December 2009

Points to Ponder!

Welcome to our fifty eighth newsletter issued in December 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 or you can find them here.

Anti Money Laundering Regulations and the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Please help us get it right.

We recently attended a seminar hosted by SOCA (Serious Organised Crime Agency) about the updated Anti Money Laundering Regulations and it is apparent that they are becoming more comprehensive. As members of a regulated body, we need to comply with these regulations to ensure that you are protected.

Originally, we only needed to ask for copies of photographic ID and proof of address from new clients, but we are now instructed to obtain this from every client and would be grateful if you could supply them as soon as you can.

We are also required to verify any non-business sources of income, so when your lottery numbers come up or the Premium Bonds pay out, please make sure you keep the proof. In the same vein, we may ask you to provide documentary evidence of any inheritances or gifts of money.

We apologise if this seems intrusive but it is very much for your protection. We want to ensure that we have all the answers before SOCA or even worse, HMRC starts asking questions.

Thank you for your help and co-operation.

HMRC chase new powers

The Revenue income tax department is looking for new powers of investigation and more authority to impose the recently introduced draconian penalties regime. They are looking to take action against tax payers for any mistakes, not just deliberate errors – even down to errors in names (missing out a middle name or misspelling a name) and addresses. Please do check what we send you as we are accountants, not typists so may make spelling mistakes.

VAT rate change

The standard rate of VAT reverts to 17.5% at midnight on 31^st December 2009, so welcome in the New Year with more costs! The only exception to this time is for businesses, such as pubs, restaurants and clubs, who are trading at midnight. They must make the change in the VAT rate at the earlier of either close of business on 31^st December 2009, or 6.30am on 1^st January 2010.

Agent Authorisations.

When you first joined us, we asked you to sign an authorisation form and this may be quite some time ago. Although all the tax offices are now supposed to be under HM Revenue and Customs, they don’t all work together. We may need to update these forms to cover all aspects of tax, so if we ask you to sign a new one, please can you let us have it back as soon as possible?

Self Assessment Deadlines

We are now in the final push, so sorry about this short newsletter – more next year. In the meantime, we all wish you a very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful and Prosperous New Year.