Yesterday, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivered his first Budget in the House of Commons, announcing the government’s tax and spending plans for the year ahead. Please see the link below that summarises the key points:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51832634
HMRC have said that there are still three million tax returns left to submit by Friday 31st January 2020. HMRC started 2020 with five million tax returns still outstanding. Although two million have been filed this month, there is still a considerable amount left to submit in the last four days!
The Money Matters event last night for Cheltenham Wellbeing Festival was a success!
We hope that everyone who attended found it useful!
The below link explains that the introduction of the VAT domestic reverse charge for construction services that was due to be introduced in October 2019, will be delayed for a period of 12 months until 1 October 2020.
On Saturday our tax manager Michelle is going to be walking 26 miles from Newport to Cardiff to help raise money for Prostate Cancer UK.
If you would like to show your support to her and this amazing charity, please donate via her Just Giving page!
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/michelle-barlow792019?utm_id=124
Francis & Co are an official sponsor of the Cheltenham Wellbeing Festival 2019
Over the week there are various fitness classes, talks, workshops and events to get involved in.
For further information on the Main Stage talks and to purchase tickets please follow this link: https://www.cheltenhamwellbeingfestival.com/main-stage
Inheritance Tax: Rules on gifts to loved ones ‘should be simplified’
Fewer people should have to pay tax on gifts given just before death, under proposals for a major overhaul of the inheritance tax system. Please see the link below for more information:
Summer is bringing the best out of Imperial Gardens opposite our office.
A glitch within the HMRC self assessment system has meant that some taxpayers were not informed of the amount of tax to pay on account by 31 January 2019 and this problem won’t be fixed before 31 July 2019.
In January 2019, HMRC were experiencing a number of computer errors including the omission of tax demands for payments on account (POA) for 2018/19 from some taxpayers’ statements. This problem applies to the taxpayer’s online personal tax account, as well as to paper statements of account issued by HMRC.
This problem also arose for 2017/18 where some taxpayers’ statements did not show the POA, which was due to be paid by 31 July 2018.
How many are affected?
HMRC recognises that this is a real issue. When contacted for comment on this story a Revenue spokesperson said “We are aware of an issue with payment reminders for a small number of customers. Anyone who is affected should contact us and we’ll put it right. Nobody will be charged additional interest due to this problem.”
However, judging by the number of queries on the HMRC agent forum, this is a widespread problem.
The professional tax and accountancy bodies have complained, and HMRC has apologised to those bodies, but it has made no attempt to tell the affected taxpayers what to do. HMRC has also said it can’t fix the problem of missing POA demands in time for the 31 July 2019 payment date.
No interest
HMRC has confirmed that if the demands for POA have been omitted from the taxpayer’s statement, that taxpayer will not be charged interest as long as full payment of all the tax due for 2018/19 is made by 31 January 2020.
Nearly 1.1 million businesses have yet to register for MTD, according to the results of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to HMRC by cash flow service Float.
Additionally, the data suggests that only 2% of accounting firms have registered any clients for MTD, from an estimated 72,000 tax ‘agents’ nationwide.
Float said that many businesses are “still unaware of MTD or are uncertain of what action needs to be taken to become compliant.” The company added that the MTD registration process is “confusing” and that HMRC have “much more to do to alert businesses to the change in the law”.
If you are VAT registered and would like more information regarding MTD and MTD compliant software then please give us a call on 01242 370298 or email us on office@wfrancisandco.co.uk
