Accountancy News Archive

From A Day, 6 April 2006, the new pension regime will finally take effect. We have previously reported on the introduction of the new rules and HMRC have recently published their draft internal guidance on whether or not employer pension contributions will be deductible for tax purposes.

HMRC have published a huge amount of guidance on end of year filing of employers’ returns. Employers with 50 or more employees will have to file electronically this year or face automatic penalties of between £600 and £3000. Smaller employers will again be chasing the £250 tax free incentive payment which is available where they successfully file electronically.

HMRC have made available on their website an employment status indicator (ESI) tool which allows contractors to check HMRC’s interpretation of the employment status of potential workers. The tool is aimed at those contractors within the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) and is being made available in advance of the start to the new scheme, which has been pushed back to 6 April 2007.

Gordon Brown presented his tenth Budget on Wednesday 22 March 2006. Will it prove to be his last? Has he won public and parliamentary support for his bid to become Prime Minister?

Bristol based accountants Barnes Hunter has reason to celebrate after their latest recruit passed the first stages of her Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) exams with flying colours.

Last month we reported on the Court of Appeal decision in the Arctic Systems case. Just in case you need a reminder, the case concerned a company owned by a husband and wife and hinged on whether dividends paid by the company to the wife (who was not a higher rate taxpayer) could be taxed instead on her husband (who was a higher rate taxpayer).

The Revenue have produced updated guidance in the Employment Income Manual on how car benefits are calculated. The guidance sets out the basis for the calculation using the list price of the car and an appropriate percentage normally based on the CO2 emissions of the car. There are lower benefits, and therefore less tax to pay, on energy efficient or ‘green’ cars and the guidance for the benefit calculation for these cars is also included.

In last month’s enews we reported on the changes to the procedures for input VAT recovery by employers on employees’ mileage allowances. Customs have issued further clarification of the evidence required to support a claim for input VAT recovery.

The deadline for self assessment and company tax returns may have just passed, but that doesn’t mean small businesses can rest on their laurels.

According to a recent poll, 12 per cent of small businesses across the UK have been subjected to a tax investigation, and this can be far more time consuming than any tax return.

We reflected last month over the past decade as we celebrated our 10 year anniversary.

We were founded in 1995 with the aim to provide a personal, reliable and proactive service to owner managed businesses. Originally the firm practised out of offices at Mariner House in Bristol before moving three years ago to our current location at Kings Court in the city centre.

We want to be recognised as a firm able to deliver in a global market and as our clients grow and cross continents our membership of Integra International enables us to grow with them.

Integra International is an interactive global network of local independent accounting and consulting firms dedicated to exchanging information and advising growing businesses and professionals. Barnes Hunter is the Bristol and South West representative.

At last, a bit of Christmas cheer! No, not from Gordon Brown’s Pre-Budget Report on 5 December, which contained more convoluted ways of raising tax, (but we have come to expect that from the Chancellor!) but from the Court of Appeal.

On Thursday 15 December the judgment in the Arctic Systems case was issued, which creates a little more certainty for tax returns that have to be filed by 31 January 2006. The decision went in the taxpayers’ favour.

HM Revenue & Customs has announced changes to the procedures for input VAT recovery by employers on employees’ mileage allowances.

The Revenue has announced that, following a pilot scheme in south west England, more than 20 million taxpayers will be receiving new style PAYE coding notices over the next few months.

In his Pre-Budget Statement the Chancellor announced a complete U-turn on investment by pension schemes after 6th April 2006. He announced that in the interests of encouraging pension savings through diverse investments investment in residential property by SIPPs is no longer to be permitted.