Welcome to our 60th newsletter issued in February 2010, 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 on our website. We shall no longer be carrying forward general items from month to month as all issues are available here on the web site.
60th Edition – that’s five years of newsletters – I just can’t believe how time has flown. We have survived another Self Assessment deadline but it was no fun working all weekend – please can we yet again ask that your records come in earlier? You wont have to pay your tax any earlier and at least you’ll know how much you have to save up.
Notices of Coding – These have been arriving since mid January and we would like to warn you that they might be wrong! Two members of our staff have received incorrect codes this month and have had to contact HMRC to rectify the situation. Apparently, HMRC are undergoing massive changes to their databases and this has resulted in past employments being taken into consideration when calculating this year’s allowances. If you get a new notice of coding and believe it to be incorrect we suggest you call the HMRC office that has issued the code. The telephone number will be on the letter.
Sam attended a Pensions Seminar during January and whilst this was very interesting it was also quite worrying.
In a nutshell, state pensions are being eroded and replaced with auto-enrolment into a new scheme to be known as QWPs – Qualifying Workplace Pension Schemes. Beginning in 2012, employers will be responsible for auto-enrolling employees into an arrangement. This is compulsory and has heavy fines and possible prison stays for breaches.
Employers must auto-enrol staff on the day they become eligible and must deduct contributions from pay within one month. Compulsorily eligible staff members are those aged between 22 and 65, although employers must also offer entry to under 22’s and over 65’s. Staff can opt out voluntarily with a 42 day window with full rebate – any later than this means no rebate. The employer will also be responsible for tracking birthdays, opt outs, earnings and anniversaries to be certain that they are fulfilling the legalities of the scheme. However, employers must not advise their staff in any way as to whether they should opt-out or not, for fear of giving the wrong information, which an employee could legally sue an employer over. In fact, any statement could be seen as advice so employers may wish to employ a professional advisor. All opt-outs must be auto-enrolled every third year whether they want it or not.
Employers with no pension will need to put one in place before 2012 and any existing schemes will need to ensure that they are good enough to offer exemptions for the employer. The contributions will be based on band earnings currently between £5035.00 and £33.540.00 per annum and it could vary with weekly/monthly pay. Employees will contribute 4%, employers to pay 3% with the government adding 1% as tax relief. And this is in addition to the National Insurance deductions!
The whole scheme will be phased in over 6 years although some small employers will be forced to start earlier than scheduled (2014 – 2018) as test subjects. It also will not matter which government will be in power as the Conservatives have confirmed that they will not change auto-enrolment if they come to power.
We are considering hosting a seminar for all our clients and interested parties to explain all the implications of this scheme. If you would like to know more, please let us know. If the response is good enough we will arrange a seminar to be held locally. The Federation of Small Businesses is fighting this scheme as additional costs and bureaucracy for small businesses – plus the additional costs involved may mean reducing the workforce.
Childcare Voucher Schemes
This is a scheme that enables any working parent to claim childcare vouchers up to a maximum value of £243.00 per month by way of salary sacrifice. Employers can offer the scheme to their staff bringing savings of up to £1,195 per employee based on their tax and National Insurance savings. Likewise, the employer saves on their NI contributions making it a cost effective motivational benefit. We have spoken with Accor Services who seemed to be the preferred choice of employers and they have provided us with further information in PDF format. If you would like to know more please let us know and we will email you the brochures.
Working Tax Credits.
If you earn less than £58,000 per annum (jointly with your partner) you may be entitled to claim these. For further information, call the Tax Credit Helpline of 0845 300 3900.
BNI invitations
These have now been sent out – if you have received one please do try to come along. You have nothing to lose and many visitors do business on their very first visit. Please RSVP to Sam on 020 8288 1525 or email
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Welcome to our 60th newsletter issued in February 2010, 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 on our website. We shall no longer be carrying forward general items from month to month as all issues are available here on the web site.
60th Edition – that’s five years of newsletters – I just can’t believe how time has flown. We have survived another Self Assessment deadline but it was no fun working all weekend – please can we yet again ask that your records come in earlier? You wont have to pay your tax any earlier and at least you’ll know how much you have to save up.
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Jackson-Scott Associates Limited
