Small Business Matters

Small business news round-up (18/2/12)

  We search out key small business news stories and articles each week so you don’t have to, leaving you more time to spend on running your business.

Want to keep up with regular small business news, features and tips, why not subscribe to our blog by RSS or email?

HMRC to crack down on PAYE dodgers

Employers with a track record of avoiding PAYE and National Insurance (NI) payments will have to make an upfront security payment from April, under a new scheme unveiled by (HMRC).

Failure to pay the security will lead to a fine of up to £5,000 as the taxman cracks down on employers who deliberately cheat the HMRC, and their staff, out of employee tax payments.

Find out more

Tax authority pulls plug on electricians who don’t pay up

Electricians will this month start receiving letters from the taxman warning them to pay any undisclosed taxes.

Electricians have until 15 May to register with the scheme and until 14 August to disclose any tax owed and arrange payment. If they make a full disclosure, most face a penalty of 10% and a maximum of 20%.

Find out more

HMRC to send out 900,000 penalty notices

At the end of this week HMRC will start sending out around 900,000 penalty notices for failing to file 2010/11 Self Assessment returns on time.

How to make sure your employee records are correct for your Employer Annual Return

HMRC has launched a new online video to help employers reduce the problems caused by inaccurate employee data.

Every year, HMRC receives thousands of employer returns, containing the details of millions of employees, including names, dates of birth and National Insurance numbers. While the vast majority of the employee data is correct, HMRC says that in some cases dummy, incomplete or incorrect information is included.

For example, a recent study of employer returns found that 128 staff were entered as Mr, Ms or Mrs Dummy, while 824 employees had the surname “Unknown”.

Another 40 employees, according to their dates of birth, were aged over 200. Many other employees had their forenames and surnames swapped around, or their first names replaced by initials, which can make it more difficult for HMRC to identify the individuals.

This new video discusses how inaccurate employer returns can affect employees, employers and HMRC, and offers advice on what information is required and how employers can help reduce errors.

Jim Harra, HMRC’s Director of Customer Operations, said:

“It’s really important that employers get their employees’ information right, so that HMRC can match it to the right tax records. Otherwise, it can lead to more contact from staff, trying to sort out their tax, and from HMRC, trying to sort out the data issues."

HMRC has also launched two free webinars which you might find useful:

Small business news round-up (12/2/12)

We search out key small business news stories and articles each week so you don’t have to, leaving you more time to spend on running your business.

Want to keep up with regular small business news, features and tips, why not subscribe to our blog by RSS or email?

Powers to tackle PAYE dodgers come into force

HMRC will soon be able to require employers to pay a security where there is serious risk that they won’t pay their PAYE tax deductions or NICs.

The powers will come into force from April and are an extension of an initiative that has already been successfully used for VAT, insurance premium tax and environmental taxes. 

Find out more.

Taxman to target builders and home delivery tax cheats

Home-improvement tradespeople such as roofers, bricklayers and carpenters, and people who make money from hand-delivered home catalogues are to be targeted by the taxman in the latest campaigns against tax evasion.

HMRC records checks campaign halted

HMRC has announced that its business records checks scheme is on hold and will be relaunched with a “fresh approach” early in the next financial year, following a review.

The review, which included discussions of the pilot programme with trade and professional bodies’ representatives, recommended that the checks are more targeted in future, linking to available education and support.

Accountants and business groups had argued that business owners were being harassed by a pilot version of the scheme. HMRC was also accused of going after small businesses while turning a blind eye to huge unpaid tax bills from big businesses.

Small business news round-up (4/2/12)

We search out key small business news stories and articles each week so you don’t have to, leaving you more time to spend on running your business.

Want to keep up with regular small business news, features and tips, why not subscribe to our blog by RSS or email?

HMRC records checks campaign halted

HMRC has announced that its business records checks scheme  is on hold and will be relaunched with a “fresh approach” early in the next financial year, following a review.

The review, which included discussions of the pilot programme with trade and professional bodies’ representatives, recommended that the checks are more targeted in future, linking to available education and support.

Find out more

Builders most likely to make mistakes on tax returns

Those in the construction industry are seen as the most likely to provide incorrect information on their tax returns, according to a survey of accountants.

In a poll by Bloomsbury Professional, a third of those questioned regarded builders as high risk due to frequent use of cash payments and poor bookkeeping.

Find out more

More than one million will face tax fine, says HMRC

Just over one million taxpayers face a penalty of £100 for failing to submit their self-assessment tax returns on time. The figure of 1.1 million is the lowest since online filing first started, and compares with 1.4 million last year and 1.6 million the year before.

Don’t forget: VAT is moving online from April 2012 – register now

Did you know that VAT is moving online for all VAT-registered businesses from April 2012? Time to get registered as paper VAT returns will soon be a thing of the past.

What’s changing?

Currently, only newly registered businesses and those with turnovers of more than £100,000 have to submit their VAT online, as well as pay electronically. Anyone else can send HMRC a paper VAT return, if they wish.

That is changing from April, when all 1.9 million VAT-registered businesses in the UK will have to submit their VAT returns online, and pay electronically, for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2012.

You may be charged a penalty if you submit your VAT Return on paper instead of online once the new rules kick in.

Why?

According to HMRC, online filing has a number of benefits, compared to paper filing. These include:

Q&As with the Prime Minister - Part one: Tax and big business, credit easing, young entrepreneurs and more

As you may know, Prime Minister David Cameron recently visited the Intuit UK offices for a PM Direct event.  It was a great day and very informative.

For the benefit of those that didn't attend, we’re going to publish all the Q&As in a short video series. Here’s the first part.

HMRC and tax for small and large businesses

Business and finance as part of the school curriculum

Credit easing

SMEs winning government contracts

Investment funding for young entrepreneurs

What do you think of David Cameron’s comments? What would you like to have asked him?

 

February tip: Get professional advice

As part of our monthly calendar tips, our tip for February is:

If you don’t already have one, get an accountant and talk to them about financial management.

To find a QuickBooks ProAdvisor in your area, visit quickbooks.co.uk/february

Here’s why:

You’ll save time and stress

Successful business owners know it's best to focus on what they’re good at, rather than struggling on with something they could pay an expert to do better in half the time. Time spent tearing your hair out over tax forms is time away from doing what you do best – running your business and generating income.

Even if you’re comfortable filling in all the relevant paperwork yourself, with an accountant you’ll have the peace of mind that you’ve filled in everything you need to and that you’ve filled it in right. If you make a mistake you’ll certainly be asked by HMRC to correct it, taking more of your time. However, in the worst case scenario, a tax inspector may want to look over all your financial records

HMRC gives two-day leeway on Self Assessment tax deadline

HMRC has agreed to effectively push the 31 January Self Assessment tax return deadline back to 2 February this year.

The reason is that HMRC strike action is planned for 31 January, meaning that there may not be enough staff on hand to deal with last-minute queries.

HMRC has confirmed: “To make sure our customers are not disadvantaged if they cannot get through to HMRC's call centres on 31 January, we will not impose any late filing penalties for people who file their Self Assessment returns on 1 and 2 February.”

HMRC says that the SA deadline remains midnight on 31 January but that it will treat all returns that come in by midnight on 2 February as though they were submitted by 31 January. No one will have to pay interest on payments due on 31 January that are paid on 1 or 2 February.

HMRC Acting Director of General Personal Tax, Stephen Banyard, said: "We've always been very clear that we want the returns - not the penalties. For that reason, we don't want anyone who can't get through for help and advice on 31 January to be disadvantaged in any way."

Will you have to prove it?                    

Some tax experts have questioned whether HMRC might make people prove that they could not file on time because they were awaiting a response to a legitimate last-minute query.

Small business news round-up (28/1/12)

We search out key small business news stories and articles each week so you don’t have to, leaving you more time to spend on running your business.

Want to keep up with regular small business news, features and tips? Why not subscribe to our blog by RSS or email?

HMRC Self Assessment returns – two more days to file and pay

HMRC has agreed that customers who can’t get through to HMRC's call centres on 31 January because of strike action will have a couple more days to submit their returns. Late penalties will not be imposed for people who file their Self Assessment returns on 1 and 2 February, the HMRC has said.

The SA deadline remains midnight on 31 January. However, HMRC will treat all returns that come in by midnight on 2 February as though they were submitted by 31 January. No one will have to pay interest on payments due on 31 January that are paid on 1 or 2 February.

Find out more

Set up your business in a Government department, says Cameron

Entrepreneurs will be allowed to set up their companies in empty Government offices, David Cameron has said this week.