Points to Ponder!

Welcome to our 76^th. newsletter issued in July 2011, 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.

THE PHONE NUMBER MOVE IS COMPLETE!

After a battle with the telephone company, the main phone number from 220 has now been transferred to Gilders Road, so we are fully contactable again.

New Improved Web Site

Check our new website – due to a necessary change in software, John has completely revamped our site – please tell us what you think.

As space is now more limited in the office, Sue will be working from home for most of the week. As home is just around the corner, she can come in at short notice. As we have highly qualified staff, most queries can be answered by someone in the office, so please do try there first. However, if you do need to speak to her personally then please email her and she will send you contact details.

HMRC’s next targets

Following off-shore accounts, gas fitters and the medical profession, HMRC is now going after Internet Traders who are not declaring their income. It has announced that it will be using “web robot” software that can trace these traders using e-bay and similar on-line auction sites. You may consider it a hobby, but if the Revenue doesn’t think so, it’s up to you to prove it.

The other target category announced is personal trainers, therapists and private tutors who visit their clients in their homes. HMRC thinks that most of these do not declare all their income.

By the way, the Plumbers’ Amnesty is now out of time so woe-betide anyone who didn’t come forward.

Automatic Enrolment & Workplace Pension Reform – the facts.

We covered this last month but the reply to Sue’s letter sent to the Pensions Minister is not reassuring although the minister has offered an explanation for every point raised. However, it is still a daunting and probably expensive prospect for employers.

VAT Updates

Sue recently attended a VAT seminar that has raised many worrying points. She is going to produce a separate letter about these concerns so please contact us if you would like a copy. It will be posted on our website. One useful point that did come up is that de-registration can be based on the coming twelve months projected turnover, rather than a past twelve months. So if you have lost or reached the end of a large contract with no likelihood of it being renewed or if you are cutting back on work ready to retire, you can apply to de-register.

Penalties for late-paid PAYE

As we warned, these penalties are now being sent out for the 2010/11 returns. If any of your payments cleared HMRC’s bank account even one day late, they will be subject to a penalty of 4%. We have tried to appeal as although warnings had been given, they were not detailed and were withheld until after the end of year P35’s were submitted. Remember if you pay on line or by cheque, your payment must clear HMRC’s bank account on the working day prior to the 19^th of the month.

New Self Assessment Penalties

There has always been a £100 penalty if your Self Assessment Tax Return was late, but if the amount of tax was under £100 it was restricted to the amount due. From April 2011 this has changed to the following much harsher regime. PLEASE TAKE NOTE and let us have your records early.

Exciting news for businesses in Epsom & Ewell

The constituency’s MP, Chris Grayling, has decided to try to encourage local enterprise – he described the idea at the launch as one of those “relaxing in the bath” moments when he was thinking about something for the community. Please follow this link to the site - www.epsomguardian.co.uk The local Guardian newspaper is the main sponsor and all the details are on their site, including the easy route to nominate either your business for any of the categories (you can enter more than one) or a business that you feel qualifies for an award. Sue is one of the judges as local branch chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses. As a “carrot” to agree to be involved, she and Stuart enjoyed a drinks reception on the terrace at the Houses of Parliament – look out for the pictures on the website.

Networking – the way forward in marketing??

How many hundreds or even thousands of pounds do you spend each year on advertising and can never tell if it actually works for you or not? Have you ever tried Networking? It appears to be the new and upcoming way of promoting yourself and your business. Where you go and meet other local business owners and talk about yourself and your business either over breakfast, lunch or a ‘beer’. Most formal networking organisations only allow one person from each trade or profession into their groups so that there are no conflicts of interest if they are trying to pass and find business for you.

There are several networking organisations in the area, Angela is a member of BNI (Business Networking International), Athena (a women’s only business group) and the newly formed Chessington Curry Club while Sue is the local branch chairman of Federation of Small Businesses.

These organisations can range from being very formal to very informal, weekly, monthly or 6 weekly meetings. It is not everyone’s ‘cup of tea’ but we are finding that it is working for us and if anyone would like to know more about networking or any of these organisations please contact Angela.