May 2010

Points to Ponder!

Welcome to our 63^rd newsletter issued in May 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. To save paper, we shall no longer be carrying forward general items from month to month.

A somewhat reduced newsletter this month as it has been rather hectic. Angela has had her knee operation and is making good progress but is likely to be out of the office for a further three weeks and Sue is still trying to recover from her holiday in Australia – it was fun but not much of a rest. Sam is busy with the year-end payrolls and would request that if she has sent you your P35 Filing Summary to sign-off and return, please do so immediately. These must be submitted by 19^th May – or face penalty charges from HMRC!

Did you come to our CIS seminar a couple of years ago? We are thinking of organising another seminar later in the year to cover the proposed new pensions legislation for employers but could also include other speakers if anyone is interested. We have a contact with a company that runs the Childcare Vouchers Scheme for instance, or one of you might like the opportunity to present your company’s products. It would also be a social opportunity to meet other Jackson-Scott clients and discuss your services and your business needs.

Networking is the “in thing” for businesses at the moment and we have found it is working for us. We belong to organisations such as The Federation of Small Businesses, BNI and The Athena Network, which charge annual fees. The FSB provides a great deal more than just networking opportunities including access to a free legal help line and other benefits, but all give opportunities to meet other business people in a more social environment. Depending on response and the venue we would need to hire, we would like to make this a free evening. We are hoping to arrange something for August or September, if there is sufficient interest. By then we should also have a new Government and probably another budget to discuss!

The election has overshadowed everything else at the moment and some legislation has been put on hold. The extra duty on cider has been suspended, but is still likely to be imposed at some time. It was a case of the politicians forgetting cider when they put up the duty on beer and as cider is often higher in alcohol than beer, they have realised they have been losing out!

The major concern is if the National Insurance will be put up to the level Labour wants. This is a major expense to employers and can mean job losses if it survives this election. It seems likely that it will also increase the Class 4 contributions charged to the self employed – that extra wallop on the tax computations, so quite a major tax increase all round.

Did the Icelandic volcano affect your business? ACAS and Business Link have issued guidelines about staff entitlements etc. Basically, if anyone didn’t get back to work when they were due, it should be treated as unpaid leave. If you want your staff to agree that they make up the time over the rest of the year, it should be set out in writing and signed by both parties.

However, not everything is all doom and gloom – most clients are saying that work is starting to pick up although payments are still slow in coming through. Some have been offered PAYE employment and although this is often lower paid than their self-employed day rate, are taking up the jobs to ensure a regular income. Don’t forget, you can be employed and self-employed at the same time, so long as all sources of income appear on your Self Assessment.

That brings me on to the next topic – it is the start of a new tax year so your Self Assessment returns are due again. Please may we have your records as soon as possible? If you are going to have a tax bill, it is better to know earlier – even if your returns are submitted today, any tax due on those returns will not be payable until January 2011. In fact, if your profit has gone down in this difficult year, we may be able to reduce your payment on account due at the end of July.

Next month’s newsletter should give more details in prospective tax changes once a new Government is in place – will this be something new or just more of the same? Watch this space!