £7,500 altogether. This is a temporary scheme, but it may be extended.
If you receive the grant you can continue to work, start a new trade or take on other employment including voluntary work, or duties as an armed forces reservist.
Who can claim
You can claim if you’re a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and:
- you carry on a trade which has been adversely affected by coronavirus
- you traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted your Self Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year
- you traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
- you intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
Your business could be adversely affected by coronavirus, for example if:
- you’re unable to work because you:
- are shielding
- are self-isolating
- are on sick leave because of coronavirus
- have caring responsibilities because of coronavirus
- you’ve had to scale down or temporarily stop trading because:
- your supply chain has been interrupted
- you have fewer or no customers or clients
- your staff are unable to come in to work
How to claim
Covid-19 Update #3
There have been a number of updates recently regarding various provisions that the Government have put in place to help businesses.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)
For those of you that have employees (including sole directors) who are or have been furloughed, the CJRS portal for claims will be open as of Monday 20th April.
A Step-By-Step guide is available for making claims. If you have employees being furloughed, please read the guide even if we will be making the claim on your behalf. There are HR procedures (Not Accounting) that must be followed and that you must have in place for each employee being furloughed.
The latest guidance on the scheme can be found on the Government website at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-80-of-your-employees-wages-to-claim-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme
How to calculate the amount you can claim is set out in detail at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-80-of-your-employees-wages-to-claim-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme
Small Business Grants
This scheme is now open and many local authorities have written to eligible rate payers with details of how to access the scheme. This has typically been done through providing details to your local authority by means of a portal on their respective websites. If you have not yet received any communication from your local authority and you believe you are eligible for the grant, please check their website and contact them directly.
Deferred Payments
For Deferred VAT and self assessment payments in July you do not need to do anything to communicate to HYMRC that you are deferring the payment but you must still submit your returns on time. Please remember though to cancel any direct debit mandate you may have in place otherwise payment will be taken.
For time to pay for other taxes, you must agree these directly with HMRC. It is important to do this rather than just not pay. You could incur penalties.
Self Employment Scheme
This scheme is not yet open for claims but the latest details of how the scheme will work can be found on the Government website
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme
These are very challenging times for everyone. We hope you are all keeping safe and well and are coping with your new routines.
Budget 2020 Rates and Allowances
Remember the budget? It was only three weeks ago but feels like a lifetime! We’ll be updating the rates and allowances on the website as soon as possible with adjustments for Coronavirus provisions.
Job Retention Scheme Update
Guidance has just been published with answers to many of the questions surrounding this scheme. There will not be a portal open for claims until late April so you can’t access it yet.
The Government website has been updated and provides answers to questions raised such as what constitutes wages. This is particularly important for those paid irregular amounts and commissions.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19
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.
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