February 2009

Points to Ponder!

Welcome to our forty eighth newsletter issued in February 2009, to keep you up to date with some of the changes in Income tax, National Insurance and VAT along with compliance regulations for businesses, plus other oddments that have caught our eye. If you would like a copy of any past newsletters, please call and we can either send or e-mail them to you.

As this is a New Year, we're starting off with a New Look. We've had the new stationery for a while, with a logo designed by Angela's daughter, Jackie, and we're working on a leaflet and may be setting up a website later in the year. In the meantime, you can find us on Facebook (courtesy of Sam) by going to www.facebook.com and typing in Jackson Scott Associates Ltd. You will need to be a member of Facebook however before you can access our page. This is really easy to do, costs nothing and is fun! Once there you can catch-up on our news, see photographs, make new friends and comment on our services. So, come and scribble on our Facebook wall - we look forward to hearing from you.

Having two offices has been a bit confusing for some callers so, as an update on the practise, this is who is where. I think having a Ewell office in Chessington Road and a Chessington office in Gilders Road has been confusing - hope this helps sort things out.

Ewell Office - Chessington Road
Angela (director) Ian (senior assistant accountant), Sase (assistant accountant) and Paul (trainee and admin).

Chessington Office - Gilders Road
Sue (director) Pat (senior book-keeper), Sam (payroll and CIS supervisor), Shirley (assistant accountant), Sally (book-keeper), Lorraine (practise administrator) and our new addition, Caroline (book-keeper).

We share all the work between the two offices, but payrolls, CIS and book-keeping using TASBooks are handled at the Chessington Office, while company formations, company secretarial and tax planning work comes under Angela at the Ewell office. Please drop your records in to whichever office is more convenient for you - we have regular paperwork exchanges.

By the time anyone receives this newsletter, we shall have passed the Self Assessment deadlines and we should like to thank everyone who brought their records in earlier this time, it has eased things considerably. However, we would like to see everyone bring their records in within two months of the end of their trading year, so if your year end was 30th September, we should have received your records by 30th November 2008, ready for your 2009 returns. As HMRC is trying to bring forward the submission date, we shall need records much quicker please. Deadlines for limited companies have already been reduced, so please don't put yourselves at risk of being fined. The new penalties regime, being introduced fully in April, sets higher levels of fines, interest and penalties, with less room for mitigation or negotiation.

How is the current economic climate affecting you? Are you using this as a time to take positive action and review your business? If you feel you have a good service or product to offer, then this is the time to advertise it. Firms that kept a positive outlook during the last major recession in the 1980's weathered the storm and came out stronger. We are hoping to take on more clients so how do you stand?

Now to the general news.

New Business Payment Support Service
At least the Government has realised that their "Credit Crunch" is causing some problems and especially when it comes to paying tax, much of it due on profits made nearly two years ago. The service appears to be working, so if you are having problems finding your tax money, you can contact the Support Service on 0845 302 1435, Monday to Friday between 8 am and 8 pm and at the weekend between 8 am and 4 pm. You can make arrangements to pay in installments and agreement with the Revenue is usually quite quick over the phone.

New record keeping requirements
Under the new penalties regulations, the Revenue has issued the following statement - "from 1 April 2009 we will have the powers to dictate exactly what records we think you should keep and that our requirements will become the new regulations". They have not yet issued the details of their "requirements" but we would expect it to cover all bank accounts and credit cards used, both business and personal, all invoices issued and received and all movements of cash, as minimal requirements. All records are expected to be "up to date".

Information and Inspection Powers
Also under the new penalty regulations, the Revenue has acquired heavier powers to enter premises. After 7 days' notice, officers of HMRC may enter a person's business premises to inspect the premises, assets and documents. These powers exclude premises solely used as a dwelling. They will disregard this exclusion if you run your business from home. Officers may take copies of documents or remove them. Excise officers have always had these powers, and more, but this is now extended to the old Inland Revenue, some of whose younger officers are a bit over officious - slightly worrying.

Stress Awareness Officer.
No, I'm not joking, organisations should have a stress awareness officer. This person is responsible for recognising areas that may cause stress, watching for signs of stress in employees and taking action to relieve stress. The Government could do a lot to ease stress by doing away with its red tape! If you need training in stress management, courses are on offer from St. John Ambulance - which reminds me, my First Aid Certificate is due for renewal - more expense and more time away from work - more stress!

Making a will
Perhaps not a subject most people want to think about, but if you own property or want certain items to go to specific beneficiaries, then it is vital. Once you have made a will, please make sure your executor knows where it is?

Retaining Records.
I have been asked a couple of times recently, how long should records be stored? Basically you need to keep at least the last 6 tax years' paperwork, including personal accounts as well as business records. So on 6th April 2009, you can shred everything up to 5th. April 2003. We expect to be sending at least 20 sacks of paperwork to a security shredding company some time in April. However, if you do have room to keep your paperwork for longer, it is best to - just in case!

Underpaid postage.
I know we have covered this before but we are still having to collect letters from the local sorting office and paying not just the shortfall in postage but an additional £1 handling charge. This may lead to documents being processed late, as it is often more than 2 weeks before we are informed that there is a letter to be collected. Post goes up again in April. Although we are trying to use e-mails more to save postage, some documents can only be processed from signed originals.

After the Off-shore Accounts - what is the next target?
HM Revenue & Customs has announced that it plans to target property owners who have "forgotten" to declare income from lettings, be that buy-to-let landlords or householders letting the odd room to help with the mortgage. Even if you genuinely are not making a profit from your lettings, under Self Assessment, you have to declare all sources of income.

Not a great deal of news this month, but things will probably start moving again soon - we'll try and keep you up to date.